Who knew something so jam-packed with veg could be so comforting in the middle of winter! All ingredients available from your local Romeo’s.
Half a butternut pumpkin
2 cloves of garlic
1 red capsicum
G-Fresh Italian Herbs
Chilli flakes (optional)
2 cans diced tomatoes
Handful of basil leaves
Fresh lasagna sheets
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Slice half of a butternut pumpkin into 2cm thick pieces and place on a baking tray.
Drizzle pumpkin with olive oil and sprinkle with nutmeg and a little bit of a pepper.
Place in oven and roast for 35 minutes until softened and browned slightly.
In a large saucepan, add 2 tablespoons oil and turn to medium heat.
Add in 2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped.
Add in the diced onion, capsicum and carrot (the pieces of the carrot need to be quite small so they soften).
Once softened slightly, add in chopped mushroom, diced zucchini and diced eggplant.
Put the lid on and simmer for 15 or so minutes, until all vegetables have softened.
Season vegetables with G-Fresh Italian Herbs, salt and pepper. I also add some chilli flakes – optional.
Add in 2 tablespoons tomato paste and stir in. Then add 2 cans of diced tomatoes.
Leave sauce to simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until thickened slightly.
Throw in some roughly chopped basil leaves (keep some small basil leaves to garnish).
In a bowl, stir 1 egg into 500g ricotta and season with salt and pepper. I use ricotta as a slightly healthier version of béchamel sauce.
Prepare a rectangle ceramic baking dish by lightly greasing it.
Place pumpkin in bottom of dish to form first layer. You can scatter it around randomly, but I have a touch of OCD so I like to make sure it’s even by smoothing it slightly across the bottom of the dish.
Cover pumpkin with some of the the vegetable tomato sauce.
Add first sheet of pasta.
Spread some of the ricotta mixture over the lasagne sheet.
Repeat with vegetable mixture, lasagne sheets and ricotta mixture until dish is full (finish with a ricotta layer!)
Sprinkle some grated mozzarella cheese over top of the ricotta mixture, cover with alfoil (tip – stick toothpicks in the four corners so the alfoil doesn’t stick to the cheese as it melts).
Place in oven for 20 minutes.
Remove alfoil and bake for another 20 minutes until the top is golden.
Garnish with fresh basil.
Serves 8 people (depending on your preferred serving size!)