Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne Recipe

 

This is a Mediterranean style vegetable lasagne, to my way of thinking anyway. Most of the ingredients are of Mediterranean origin, and can probably be found in your refrigerator and pantry right now. Except perhaps for the ricotta which needs to be purchased fresh. The Mediterranean flavours shine through. There are times when a vegetarian meal just ticks all the right boxes for me, especially when I need to really load up on vegetables,  however this lasagne can also be served with any meats of your choice if you wish. This meal is perfect for a no fuss Meat Free Monday, which I still try to abide by, and at the same time enjoy something really filling and comforting.

We bought some beautifully fresh Bullsweet (formerly Bullnose) capsicum and eggplants at Merinda, a farmgate stop just North of Bowen, on our drive back from Cairns last week, which is famous for it's tomatoes and mangoes and lovely coastline. They are all in this delicious lasagne. Ricotta cheese works likes a charm in lasagne, however if you would prefer to make a cheesy bechamel sauce instead,  that would be perfect as well. The Ricotta layer is just so much easier to make, and combines perfectly with the fresh green layers of silverbeet.

I'll be honest, there is a fair amount of work involved in bringing this dish together, however the extra effort  is well worth it and it makes a large lasagne. Most lasagnes take a little bit of time to make. All of the stages can be prepared well in advance though, and just assembled on the day so that makes life easy. I bake a lot of vegetables in batches and we eat them throughout the week, so to cook the pumpkin, zucchini, eggplant, and capsicum and leave them in the refrigerator until required is what I tend to do anyway. The delicious homemade tomato sauce can be prepared in advance, and it takes no time at all to mix up the ricotta layer.

Ingredients:

Serves 8-10.

2-3 red capsicum depending on the size, cut into thick slices

1 eggplant, cut into long thick slices

1/4 Kent pumpkin (about 1 kilo)

3 zucchini. I cut these lengthwise into long thick slices

1 knob of garlic

800 g fresh very ripe tomatoes chopped, or 2 x 400 g cans diced tomatoes

3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

sea salt

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup  (50 g) pitted roughly chopped kalamata olives

a handful of basil leaves, torn

freshly ground pepper and white pepper

500 g fresh ricotta

1 cup (100 g) grated cauliflower

1 cup full cream milk (250 ml), or milk of your choice

350 g fresh lasagne sheets, or gluten free if you prefer

500 g fresh silver beet, or baby spinach leaves, or English spinach, trimmed

1 cup (135 g) finely grated parmesan

sprigs of fresh rosemary (optional)

Method:

Use a large Lasagne dish, mine is 35 cm by 23 cm.

Preheat your oven to 200 deg C. Take two large baking trays, and line them with baking paper. 

Baking the vegetables:

Arrange the vegetables you have selected, capsicum, zucchini, pumpkin, eggplant and garlic on the trays. Lightly drizzle them with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with the salt. Top the vegetables with a few fresh sprigs of rosemary, which will give the vegetables added flavour. The aroma of the rosemary cooking will be beautiful throughout your kitchen.

A jar of Roasted Red Peppers can be used as an option instead of fresh capsicum, or use any other roastable vegetables that you like. This is the kind of layered dish that will probably be different every time you make it.

The whole pumpkin piece will need to roast for 1 hour, however the smaller vegetables should only take  40 minutes.

Peel and mash the garlic.

Cut the pumpkin into thick wedges.

Preparing The Tomato Sauce

In a large deep frying pan add the olive oil, bring to a medium heat, and add the onion and cook, for about 10 minutes until soft. Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook until softened, then add the mashed garlic, the vinegar, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 25 minutes, until the mixture is reduced by about one-third. However there still needs to be some moisture left in the sauce as this helps to cook the lasagne sheets. 

Stir in the basil leaves and the chopped olives, and season with salt and pepper.

Store in the refrigerator until required.

Ricotta Layer:

Combine the ricotta, grated cauliflower, and milk in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.

Assembling the lasagne:

Spoon a little of the tomato sauce into the base of your large lasagne dish, to stop the lasagne sheets from sticking to the  bottom of the dish.

Cover with a layer of lasagne sheets, and spoon over half the tomato sauce, then add half the zucchini, eggplant, and capsicum, top with another layer of lasagne sheets, half the silverbeet leaves, half the pumpkin and half the ricotta mixture and sprinkle with half the parmesan.

Phew! Almost there.  Now continue layering, finishing with the ricotta mixture and parmesan.

Prior to baking your lasagne, preheat your oven to 180 deg C.

Bake the lasagne for 50 minutes at 180 deg C, until the lasagne sheets are soft, and the topping is golden brown.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Cooks notes:

• No need to use a bottled tomato sauce, make your own, it's really simple. I used fresh very ripe tomatoes, as I bought them while they were cheap recently. However tinned tomatoes will work just as well.
• Vegetables for a lasagne need to be cut into long and thick slices for successful layering.
• I only had lite milk on hand so I added 2 tablespoons of sour cream to it.
• I'm fortunate to have a nice crop of silver beet growing at the moment so in it went to this dish. 500 g is a lot of silver beet, but it cooks down to make a lovely green layer in this dish. I just trimmed off the tough stalks at the base and then laid the leaves down as two flat layers.
• If you absolutely love garlic, two knobs could be baked and mashed. The flavour is amazing.
• I used a lot more parmesan cheese than in the original recipe because we love it and the dish seemed to need it.

I have adapted this recipe from one by Jody Vassello, in her new book "The Yogic Kitchen".

Hoping your week goes well for you.

Warm wishes

Pauline