Black Olive Lasagne – without Cheese

Finding a lasagne recipe with ingredients suited to anyone dairy intolerant can be tricky. Whilst not dairy free, this black olive lasagne recipe was originally created using A2 milk, a brand of milk omitting the A1 protein found in modern dairy cows’ milk.  The cheese normally used to topped lasagne is replaced with a white sauce flavoured with nutmeg and some breadcrumbs for that golden crusty effect.

Nobody in my family suffers from food allergies or intolerances. We still enjoyed this lasagne without cheese. The saltiness of the black olives means noone will miss the cheese. The white sauce has a similar mouth-feel to white cheese sauce. I have given some tips below about batch cooking and freezing or reheating lasagne.

Can you make small lasagnes or one big one?

With this recipe you can either divide the lasagne ingredients between several small dishes or use one big one. The quantity here is for four people.

Can you batch cook and freeze lasagne?

Lasagne is a crowd pleasing dish to freeze ahead and this version would suit someone who doesn’t eat cheese. In theory you could freeze the lasagne after assembly but before baking. However, it makes more sense to freeze after baking, but if you specifically plan to do so, remove the lasagne from the oven around ten minutes before the end of the cooking time. This will be made up for when you reheat after defrosting.

Another prep ahead possibility would be to cook just the beef mince sauce and freeze that by itself. But bear in mind you shouldn’t refreeze the mince if you go on to defrost it and use for lasagne. In that situation, I’d advise to eat the lasagne the day you make it and not store it again.

This lasagne recipe is based on four people eating it but if you want to batch cook and make, say, a dozen individually frozen lasagne portions, simply treble the lasagne ingredients.

Ways to re-heat frozen lasagne

When re-baking the defrosted lasagne, cover it lightly with some foil to prevent the top from drying out. Do not pull the foil too tight as it may stick to the topping and make it harder for the food under the foil to heat quickly. Reheating defrosted lasagne in the oven should take 20 mins if you’ve made mini individual lasagnes or 40 minutes for a single bigger lasagne. I don’t personally recommend heating frozen lasagne without defrosting it first as the hot oven may crack the cold ceramic dish. But if you have made the frozen lasagne in foil dishes by all means go ahead but allow extra time – twenty minutes extra should be enough but test it before eating. Depending on your baking container, it may be quicker to defrost and reheat frozen lasagne using a combi microwave but instructions will vary according to the model. In my 800w Panasonic combi microwave this would take around 30 minutes using combi function 190c and simmer microwave function.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Black Olive Lasagne without cheese

Lasagne usually has a layer of grated cheese on the top however the sauce is bound instead here with dried breadcrumbs, gratin style. You will not miss the cheese and will get a salty tang from the olives instead.

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Main Meals

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: baked pasta, black olives, lactose intolerant, lasagne recipe, with cheese

Servings: 4

Equipment

• Ceramic oven dishes to hold 4 portions (you can use 1 large or 4 small)
• Stick blender

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion finely sliced
• 3 garlic cloves peeled and finely sliced
• 300 g lean minced beef
• 500 g tomato passata
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 100 g black olives pitted and sliced
• 2 tbsp dairy free spread (or butter if dairy free is not a requirement)
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 300 ml A2 Milk (or ordinary milk is lactose intolerance is not a factor)
• pinch ground nutmeg
• pinch salt
• 10 leaves fresh basil finely sliced
• 10 sheets dried lasagne (approximately)
• 50 g dried breadcrumbs

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180c / Gas mark 4.
• In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil on a medium heat and fry the red onion and garlic for around 5 minutes until softened.
  1 tbsp olive oil, 1 red onion, 3 garlic cloves
• Add the minced beef and breaking into small clumps fry until cooked through.
  300 g lean minced beef
• Set aside some slices of black olives if you wish to use these as decoration.
• Add the passata, tomato puree and sliced olives and stir through. Leave to simmer whilst you cook the white sauce but do not let too much liquid boil away as this is needed to soak into the lasagne sheets.
  500 g tomato passata, 3 tbsp tomato puree, 100 g black olives
• To make the white sauce (or "roux"), in a small non-stick saucepan melt the dairy free spread on a medium heat. 
  2 tbsp dairy free spread
• When the dairy free spread is melted, reduce the heat and add the corn flour stirring thoroughly with a wooden spoon to remove lumps.
  2 tbsp cornflour
• When the corn flour and dairy free spread have formed a ball start to add half of the milk very slowly.  Initially only stir in a tablespoon at a time then gradually you can add the rest of the first half more quickly.
  300 ml A2 Milk
• As the white roux will be less smooth than with butter, when the first half of the milk has been added, decant the mixture to a stick blender jug. Add the chopped basil leaves and nutmeg and whizz for a few moments until smooth.
  pinch ground nutmeg, 10 leaves fresh basil
• Return the now smooth white sauce to the non-stick saucepan and raise the heat slightly. Add the rest of the milk and stir well allowing it to thicken. Add salt to taste.
  pinch salt
• Assemble the lasagnes by arranging two alternate layers of meat sauce and lasagne sheets; meat, pasta, meat, pasta. Do this in your chosen baking dish or dishes. Then pour a layer of white sauce, pasta, more white sauce.  As you go, press each pasta layer down gently on the filling beneath. 
  10 sheets dried lasagne
• Sprinkle breadcrumbs and the few olive slices previously set aside, onto the top layer of white sauce. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes. 
  50 g dried breadcrumbs
  

Notes

Serve immediately with green vegetables or salad. Alternatively after rapid cooling you can freeze to eat at a later date.

Baked pasta dishes that are not lasagne

My ham and vegetable pasta bake uses spirali pasta, it does feature cheese on top but you could borrow the white sauce component from this lasagne recipe and use that to top it instead. I intend to experiment whether the white sauce works with baked macaroni or, if made thickly, as an alternative to cheese in pizza topping.

Some more Italian dinner recipe ideas

If daring enough, take a look at my mushroom tagliatelle which involves making your own pasta using a pasta roller. Keeping things tomato flavour, these giant pasta pennoni with mussels are a dairy-free pescatarian option. Or if you like the idea of giant pasta but don’t need to be dairy free, there’s my Vitamix pesto conchiglioni with asparagus and bacon.

This lasagne recipe was originally created in 2014 for Great British Chefs using A2 Milk, a dairy product often chosen by those who are lactose intolerant. This black olive lasagne recipe may be made the same way with ordinary milk with no changes required.