Gluten-free, dairy-free Lasagna

I crave comfort food this time of year.  Since I do not eat gluten or dairy, I thought my days of eating lasagna were over until I was flipping through one of my favorite cookbooks by Danielle Walker, Against All Grain.  Her lasagna recipe uses homemade crepes instead of lasagna noodles. It seemed like a process to make these crepes and I was short on time, so I searched for a grain-free lasagna noodle and found one made from green lentils…and you do not even have to boil them! Score! 
 
​For this recipe, I would prepare the marinara sauce (or buy a very good brand) and nut cheese ahead of time. The nut cheese is made from cashews and is used as a substitute for ricotta cheese.

Nut Cheese Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus a pinch for soaking
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice

Nut Cheese Preparation:

1. Place the nuts in a large bowl and cover with filtered water and add a pinch of salt. Soak for 6 hours.
2. Drain the nuts and rinse thoroughly.
3. Place the nuts and the remaining ingredients in a food processor.
4. Process until smooth and the mixture resembles ricotta cheese. Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

​Lasagna Ingredients:

• ½ pound uncooked Italian sausage
• 2 cups Marinara sauce (homemade or a really good store-bought brand)
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 ¼ cups Nut Cheese (I did not measure this out. I used all of the nut cheese that I made - see above)
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 box gluten-free lasagna “noodles"

Lasagna Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Remove the casings and crumble the sausage into a skillet. Brown sausage over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes, until cooked through. Remove the sausage and set aside, but leave the juices in the pan.
3. Place the spinach in the same skillet and sauté over medium heat until wilted, about 5 minutes.
4. Place the nut cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, and basil in a bowl and mix.
5. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce onto the bottom of an 8-by-11-inch baking dish.
6. Layer the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce, overlapping the noodles slightly so the fillings don’t seep through the cracks.
7. Next, gently spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the surface, spread ½ spinach over it and top with ½ of the sausage, and 1/3 of the sauce.
8. Repeat this order: noodles, cheese, spinach, sausage, and sauce.
9. Finish by putting the remaining 1/3 cup of nut cheese and sauce over the top.
10. Bake uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, until the corners are bubbling. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.