A new vegetarian recipe from Thomasina Miers which you can dress up or down as you please.
Ingredients
- 3 medium leeks
- 200 g spinach or nettles
- 400 g Swiss Chard
- 25 g butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 4 garlic cloves peeled and grated
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 handful thyme sprigs leaves picked
- 200 g peas fresh or frozen
- 150 ml white wine
- 1 large handful dill finely chopped
- 300 g mozzarella torn
- 80 g parmesan grated
- 250-300 g lasagne sheets
- For the Béchamel
- 50 g butter
- 3 tbsp plain or spelt flour
- 600 ml whole milk
- ¼ nutmeg
- 250 g ricotta
- 100 g caerphilly, lancashire or cheddar, grated
Servings:
Instructions
- First, prep the veg. Cut the leeks in half lengthways, wash under cold, running water, then cut into 2½cm-wide slices. Wash the spinach and chard in cold water. Tear the leaves from the chard stems, then cut the stalks into 2½cm slices and both leaves into ribbons.
- Heat a large casserole on a medium heat and add the butter and oil. Once the butter has melted, season well, then add the leeks and sweat for seven or eight minutes. Stir in the chard stalks, garlic, bay leaves and thyme, and cook for another five to six minutes.
- Stir in the chard and spinach leaves, peas, white wine and dill, cover and simmer gently for seven or eight minutes, until the leaves have wilted and everything is tender. Taste and check the seasoning.
- While the vegetables are cooking, make the bechamel. Put a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat and add the butter. Once it’s sizzling, add the flour and stir for a few minutes, until it turns pale brown and smells deliciously nutty.
- Start pouring in the milk bit by bit, beating between each addition to make a smooth paste and, eventually, a sauce. Season well with salt, pepper and plenty of ground nutmeg, and stir in the ricotta and grated hard cheese.
- Spread some of the vegetable mixture in the base of a roughly 30cm x 20cm baking dish. Spoon over a quarter of the bechamel, followed by some torn mozzarella and a scattering of parmesan, cover with some of the pasta sheets, then repeat until all the sauce and greens have been used up, finishing with a layer of pasta covered by the last of the bechamel and cheese.
- Bake in a 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 oven for 35-40 minutes, until hot, bubbling and tender when a skewer is inserted. Serve with garlic bread and/or salad.
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