Mushroom and lentil lasagne

I know there are a million veggie lasagne recipes out there but I can honestly say this one gives others I've tried a real run for their money. This one offers the texture and slightly caramelised flavour you'd get from browned minced beef.

I have made a massive lasagne! I mean truly huge! We're talking 9 very generous portions but there's a reason for this. Lasagne is fairly labour-intensive by nature so I always make lots so I can freeze the leftovers. That means I've got frozen lasagne handy that beats the pants off of the per packed ones you'd get from the supermarket.

The essential step in this recipe for texture is chopping the mushrooms. There's a lot of them and you want them a very fine dice. I should imagine you could do them in a food processor but you'd need to be careful not to over-process them or you'll end up with mush. My processor is only a mini one so I hand chopped my mushrooms. It took a while but once cooked the texture was perfect.

Also, for the veg base it's tradition to use an onion, celery and carrot but I didn't have any carrots in but I did have some parsnips. So I used one of them instead. And it worked great. Essentially you just need a slightly sweet root vegetable to counter the herbal, savoury notes of the celery and the parsnip seemed to do that perfectly well but I would leave it up to you.

Ingredients:

For the Bolognaise:
2 big family packs of supermarket mushrooms (mine cost under £3 for both), wiped clean of all muck and very finely minced
1 large onion peeled and finely chopped
3 sticks celery finely chopped
1 large parsnip finely diced
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 veggie oxo cubes
1tsp dried oregano
1tbsp Worcester sauce
Few drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
Pinch of salt to taste
1 cup dried red lentils
2 boxes of pasatta
2 cups water

For the white sauce:
50g butter
50g plain flour
500ml milk warmed (I use the microwave)
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Dried Lasagne sheets (15-20)
Grated cheese to top

Method:
1. In a dry frying pan on a high heat cook the mushrooms in batches. You need to cook them till all the water comes out of them, boils away and then they start to brown. It will look like you've got far to much mushrooms at first but once you cook them and the liquid evaporates they at least halve in volume. Once they're all cooked set them aside.

2. In a very large saucepan/stockpot, gently cook off the onion, celery, parsnip and garlic until the veg is translucent and tender. Adding a pinch of salt encourages the veg to leach there water preventing them from frying and colouring.
3. Add the mushrooms, oxo, oregano, Tabasco and Worcester sauce and stir together.
4. Add the lentils, pasatta and water, stir and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes then turn off the heat and allow the Bolognaise to cool. The lentils will continue to cook in the heat of the pan and will finish swelling and cooking in the oven.
5. For the white sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the flour. Cook over a low heat whisking constantly to prevent the mixture from burning but making sure the flour cooks out. Add the hot milk gradually, whisking constantly until thickened and add the nutmeg.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 190•C
7. To start building the lasagne, Pour a little of the Bolognaise mixture into the bottom of a very large lasagne dish (my dish only just fits in my oven).
8. Add a layer of the dried pasta sheets and top with more Bolognaise. Break the pasta sheets in half etc to fill all the gaps. Repeat until the dish is almost full.
9. After the last layer of pasta pour over the white sauce and top with the grated cheese.
10. Cover the dish with foil ensuring the foil doesn't touch the sauce or cheese.
11. Bake for 45 mins before removing the foil and return to the oven for 15 mins until the cheese is golden and bubbling.
12. Cut into 9 servings and serve with salad.

Creamy spring veg pasta

Creamy spring veg pasta

Feel free to substitute any if the veg in this recipe with tender spring veg of your choice I can imagine, spinach, asparagus and pea shoots would have worked wonderfully in this but I went with what was in my fridge and freezer: peas, broad beans and curly kale.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
Pasta of your choice (portion per person)
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
Half a bag of shredded curly kale
2 cups frozen peas
1 cup frozen broad beans
Big bunch if basil chopped
Half a bunch of mint chopped
Pinch dried oregano
Pinch black pepper
1/2 tub low fat cream cheese
2/3 pint of skimmed milk
2 tsp cornflour slaked in a little milk


Method:
1. Add a little salt to a pan of boiling water and add the dried pasta.
2. Bring to the boil then simmer as per the packet instructions
3. In a large frying pan/wok, Gently dry fry the onion and add the kale and garlic.
4. Gently stir fry until the kale starts to soften and wilt.
5. Add the peas, broad beans and pepper
6. Once the rest of the veg is tender add the cream cheese and milk
Simmer gently until the cream cheese has melted into the milk.
7. Add the cornflour mix and stir in
8. Simmer gently until slightly thickened
9. Add the herbs and drain the pasta
10. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and bring back to the simmer, stirring until the pasta is coated in the sauce
11. Serve

Spicy skinnier sloppy joes

Well I decided to try and tackle this all American favourite. Not the easiest of challenges. I'm afraid I didn't manage to cut out quite as much stodgy stuff as I'd have liked but it is beef, bun, sauce and cheese. There's only so much you can do with that combo without it no longer resembling the original. Plus this one's certainly not for every day so just enjoy the slightly pared back treat.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
400g extra lean beef mince (less than 5% fat)
1 large onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 beef oxo crumbled
1/2tsp dried oregano
1 heaped tsp Moroccan seasoning from asda
3tbs worschester sauce
4-5tbs tomato ketchup
4 large wholemeal buns
Reduced fat mature cheddar grated

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200*C
2. Place split buns on a baking tray and bake for 10-15 mins until lightly toasted
3. In the meantime dry fry the mince, pepper and onion until gently browned.
4. Add the seasonings and sauces and simmer on a low heat until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.
5. Serve the mince on the buns topped with a little grated cheese.

 

Sunday brunch - cowboy style (huevos rancheros)

These could be made veggie simply by leaving out the bacon but for those of us who are partial to a bit of  meat the flavour can't be duplicated.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 rashers smoked back bacon chopped
1 onion chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 red chilli deseeded and chopped
1 tin sweet corn drained
1 tin kidney beans rinsed and drained
2tsp chilli powder
1/2tsp black pepper
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp smoked paprika
Tabasco sauce to taste

2 wholemeal wraps
4 large eggs
Grated cheddar
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200*C
2. Fry the bacon until any water has evaporated and it has gone golden and crispy
3. Add the onions, chilli and peppers and cook gently until the onions are translucent and soft
4. Add the spices and Tabasco and cook for a couple of minutes
5. Add the sweet corn and kidney beans and cook gently till everything is piping hot through
6. Line two ovenproof bowls with the tortilla wraps
7. Divide the hash mix between the wraps (without overfilling)
8. Top with the grated cheese and crack in 2 eggs on top of everything
9. Bake in the oven at 200*C for 10-15 mins. Keep an eye on them as you want the yolks still runny
10. Serve

Chicken fajitas

My lovely hubby constantly goes on about the chicken fajitas they make at his work and how amazing they are. In his opinion mine are never as good ... Until now!!! He finally explained what mine was lacking was a sauce. So I tweaked my recipe and voila! This one has lots of veggies, lots of flavour and makes one chicken breast go a long way.

Serves 2
1 chicken breast sliced into strips
1tsp olive oil
1 onion sliced
1/2 red, yellow and green peppers sliced
1 clove garlic crushed

Spice mix:
1tsp oregano
1tsp cumin
1tsp black pepper
Pinch salt
2tsp smoked paprika
1tsp chilli powder

Tabasco sauce to taste
Hot water

Accompaniments:
4 wholemeal wraps
Salad
Grated cheddar
Natural yoghurt

1. Fry the chicken strips turning once till sealed
2. Add the onion and cook down a little
3. Add the peppers and garlic and cook till softened
4. Sprinkle over the spices and cook gently stirring often
5. Add the tomato purée, Tabasco and water to make the sauce. You want to add what looks like a little too much water as it will reduce down to make a rich sauce
6. Warm the wraps in foil in the oven
7. Serve as a build-your-own

Turkish style pizza

Rightio, first off, the original recipe used lamb but I don't much like it so I switched to beef. Nothing to do with ethical issues, I just never had it as a kid (excuse the pun) and never acquired a taste for it so it's a bit strong for my liking so I always just swap beef for lamb. Secondly, as I got part way through this I realised something was missing -salt! The original recipe I found was just spiced meat in a tomato paste on the wrap and while that's good and healthy it meant the dish lacked balance. So I made a last minute addition of some crumbled feta, giving it the creamy, fresh saltiness that balances the dry, spicy meat and the crispy nutty wholemeal wrap.


Ingredients:
2 wholemeal tortilla wraps
250g extra lean beef mince
1/2 ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
Pinch cinnamon
2 cloves garlic crushed
4tbsp tomato purée
1tsp lime juice
10-15 drops Tabasco sauce
6-8 chopped cherry tomatoes
1tbsp chopped fresh mint
1tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 pack feta cheese crumbled



Method:
1. Preheat oven to 220*C
2. Dry fry mince in a non stick frying pan breaking up into crumbled bits
3. Add the spices and cook out on a low heat
4. Add the tomato paste, lime and Tabasco
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and mint. Cook gently until the tomato juices evaporate
6. Spray foil with fry light and lay on a wrap
7. Divide the mince between the two wraps and spread out
8. Bake for 10 mins
9. Crumble over the feta and sprinkle with the chopped basil and serve

Nandos style lunch

When is a Sunday lunch not a Sunday lunch? When it's a nandos style chicken and sides.

Sometimes a Sundays dinner is just a bit too much of a chore so I tried this instead. You could easily do this with a whole roast chicken by spatchcocking it but for two of us I opted for a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I served it with corn on the cob, green salad and jalapeño coleslaw (I didn't make the coleslaw but imagine it wouldn't be too hard to do a healthier version using natural yoghurt and puréed chilli paste instead of mayo).

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts in a food bag
1tsp olive oil

For the dry rub:
1 chicken oxo cube
2tsp chilli powder
3tsp smoked paprika
2tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground black pepper

Sides:
4 mini corn on the cobs
Green salad
Jalapeño coleslaw

1. Open the top corner of the food bag so the air can escape. Using a rolling pin etc, bash the chicken in the bag until it's flattened out. The thinner it is the faster it will cook and the greater the surface area to soak up the rub and have contact with the pan to go crispy.
2. Put the corn in a pan of boiling waster. Bring to the boil again and boil for 10 minutes until tender.
3. In the meantime preheat the frying pan on a low heat
4. Mix the spices in a bowl along with the oxo cube crumbled up.
5. Pour the spices into the bag and scrunch around until the chicken is totally coated.
6. Add the oil to the pan and add each piece of chicken carefully ensuring it's fully opened out.
7. Fry on a medium heat turning occasionally until the chicken has a dark spice crust but is cooked and tender inside.
8. Drain the corn and serve with the chicken and the other sides.