Courgette, Lentil & Cottage Cheese Lasagna

I made Jamie Oliver’s Leek Lasagna before Christmas, and although the grown ups thought it was delicious, it was a bit too leeky for the kids. It also had a fair degree of prep, and wasn’t cheesy enough for me.

So today I have experimented with my own version, which seemed fairly well received by the kids. The courgette is still crunchy, which is what I wanted, as my inclusion of Big Boy’s favourite courgette salad was one of my selling points to him (that, and the argument to a raging carnivore that lentils are a kind of meat – well protein)

100g green lentils
1 large onion
1 large clove of garlic
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 large pot of cottage cheese
3 medium courgettes
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper & salt
Lasagna sheets
Handful of cheddar cheese or parmesan

Cook the lentils according to the cooking instructions. Take off the heat when cooked and leave to one side, keeping the cooking liquid.

Grate or julienne the courgettes. I did mine with a cutting disk in the food processor. Add the small garlic clove crushed or grated, a pinch of salt and ground pepper, lemon juice, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss together and leave to one side.

Finely dice the large onion and garlic clove. Fry gently with 1 tbsp olive oil to soften. Add the chopped tomatoes, cooked lentils, and any remaining liquid. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Finally, before assembling, stir the cottage cheese into the courgette. And preheat the oven to 200C or 180C Fan.

When assembling, I like to put as many pasta sheets in as I can manage as I find most recipes only use about 6 sheets of pasta which my other half complains is not enough. So, last time I made it I mentally divided both my tomato sauce into 4, and my cottage cheese mix into 3. Starting with a layer of tomato sauce I put a layer of lasagna sheets onto this, then a layer of cottage cheese mix with a layer of lasagna sheets on top. I repeated this twice more to end up with a few ladlefuls of tomato sauce to put on top and then sprinkled this with a handful of cheddar cheese.

Putting lasagna sheets on top of every different layer I reckon I ended up using 6 layers of lasagna so 18 sheets in total. I might possibly half the layers next time for the simple reason that the courgette and cottage cheese layer was a bit dry, and without being cooked in a sauce, the courgette remained too crunchy/recognisable for the kids. Putting the cottage cheese mix straight on top of the tomato sauce, then lasagna sheets, should result in a more creamy sauce? Divide your tomato sauce and cottage cheese into 4 if doing this.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden and bubbling. British tradition seems to be to serve it with garlic bread, but if you’ve managed to put in as many lasagna sheets as I did you probably don’t need any!

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry
Instagram: sunhillmakesbakes

Leek & Spinach Lasagna

The time came last week when I had to bite the bullet and serve leeks to the children as they just seemed to be multiplying in the vegetable drawer in the fridge.  The kids are not fans, but a quick google for ideas led me to Jamie Oliver’s Leek Lasagne, and as the children are recent converts to lasagna I thought I might get away with it as long as I could hide the leeks.

A food processor made finely slicing the leeks painless, but next time I would quarter them lengthways before slicing as one child in particular began suspiciously drawing out long strands of ‘green spaghetti’ and announced he would rather have meat in lasagna next time!

I, and Dad, were very pleased and I would definitely make this again possibly substituting courgette or finely chopped kale in place of leek depending what we have more of. I would also use less leeks to make is less scary, use cream cheese rather than ricotta (cheaper and more cheesy), use fresh lasagna sheets if possible.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium/large leeks, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
250g frozen chopped spinach,
350g cream cheese
1 pack fresh lasagne sheets
125 g mozzarella ball
75 g fresh Parmesan or mature cheddar
Salt & pepper

Tomato Sauce
2 tins chopped tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Finely slice the onion and gently fry in a large pan in the olive oil. Add the leek when finely chopped and leave to soften gently whilst you prepare the tomato sauce, stirring from time to time.

Finely slice the garlic and fry with a splash of olive oil in a small sauce pan. Add the tins of tomatoes, half a tin of water, a good pinch of salt, and some black pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Take of the heat and liquidise with a stick blender.

Add the frozen spinach to the leeks and onion. When defrosted melt in the cream cheese and enough milk to make the mixture into a porridgy consistency. Season to taste.

Spoon a quarter of the tomato sauce into a large lasagna dish. Cover the tomato sauce with lasagna sheets, then spread half the leek & spinach mixture onto the lasagna sheets. Add a third of the remaining tomato sauce, cover again with lasagna sheets and the remaining leeks & spinach. Add half the remaining tomato sauce, a final layer of lasagna sheets, and then cover with the leftover tomato sauce. Dot with torn up mozzarella chunks and sprinkle with the parmesan/cheddar.

Place on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes at 180C or until bubbling and golden.

Brussel Sprout Minestrone & Other Christmas Variations

I bought some brussel sprouts the 2 weeks ago to decorate a homemade wreath with.  I came across the sad little remainders last weekend and decided to pop them in a minestrone, and no-one was none the wiser.  It got me thinking about all the variations of Christmas minestrone that could be made.  And I think that list is probably endless.

Makes 4 hearty servings

1 medium onion (or substitute with leek)
1 large clove of garlic
I large carrot
1 large stick of celery
100g smoked bacon, or one handful chopped cooked turkey or ham
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 can of beans (haricot, cannellini, kidney, whatever)
1 chicken stock cube + 1 litre boiling water, or 1 litre ham, turkey, or chicken stock
Handful of brussel sprouts, finely sliced or half a small cabbage, spring greens, courgettes, kale…)
1 handful broken pasta or small pasta for soup.
1 tbsp olive oil for frying

Chop the onion and garlic and fry with the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the bacon if using, otherwise add the cooked meat later.  Chop the carrot and celery, or any other vegetables you are using except any leaf/green vegetables (these need less cooking and are added near the end) and add when chopped. Stir and put the lid on for a few minutes to let the vegetables sweat.

Add the beans, tomatoes, stock cube if using, and the stock/boiling water to just cover the vegetables. Add the chopped meat, stir, cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes.

Finely slice the brussel sprouts or whichever green leafy vegetable you are using and push down into the soup together with the pasta pieces. Cover and simmer again for 5-10 minutes or until the pasta is soft.

Serve with grated parmesan, or more usually the case in our house, mature cheddar.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Kids Spag Bol with Hidden Vegetables

I’ve made spaghetti bolognese sauce this morning, to give it as long as possible to stand and let the flavours develop.

I hit on the idea of hidden vegetables, partly to sneak vegetables past my children, plus stretching out 500g of minced beef to feed 5+ of us.  By doing this, if you only used a served the bolognese sparingly (1-2 large serving spoons) as the Italians do large, I reckon you’ve got enough pasta sauce for 8-10 people!

As Big Boy, my youngest at 6 years old, still tends to fish suspicious objects out of his food and cross-examines them, I chopped the vegetables up really small in a food processor to both to hide them, and make them the same size as the minced beef.  When I served this last, although he said he didn’t want seconds, he didn’t seem too reluctant to clean out the last remaining sauce out of his bowl after all the pasta had been eaten.

Liver or bacon seems to be a modern traditional ingredient in many spag bol’s.  I add it if I have it (today in fact I don’t) because it is a great source of iron for the kids plus it add another layer of flavour.  Finely diced and covered in a rich tomato sauce the children don’t seem to notice.  But if you don’t like handling it you could always puree it with the tomatoes.  The liver and tomato cocktail looks disgusting but it cooks down just fine!

Today I have also added 6 mushrooms, finely chopped in the food processor, just for the hell of it!

Wine too is an optional extra.  I know some people don’t like the idea of alcohol in children’s food.  I do, in the hope they might fall asleep quicker of a night, not that it ever seems to help.

Serves 8-10 depending on how high you pile your sauce!

500g beef mince
100g lambs or chicken liver, or smokey bacon (optional)
6 mushrooms (optional)
1 large leek or onion
1 stick of celery
2 medium carrots
1 large clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 glass red wine (optional)
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tin of recently boiled water (1/2 if you are using wine)
1tbsp tomato paste (optional)

Finely chop the leek or onion (I used a sprouting leek from my veg patch in mine) and garlic in a food processor and fry in a large saucepan with the olive oil over a medium heat. Finely chop the carrot and celery in the food processor, and mushrooms if using and add these when ready.  Stir and put a lid/plate on for a few minutes to let the vegetables sweat.  Push the vegetables to one side in the pan and fry/break up the mince as best you can.  Puree the liver and tomatoes in the food processor and add these to the pan, together with the wine if using and hot water.  Add a little salt and pepper and simmer with a lid on for 1 hour.

After cooking, leave to cool with the lid off if possible to help the sauce reduce a little.  When cool enough, put in the fridge until needed.  Overnight is best, but half a day is better than nothing.

Reheat when needed with the lid off to further reduce the sauce.  Stir in the tomato paste if you have any and simmer for a few minutes to help further thicken the sauce.  Serve over any shape pasta with parmesan cheese if you have it. Or cheddar.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry