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Yum yum yum. It’s most rare that i post immediately after i’ve eaten but Callums in the shower so i have the best part of half an hour to kill. Maybe this makes me more driven to try and fully convey how delicious our Lasagne was? maybe i’ve just spent too many hours on my own? hey ho… here we go.
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I decided to try and make my own Wholewheat pasta and i can assure you it’s totally worth it. It really doesn’t take much time/ effort and the rewards of eating something you’ve hand crafted are manifold. By ‘vegamel’ i am referring to my play on the classic Bechamel sauce that usually adorns ones Lasagne- quite simply, i drained the excess  water of the Soup/ Gratin fail, blended the remaining veg and added a wee bit of mature Scottish Cheddar. The resulting taste/ texture was so, so much better, more interesting (and healthier) than it’s gluten namesake. For once i made this dish to serve two portions (turning a loaf tin into the lasagne receptacle worked perfectly), but i still had the same again quantities of: tomato sauce, pasta sheets and ‘vegamel’ surplus. They are all happy in jars or foil in the fridge and good for 4 days or so- a future weeknight supper sorted- success!

(Can serve 4, or 2 people for 2+ meals)

Wholewheat Pasta:

  • 95g Plain Flour
  • 90g Wholewheat Flour
  • 1g of Sea Salt
  • 5ml of Olive Oil
  • 2 Free- range Eggs
  1. In a bowl, or on a counter top, sift the flours and salt
  2. Make a well in the centre and add the Oil and Eggs
  3. Whisk with a fork until the mix comes together
  4. Tip onto, or move to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth
  5. Leave to rest for 30 minutes/ 1 hour
  6. Now i don’t own a pasta roller machine thing, so i just split my dough into 4 and used a rolling pin to roll it own as thinly as possible- i cut my pasta into rectangles the size of my tin (but if you want to make another shape of pasta go for it, maybe use a ruler to get uniform sizes)
  7. Again if you use this to make other pasta then just pop in some salted, boiling water for 4 minutes and bobs your uncles- as i had a saucey Lasagne i didn’t bother cooking before i assembled

‘Vegamel’ Sauce:
(You can use dairy- free soup to make this is you want to go vegan- i was just using up what i had)

  • A tub of cooked soup vegetables (yes i know ‘a tub’ is quite vague)
  • 60g Scottish Mature Cheddar
  1. Drain any excess water/ stock off your veggies and blitz to a smooth paste
  2. Pop into a pan and add a dash of Milk (or water)
  3. Grate 40g of the cheese and stir into the sauce
  4. Heat gently until the cheese has just started to melt

Tomato Sauce:
(Serves 4 or 2 if you keep half in the fridge)

  • 1/2 white Onion
  • 1/3 of a Leek (i used the top, greener end)
  • 2 cloves of Garlic
  • 1/2 a small green Chilli
  • 1 stick of Celery
  • 1 tin of Chopped Tomatoes
  • zest of 1 Lemon
  • tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar
  • teaspoon of Sugar
  • 1/3 bunch of Basil
  • tablespoon of Oil
  1. In a medium pan, heat the Oil
  2. Finely slice the Onions, Leek and Celery and add, cooking for 5 minutes on a medium heat
  3. Finely dice/ mash the Chilli and Garlic, add to the pan and cook for 4 minutes
  4. Add the Tomatoes, Lemon zest, Basil, Vinegar and Sugar
  5. Cook for 8 minutes until slightly reduced in volume
  6. Ladle half the sauce into a jar and refrigerate (or use all if making for 4)

For the vegetable filling of my Lasagne i used Kale and Broccoli (blanched for 30 seconds) and 1/4 of an Aubergine, which i diced, lightly coated in salt and squashed between to places for 1 hour (to remove the bitterness) and 1/4 yellow Pepper. I added the Aubergine to the Tomato sauce just before i assembled the Lasagne.
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After that it’s just a case of layering. A small layer on the Tomato, Kale, Broccoli and Peppers dotted on top, followed by a wee bit a the ‘vegamel’ then 1 layer of pasta. Repeat this until all the ingredients are used up, ending with a top layer of ‘vegamel’. Grate the remaining 20g of cheese on top. Bake for 25/ 20 minutes until the top is delicious and melted.

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