Lentil Lasagna
Serves: 4
Time: 90 minutes
This is not a quick dinner; but that doesn’t mean you’ll be spending hours slaving in the kitchen, you just need to allow time for the sauce to cook so that it can develop a lovely rich flavour. You also need to allow oven time for the lasagna sheets to cook, otherwise there is minimal prep involved. I love a good oven dinner; once it’s in the oven it almost feels like you get to take the rest of the night off.
Leftover Lunch
This is a big dish for two people, so you should have plenty of lasagna left over for lunch.
What You’ll Need
1/2 brown onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of basil
3 tins of whole peeled tomatoes
2 carrots
2 zucchini
1 tin of lentils
200ml creme fraiche (optional)
1 box of gluten free lasagna sheets
1 broccoli
1 handful of almonds
From the pantry
olive oil
sea salt flakes
20g butter
Prep and Cook
Prep Sauce
Finely dice onion and garlic.
Sauté in a heavy-based casserole dish that has a lid with 1 tablespoon of olive oil until lightly golden in colour.
Add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand as you go. Swill the cans out with a little water then add it to the mix.
Pick the leaves off the basil and add 12 of the smaller leaves to the tomatoes.
Peel carrots, then grate carrot and zucchini and add to the tomatoes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Place the lid on and simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Remove the lid and stir through the drained lentils and the crème fraiche.
Check seasoning.
Assemble Lasagna
Spread a thin layer of the lentil mix across the base of your baking dish.
Spread a layer of lasagna sheets on top, then generously spread 2/3 of the lentil mixture on top. Add another layer of lasagna sheets. Finish with the remaining lentil mix, drizzle very lightly with olive oil or olive spray.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through.
Cook Broccoli
After half an hour put a medium-sized pot of water on to boil with a pinch of salt.
Lightly toast almonds on an oven tray in the oven for 8 minutes, stir halfway.
Cut broccoli into florets.
Once the lasagna is out of the oven, drop the broccoli into the boiling water for 20 seconds or more depending on how you like to eat yours (I'm a crunchy girl).
Melt butter and mix through the almonds.
Sprinkle over the cooked broccoli.
Plate it Pretty
Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with the rest of the fresh basil leaves.
Enjoy!
Lunch Tomorrow
Serve leftover lasagna up into microwave safe containers. Or freeze down in individual portions for a rainy day.