Vegetarian Lasagne

I’ve been vegetarian for over 25 years and this is one of my favourite dishes - delicious and nutritious, cheesy and nutty vegetable lasagne!  I prefer to use organic ingredients where possible, and find that organic pumpkin seeds in particular are much nuttier and larger than non-organic ones.  ‘Seeds of Change’ tomato and basil pasta sauce is a good choice too.  Preparation time 30-40 minutes.  Cooking time 35-40 minutes.  Serves 6 good-sized portions.

For a 10” lasagne, you will need:

Approx 250g (14-15) lasagne sheets (no need to pre-cook)

For the vegetable sauce:

½ tin of GranoVita Nut Luncheon (available at larger health food stores)

2 x TBSP olive oil

1 medium red onion

1 medium courgette

½ a red bell pepper

½ an orange bell pepper

½ a yellow bell pepper

1 x 500g jar of tomato and basil pasta sauce

2 x TBSP hulled sunflower seeds

2 x TBSP pumpkin seeds

For the cheese sauce:

¾ pint of semi-skimmed milk

4 oz mascarpone cheese

2 oz mature cheddar cheese (grated)

2 x level TBSP plain flour

1 x level TBSP margarine

For the topping:

1 oz mature cheddar cheese (grated)

1 x TBSP hulled sunflower seeds

1 x TBSP pumpkin seeds

Freshly milled black pepper

Freshly milled sea salt

To make the vegetable sauce, dice the Nut Luncheon, onion, courgette and peppers and add to a large frying pan with the olive oil, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.  Fry on a medium heat until everything starts to brown, then add the jar of tomato and basil sauce.  Stir well, then remove pan from heat.

For the cheese sauce, on a low-medium heat, in a small saucepan melt the margarine and then add the flour, stirring the two together to make a thick ball of paste (this is called ‘roux’), then add ¼ pint of milk.  With a wooden spatula, stir, stir, stir and keep stirring and beating until the mixture resembles thick, sticky batter.  If you have never made cheese sauce before, this process can be pretty worrying and for a while will look like things have gone horribly wrong, but have faith – so long as you keep stirring, all those lumps WILL disappear.  No need to squash the lumps or strain the sauce, just let the heat do all the work.  Once the mix resembles thick, sticky batter, add in another ¼ milk and again, keep stirring until the heat has dissolved all the lumps and the mixture is smooth again – the consistency of thick but fluid batter this time – and then add the last ¼ milk.  Stir until the mixture is smooth again, then add the mascarpone cheese and 2 oz of grated mature cheddar cheese.  Continue to stir until the cheese is fully melted and blended.

Line a 10” x 8 ”x 2” ovenproof ceramic dish with a single layer of lasagne.  On top of this add half the vegetable sauce and spread evenly.  Place a single layer of lasagne on top of the vegetable sauce, and on top of this, add half the cheese sauce and spread evenly.  On top of this add a single layer of lasagne, then the rest of the vegetable sauce followed by another single layer of lasagne and finally, the remaining cheese sauce.  To top the lasagne, sprinkle on the 1 oz of grated cheddar, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and season with salt and pepper.

Cook in the centre of the oven, pre-heated to 350F, for 35-40 minutes.

Baker’s tip ~ if you are not familiar with Nut Luncheon and once opened, wonder how on earth you are going to get it out of the tin, remove the other end of the tin with an tin opener so that both ends are open, then taking a sharp, sturdy knife – the blade of which needs to be longer than the tin – slide the whole length of the blade between the Nut Luncheon and the side of the tin.  Carefully, pressing the full length of the blade against the tin, drag the knife around the tin, thus freeing the Nut Luncheon from the wall of the tin.  Remove the knife.  Then, holding the tin with both hands and one end facing directly down, with long swings, shake the tin hard so that the Nut Luncheon begins to slide out of the downward-facing end.  When you have shaken it out about halfway, slice the exposed Nut Luncheon from the tin.  To dice, slice into 4 even rounds and then stacking the rounds on top of one another, dice into cubes.  Store the rest of the Nut Luncheon in the fridge and consume within 3 days – you could slice and fry it as ‘burgers’, or make another lasagne!