Recipe: Sweet Potato & Broccoli Vegetarian Lasagne

Another recipe!

A month ago, I decided I would eat a vegetarian main meal once a week. We don't eat huge amounts of meat anyway, but it does usually feature in our evening meals. In a bid to eat slightly healthier, and up our veggie intake, I've decided to go for some meat-free meals. Nine times out of ten, I won't follow a recipe. I might get an idea from one, and change it to suit what I like/what's in the cupboards, or I might make something up entirely. This is one of the latter!

It turned out to be very tasty indeed, and if Adam can't eat it and not moan that there's no chicken in it, it's a winner!

Sweet Potato & Broccoli Lasagne

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet Potato
1/2 a Medium head of Broccoli
1 Large Leek
1 Medium Onion
A Handful of Frozen Peas
5 Sheets of Lasagne Pasta

400ml Semi Skimmed Milk
35g Butter
35g Plain Flour
45g Cheddar Cheese, grated
Extra Cheese to top (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to gas mark 4.

Thinly slice the onion and leek, and gently cook in a large saucepan with a dash of olive oil.
Seperate broccoli into very small florets. Add to pan. I also thinly sliced a chunk of the stalk and added this too.
Peel and dice the sweet potato in approx. 1.5cm cubes. Add to the pan.
Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes.
Add approx. 150ml of boiling water to the pan, cover and allow to cook for a further 10 minutes.
Check your vegetables at this point, and add the frozen peas.
Do not allow the pan to go completely dry. If your vegetables are still uncooked, add a little more water if needed. If they are cooked, remove the saucepan lid to allow any liquid to evaporate if still present. You're aiming for softly cooked vegetables with minimum liquid left in your pan. It took a further 5 minutes of cooking with the lid of for me to acheive this.

Meanwhile, make your white sauce. In a small pan, melt the butter over a low heat, and add the flour. Stir until you have a thick paste. Slowly add the milk, bit by bit, and stir continuously until the sauce thickens. Add the grated cheese, remove from the heat, and stir until the cheese is melted.

In a small, oven proof dish (I have a 10" square Pyrex dish) spread half your vegetable mixture over the bottom. Top with a layer of the lasagne pasta sheets. My dish uses two and a half sheets per layer. Add have your cheese sauce mixutre, and another layer of vegetables. Top with the second layer of pasta, and finally the rest of the cheese sauce. If you wish, top with extra grated cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes at Gas Mark 4.

Allow to cool slightly before serving with garlic bread.

Yum yum!