Vegan Pastitsio with Kale (Greek Baked Pasta with Mince)

You don't like kale? Then you've come to the right place – which might sound weird since this is a recipe with kale. But I'll explain.

Some love kale and others hate it. I rather belong to the second category and couldn't make friends with the green leaves at all. But it was time for a new attempt, and is there a better way to make unloved vegetables delicious than to make a pasta dish out of it? And not just any, but preferably baked pasta! The Greek baked pasta dish called "pastitsio" served as our inspiration. It traditionally consists of macaroni, minced meat, and a thick layer of béchamel sauce, but we gave it a wintry twist and swapped the ground beef for a lovely kale and "minced meat" tomato sauce. The whole thing is topped with plant-based cheese.

Unlike a lasagna, the pasta is pre-cooked because we're not using lasagna sheets but macaroni. However, you should ensure that they are not already al dente and drain them approx. 2-3 minutes before the given instruction time – otherwise, they will get too soft in the oven. On top of the pasta, we place our wonderful plant-based kale and "minced meat" tomato sauce. For this, we sauté onions, garlic, vegan minced meat, and of course, our kale and deglaze everything with vegetable broth, red wine, and canned tomatoes. The mix is spiced with a bit of cinnamon, a classic in Greek cuisine. It tastes excellent in combination with red wine. Ensure you thoroughly remove the stems from the kale and chop the leaves finely. Alternatively, you can use unseasoned kale from a jar.

It gets trickier when preparing the vegan béchamel sauce as it traditionally contains eggs in this recipe, which ensures that the sauce gets firm during baking. We replace it with a bit of soy flour which is generally a great way to replace eggs. Now all that's missing is the vegan cheese on top before it goes off into the oven. Well, happy cooking!