Sunday, May 16, 2010

Just Like (Italian) Mama Used to Make?


I have never made a vegetarian lasagne, but I liked the idea of creating a rustic layered, almost open sort of lasagne where the filling tumbles out in organised chaos. With lovely complimentary flavours of butternut, baby tomato, sage and an aromatic white sauce, how could I go wrong?

This casual, yet gloriously comforting lasagne was meant to serve 4, but Dre and I gobbled it up within seconds... I always say that if Dre eats my food with gusto and goes back for seconds, it is a winner. He is a good guinea pig though and tries everything I put in front of him, but some meals he is less enthusiastic about. Not this one though! What made it even more surprising was the fact that there was no meat in sight - high praise indeed!

Butternut, Sage and Baby Tomato Lasagne:
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 Butternut, Cut into Chunks (I left the skin on)
1 Punnet Baby Tomatoes
A Few Sage Leaves
A Drizzle of Macadamia Nut Oil
Paprika
Herbal Salt

White Sauce:

1/3 Cup Corn Starch
80mls Macadamia Nut Oil
2 Cups Soya Milk
Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper

3/4 packet Rice and Corn Lasagne Sheets (I bought mine from Fruits and Roots)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Drizzle macadamia nut oil, paprika and herbal salt over butternut pieces and roast in the oven for 40 minutes until golden
Make the white sauce by combining corn starch and macadamia nut oil to form a paste. Add milk a little at a time until a saucy consistency has been reached (the macadamia nut oil gives the sauce a lovely nutty flavour, which works beautifully with the butternut and sage)
Add grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste
Cook lasagne sheets for 10 minutes until just under al dente
Layer butternut, tomatoes, sage, pasta sheets and white sauce (don't forget to end off with the white sauce)
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, which will give baby tomatoes enough time to cook and go delicious, for all flavours to combine and for the top to go golden

Mmm... can you smell the sage wafting around the kitchen?

1 comment:

  1. It 's good looking.
    I like that your recipes look very tasty. I just started my blog. It is in both English and Spanish. Thank you for sharing your recipes.

    ReplyDelete