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MAINS
VEGETARIAN

Top Notch Vegetarian Lasagne

Theo12 March 20121 hr 20No comments yet
You do not need to be an accomplished chef to attempt to construct this dish. In fact, you do not need to know anything about cooking at all. It would probably be better if you were a simple bricklayer. Just follow the instructions, stay true to your quest, and you shall be rewarded with the finest lasagne in all the land. Good luck.
Ingredients
AS WRITTEN
×1
×1.5
×2
ORIGINAL
GRAMS
OUNCES
FILLING
6
sheets fresh lasagne
1
aubergine
1
bag spinach
300 g
Asparagus
1
large red onion
100 g
Sun-dried tomatoes
300 g
Mozzarella
200 g
Mexicana cheese (or cheddar with chilli flakes)
700 g
White lasagne sauce (1 large jar)
1
bag fresh basil
1
bag fresh coriander
3
cloves garlic
Soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
This one scales awkwardly by simple multiplication — the Construction layering below is sized to one dish, so a bigger batch usually means a second lasagne (or a deeper dish and more layers), not more sauce/cheese in each layer. The totals above scale for shopping; the diagram keeps its original per-layer amounts.
METHOD
DIAGRAM
These can be done simultaneously depending on your competence and number of helpers — set each bit aside once done. If you're really motoring this can all be done in 30 minutes; give yourself 40 and enjoy a glass of wine while you do it.
1. Press the garlic into a small pan. Chop the onion and sun-dried tomatoes and add. Fry on a low heat (with a little olive oil if the tomatoes aren't already drenched in it) until the onion is soft but not brown.
2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on high. Slice the aubergine into half-centimetre slices and add in a single layer. Douse with soy sauce, then after a few minutes press with a potato masher to crush it and help it fry in its own juices. Flip and fry until browned on both sides, working in batches.
3. Steam the asparagus for 5 minutes to soften (or grill 10 minutes, or microwave 3 minutes as a last resort — skip entirely if it's already fine).
4. Wash the spinach and place in a colander with the basil leaves. Pour over a litre of hot water from the kettle and mix gently so it all wilts.
5. Slice the mozzarella and mexicana — enough mexicana for a single layer, and enough mozzarella for two (gaps are fine, it'll melt).
6. Roughly chop the coriander.
7. Fill a second dish with hot water and dunk the lasagne sheets in to make them malleable.
8. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Construction, from the bottom up — pack everything tightly to minimise air, pressing down after each layer of lasagne. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes: white sauce, two sheets of lasagne (overlapping), spinach and basil, half the mozzarella, black pepper; white sauce, two more sheets, the tomato/garlic/onion mix, coriander, the aubergine (laid flat), the rest of the mozzarella, black pepper; white sauce, two more sheets, the asparagus; white sauce, the mexicana on top. If you have any ingredients left at this stage, you have failed — go back to the introduction.
Bake for 40 minutes at 180°C. For a browner, crispier top, turn up to 200°C for the last 10 minutes.
Serve with a green leaf salad dressed simply in balsamic and olive oil, and maybe a halved tomato or two — you don't need chips.
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