Here it is!
Clare, hope you don't mind. I edit, copied and pasted it here to make it easy to copy.
Ladies:
Glad to oblige. Receipe and method follow. Seems long, but once you have this down, you can make it standing on your head. It is also very adaptable, depending on veg in season, and personal taste.
VEGGIE AND RED BEAN LASAGNA:
Caveat:
I never use anything to measure quantities. I throw in what I like until it looks like "enough"! If you cook for a family, make double the quantity and freeze half before adding the beans and assembling the dish. That way you have another lasagna nearly ready for next week, lots of time saved. Receipe includes British vocab variations for ex-pats like me!
Method:
--Put on fave music and jig about in kitchen while cooking. Very therapeutic.
Pasta:
--Half fill large saucepan witth water, add small splash of cheap veg oil (will prevent pasta from sticking together). When it boils add at least 8 strips of lasagna (green or whole wheat varieties acceptable, but i prefer plain). Turn down to simmer and cook about 20 minutes. When done "al dente", strain into colander in sink. Throw back in saucepan immediately and cover with cold water (will stop you burning your fingers when you assemble the dish later). Set aside.
Veggie and bean mix:
--Take a large saucepan. Splash some olive oil into it (approx 3 tablespoons). Get your wooden spoon out, long handled.
--Chopping board and sharp knife to the ready. Chop roughly one large onion, red is nice. Throw in pan. Crush lots of garlic (I like about 6/8 pieces, to taste) and add to pan. Stir, light gas underneath this lot and keep it moving and sizzling while you chop rest of veg.
--Chop roughly 3 green squash/zucchini/courgeettes, whatever you call them. if you like yellow squash, and for a bit of winter colour, add one of those chopped too.
--I love red peppers, geat antioxidants, so throw in 2 or 3 red peppers (sweeter than the green), roughly chopped in pieces or strips as you like. Stir and cook with the rest.
--Take one eggplant/aubergine, slice, chop and add to pan. Cook whole lot, stirring frequently.
It looks bulky at the early stage, but as you cook, it will reduce itself, promise.
--Open large can of crushed tomatoes. Add to pan. Continue cooking the whole time. Open small can of tomato paste and add. Stir thoroughly.
--At this point check the "liquidity" of your, by now, well-cooked, reduced mix. You don't want slop, but you do want moist movement (sounds almost obscene!), not a hard lump all stuck together. So, add more crushed tomatoes if you need to, but one can, or slightly under is usually enough.
Seasoning:
--Add fresh basil if you grow it, dried if you don't. Add a generous pinch or two of herbes de provence. At this point, you can basically season it according to your taste. Some people may add oregano. I am not an oregano person, but feel free, experiment.
--Small pinch of salt (you can always add more later). Be generous with the black pepper.
--IMPORTANT: Add several squirts of cinnammon from your little tin. (make the dish several times and experiment with how much you like, I like the sweetness myself)
Keep all this cooking continuously on medium flame, not high.
--Open 1 or 2 cans of red beans or kidney beans and throw in the mix (note: if you are saving half for the freezer, do this before adding beans.)
Leave this to simmer while you make your cheese sauce (note: your pasta has already finished cooking and been strained)
Cheese sauce:
--basically you are going to make a basic white sauce, a "roux" sauce, and add cheese.
--medium size pan. Add 4 oz margarine, melt over low flame. Then add and stir in to a paste 2 or 3 tablespoons of flour (any) until this is a smooth paste, not runny. If runny, add more flour. Not too stiff, to the extent that the paste has no movement. Bad.
--Season with salt and pepper.
--Pour in an ounce or two of 2% milk and stir into flour paste. Mixture with gradually get runnier. Add another couple of ounces of milk, and stir again. You need to work the milk in gradually at the beginning to prevent hard lumps from forming. Then add a good amount of milk until the saucepan is nearly full, say a half pint, three quarters of a pint? I never measure this, I do it by eye, sorry.
--Put pan on the gas stove and start to cook slowly, STIRRING CONSTANTLY OR LUMPS WILL FORM. THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO PUT ANOTHER CD ON AND WALK AWAY FROM THE STOVE!!! Mixture will thicken, perhaps suddenly at boiling point.
--Grate cheddar chese or marble, or whatever you like and add, stirring. Cheese will melt in. Put back on flame to help this along. How much cheese? I never stint on cheese in this receipe. I use a full 8 oz. I need the intensity of flavour. Those watching fat consumption can reduce accordingly... but I'd rather make this flavoursome dish and skip the dessert.
Assembly:
--In large oven-proof dish put half the veggie mix in the bottom. Drain your pasta again and layer it on top of veggie mix. Three strips lengthwise, one along the botttom, cross-wise, =4 strips. Pour slightly less than half cheese sauce on top. Repeat this for another layer, use remainder of cheese sauce to ensure all pasta is thoroughly covered.
Cook in oven (from 350-400 F) for half to three quarters of hour. You want the long cook to ensure the cheese sauce blends with the tomato sauce. Fabulous. It's great witth red wine and a bunch of friends, followed by a great movie!
This will make enough to keep in the fridge for several days, covered with alu foil. It does my hubby and me (too busy to cook every night) for three or four evenings, warmed in microwave. It improves with time too, as the flavours mature.
ENJOY!!! (email me if you have trouble,
[email protected])
Clare
Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH
http://www.plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
