Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

This lasagne is just the thing to sink into at the end of a long day; it's immensely comforting and cosy, and tastes suitably unctuous despite not featuring any cheese or butter (don't groan!). I'd suggest that on account of the rather large volume of vegetables that you need to use (they shrink a lot whilst cooking), this isn't the most economical of recipes, but the flavours of the roasted garlicky vegetables are truly delicious and definitely worth it. Enjoy with some sliced tomatoes and red onions with a mustard-ey dressing, and the next day too; this recipe makes great lasagne leftovers.

Vegetables for Roasting:

  • 3 or 4 Onions
  • 3 Red Onions
  • 1 large Aubergine
  • 3 or 4 Red or Orange Peppers
  • 1 Medium Butternut Squash
  • 2 large Courgettes
  • Tomatoes
  • 10 Cloves Garlic

Béchamel Sauce:

  • 3 tbsp Plain Flour
  • 3 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 700ml Milk or Milk and Stock
  • 1 tsp Mustard
  • Dash Worcestershire Sauce
  • Salt & Pepper

To Bake and Serve:

  • Dried sheets Lasagne
  • Pine Nuts or Breadcrumbs
  • Tomatoes

Your Vegetables will need to roast for about an hour – so pre-heat your oven to 200˚c

Prepare the Vegetables (wash!) and cut them all into 3 or 3cm square (ish) pieces – you want them pretty chunky

Fling the chopped Veg into a very large roasting tray.  Leave the Garlic Cloves and the Tomatoes out at this stage… Drizzle the rest with some Olive Oil and add some Salt & Pepper.  Roast for 30 minutes or so, giving them a shake or a stir every 15 minutes.  After this time, the Veg should be softening; add the whole Garlic Cloves, the Tomatoes (whole Cherry Tomatoes or chopped larger Tomatoes) and some Oregano and/or Thyme (fresh or dried).  Roast again for another 30 – 40 minutes or until the Veg are starting to char around the edge.  By this point, they should be soft, and smelling sweet and delicious!

To prepare the Béchamel Sauce, heat a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil and 3 tablespoons of Plain Flour.  Keep stirring as the two come together, and cook for a bit (still stirring) to cook away the taste of Flour.  Slowly add the Milk, stirring after each addition so that the Sauce doesn’t go lumpy.  Keep adding the Milk, each time bringing up to the boil, until the sauce is the right consistency – good for pouring, but not too thick.  Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes, stirring still, and add a dash of Worcestershire Sauce and a teaspooon of Mustard; also some Salt & Pepper to taste…  Turn off the heat

To layer the Lasagne… find a good shaped lasagne dish…

Start off with half the Roasted Vegetables; then a single layer of dried Lasagne Pasta sheets; then enough Sauce to cover all the Pasta.  Then another layer of Veg, Lasagne and then Béchamel Sauce.  Top the final layer of Sauce with some Garlicky Breadcrumbs, or some Pine Nuts; some Oregano and Thyme; and maybe a couple of sliced Tomatoes?!

Bake in the oven at 190˚c for 30 – 45 minutes or until the Lasagne Pasta is cooked and easy to cut through with a knife.  You might want to cover it with foil for the first two thirds of cooking time

Leave the Lasagne to rest for 10 minutes before serving in large slices.  Some lettuce, red onion, pickled red pepper and capers go well on the side with this…

(This is equally good the next day… if you re-heat it in the oven, add a few dashes of water first to keep it moist when cooking)

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