RECIPE: Neil's scrummy veggie lasagne

NEIL'S VEGGIE LASAGNE


Brrrrrrrrrrrr! It's too cold to stay outside for very long, so we spent some the day yesterday in the kitchen and we've got a lovely hearty homemade lasagne to show for it. Head Chef Neil used a load of fantastic ingredients from local farmers and producers to make a one of our favourite dishes which is always a crowd-pleaser with family and friends.


INGREDIENTS (serves at least six)

Ingredients (with me blogging in the background!)

FOR THE FILLING....
1 large white onion, diced into 2cm pieces
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 whole green chili, scored
Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped
3 400g tins peeled plum tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 large bell peppers, diced into 2cm pieces
250g fresh mushrooms, chopped
350g veggie mince
Henderson's Relish, salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil 

FOR THE CHEESE SAUCE...
20g butter
40g plain flour
450ml semi skimmed milk (we like Our Cow Molly milk)
1 tsp mustard powder
200g strong white cheese, grated (today we've used Vintage Lincolnshire Poacher)

PLUS...
2 boxes (or therabouts) dried lasagne sheets
2 balls mozzarella balls, sliced or torn up

CARNIVOROUS ALTERNATIVE:
You can make a meat version of this dish by frying 300g minced beef and 150g minced pork, and then adding this to the filling in the place of the veggie mince.


METHOD:

To make the filling, heat the olive oil in heavy-bottomed pan. Add the onion, garlic, chili and basil, and saute for a few minutes or until the garlic is sticky. Next add the tinned tomatoes and then swill the empty tins with a little water and add to the pan so all the lovely juices make it into your sauce. Simmer this mixture for 20-25 minutes. Then use a potato masher to mash up the tomatoes and add the puree and Hendo's, stir through, then add the pepper and mushrooms, and cook for five minutes. Finally add the veggie mince, cook for five minutes and then take off the heat.

To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a pan, sift the plain flour and mustard powder onto the butter and stir until combined to make a roux. Then add the milk a dash at a time, stirring constantly to ensure you don't get any lumps. Bring close to the boil but not quite to boiling point until the sauce thickens, then turn the heat off, add the cheese and stir it in. Add black pepper to taste and more Hendo's.

To assemble, take the whole chili out of the filling and then layer the pasta sheets, filling and sauce into a lasagne dish. We usually use two layers of each and then finish with a third layer of pasta, a final coating of cheese sauce and top with the mozzarella.

Bake on 200C (or 180C for fan assisted ovens) for about 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Ta-dah!