Vegetable Lasagne
This lasagne recipe heroes some great Tasmanian sourced veg. I’ve used some swedes, broccoli, carrots, leeks and onions from Tassie - full of freshness and flavour. Mushrooms are always a great addition to a vegetable based lasagna and of course plenty of cheese and béchamel to make the layers even creamier!
INGREDIENTS
- (makes 1 large lasagna with 12 servings)
- 2 x medium sized broccoli (roughly chopped)
- 2 x medium swedes or 500g (finely diced)
- 400g of carrots (finely grated)
- 300g of mushrooms (cleaned and roughly chopped)
- 1 leek (first 2 layers removed and then finely sliced)
- 1 red onion (finely diced)
- 1.4L passata (plain)
- 4 cups milk
- 110g butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 whole nutmeg or 1 tsp of nutmeg powder
- 200g finely grated parmesan cheese
- 250g grated mozzarella
- Approximately 15 lasagne sheets (I used 15 Barilla lasagne sheets)
- Olive oil
- Fresh basil (a few basil leaves to top the lasagna once it comes out of the oven)
- Salt and pepper
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
- Dice and slice all the vegetables and in a large pot start cooking the Swedes, onion, leek and carrots with olive oil. Caramelise this mixture and allow to cook for 15 minutes, stirring every minute or so.
- After 15 minutes add the broccoli and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the passata and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper then set aside.
- For the bechamel sauce melt the butter with the milk in a medium sized pot and bring this mixture to nearly boiling. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the nutmeg and sift the flour into the pot (a little bit at a time). Using a whisk to stir continuously. Increase the heat if necessary but stir until the mixture thickens, it should do so after 4-5 minutes. Add some salt for seasoning.
- To assemble the lasagne together oil the base of the tin. Begin by placing a layer of the vegetable mixture, followed by some bechamel and the two kinds of cheese. Place lasagna sheets on top (depending which ones you are using they may need soaking prior) and repeat the process by layering with the vegetable mix, the bechamel and the two kinds of cheese. Finish the top layer with the ragu (vegie mixture), bechamel and extra cheese.
- Place in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and top with fresh basil. Enjoy!
Recipe and photos by Anastasia Zolotarev. Click here to see her blog.
