Spinach & mushroom lasagne

I love lasagne, but I often end up making either a classic style using vegetarian mince or a tomato based cheesy veggie one. So I thought I’d experiment and make it different this time using spinach and mushroom in a creamy sauce. I used a ‘cheats’ white sauce made from crème fraîche and parmesan, so its super quick and easy to whip up. Like all lasagnes this one is best eaten on the day, but if you have leftovers they’ll still make a pretty good lunch!

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 450g spinach

• 1 large red onion, thin half moons

• 300g mushrooms, sliced

• 1 clove garlic, grated

• 400ml crème fraîche

• ½ tbsp Dijon mustard

• ½ vegetable stock cube

• 200ml water

• 1 tsp sea salt

• A good grind of black pepper

• 250g fresh lasagne sheets

• 100g parmesan, finely grated

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

• Heat a knob of butter and ½ tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and gently wilt the spinach. If you’re using frozen then either defrost n the fridge overnight or steam for around 8 minutes.

• Put the spinach in a bowl and set to one side. Add ½ tbsp of oil to the pan and fry the onions for 10 minutes on low until softened.

• Next add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, then stir in the garlic and fry for 30 seconds more.

• Add 300ml crème fraîche, mustard, ½ stock cube and 200ml of water, warming through gently.

• Then add the salt and pepper, stirring well.

• Mix the remaining 100ml crème fraîche with 20ml water and 20g of parmesan

• Assemble the lasagne (I used a 20x26cm oven proof dish) by starting with a layer of the spinach mix, a sprinkle of parmesan (approx 1-2 tsp) and then cover with pasta sheets, repeat until the top layer.

• Cover the top layer of pasta with the crème fraîche and parmesan mix, finish by sprinkling over the rest of the parmesan, you may need a little more to do this depending on how much you use in the layering.

• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. If the top needs to brown a bit more then place under a hot grill - I use pieces of tin foil to cover over any already browned parts, so only the pale bits are browned.

Family favourite veggie lasagne

I’ve been working on this veggie lasagne on and off for a while now as I wanted to get exactly the right balance of tomato and cheese sauce to pasta. I think I went through five different versions, each with slight tweaks to the sauce and a streamlining of the ingredients to keep things as simple as possible, without compromising on taste obviously! Finally, I think I’ve cracked it, so here’s the recipe for you guys to try, let me know what you think.

As there are two main elements to making a lasagne, the way I do it is to cook the tomato sauce the day before (or even two), so all I need to make is the cheesy béchamel and then assemble. This cuts the work time to 20-30 minutes on the day as lasagne can sometimes seem too time-consuming. A bonus is that this recipe serves 6-8, so you should have dinner sorted for a couple of days too.

When we are finally allowed to socialise, lasagne is a great dish to make for friends (roll on June!!) as you can do all the prep ahead, pop it in the oven when your guests arrive and serve with a big green salad. I’d be pretty surprised if you got any complaints from meat-eaters as this lasagne is full of flavour, from the umami of the tomato sauce to the lovely rich cheesy béchamel. It’s certainly a favourite in our multi-diet house!

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

• 1 aubergine, ½ cm slices

• 2 large onions, finely chopped

• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped

• 2 large cloves of garlic, grated

• 2 red peppers, small dice

• 1 courgette, sliced

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 800g tinned tomatoes

• 2 tbsp tomato purée

• ½ tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1 handful of basil, stalks chopped, leaves torn

• 500g fresh lasagne sheets

Cheese sauce

• 90g butter

• 90g flour

• 1L milk

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 150g Gruyère or Comte cheese

• 150g gouda, grated or sliced

• 50g parmesan, grated finely

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Brush a large tray with oil and spread out the aubergine, turning to make sure both sides are coated in oil. Sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 20 minutes turn and cook for 5-8 minutes more. Cut the slices in half and set aside.

• While the aubergine is roasting, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large pan and cook the onion and celery for 10 minutes.

• Next add the peppers for 5 minutes and then repeat adding the garlic and courgettes.

• Pour in the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, basil stalks and ½ a tin of water (swilling out to get the last bits of tomato juice). Simmer for 20 minutes.

• Then add the aubergine, red wine vinegar and sea salt for another 5 minutes. Finish by stirring in the basil leaves.

• Cheesy béchamel sauce: while the tomato sauce is bubbling away, melt the butter in a large non-stick saucepan and then tip in the flour, use a silicon whisk to mix thoroughly and allow to warm through for a minute.

• Start pouring the milk in slowly, 50ml at a time, so you don’t get lots of splashing as you whisk it in.

• Quickly add the next 50ml, whisk rapidly and repeat until you’ve used about 300ml, then you can start adding 100ml each time. Once you’ve poured in all the milk leave on a low heat for a further 10-12 minutes to thicken, but whisk or stir regularly so you don’t get lumps.

• Add 100g of Gruyère or Comté, 25g parmesan, sea salt and a good grind of pepper; stir well and allow to melt for a couple of minutes.

• Now assemble the lasagne in a large oven proof dish (I used 24 x 33cm) by first adding a big spoon or two of the tomato base, a ladle of cheese sauce (drizzle over the tomato generously), gouda and then 2 lasagne sheets. Repeat until the last layer of pasta and then cover with cheese sauce and the rest of the Gruyère/Comte and parmesan.

• Bake in the oven at 180ºc for 35-40 mins. If the top still needs a little browning then place under a hot grill for a minute or so, but watch like a hawk so it doesn’t burn!

tip

• There’s no need to pre-cook fresh lasagne sheets, although the packet will tell you to do so.

• Cut any leftover lasagne into thick strips and use like pappardelle.

• Stir a couple of handfuls of spinach into the tomato sauce to add some greenery.