LULLY VEGGIE LASAGNE

One of the most comforting meals you can have in my eyes is a vegetarian lasagne but it can appear like a bit of a faff to make one especially after you have had another long hard day at work. That is just not true with my lully vegetarian lasagne. OK, it does require a bit of work but that is only really in the preparation of the yummy Quorn mince, tomato and pepper filling and the cheesy white sauce. Once it's layered up and in the oven all you need to do is sit back, relax and wait for this lully little treat to bake. Result!

So obviously I'm using Quorn again as I do love the stuff. If you want to use beef or lamb mince to make this lasagne then of course you can.

I find there is something very satisfying about making the white sauce from scratch. It's not even that difficult either so don't be nervous about it. If you do want to save some more time though you can buy a ready made white sauce and use that instead if you wish. Just warm in up in a pan first and still melt the cheese through it to give it a bit of a flavour punch.

Speaking of cheese, the cheese you use is a really simple way to give the lasagne an extra kick of flavour with the most minimal amount of effort. Although I've put cheddar cheese in the recipe below, sometimes I use Apple-wood smoked cheese to give the topping and white sauce a fabulous smoky flavour or there are some brilliant cheeses flavored with chili around nowadays if you want to give the lasagne a bit of a spicy twist. Experiment with any cheese you like!

Recipe below is enough for a lasagne for two (how romantic!). Make sure you use lasagne sheets that you don't need to pre cook first in order to make this a hassle free dinner and use a deep sided oven proof dish roughly the size of the lasagne sheets so that you can pack everything in. Don't over fill the dish otherwise it'll spill out everywhere. Use your judgement and layer up the lasagne based on the dish you have, my recipe below is just to be used as a guide on how to assemble your lully lasagne;

Vegetarian Lasagne

1 Finely Chopped Onion

250g Quorn Mince

1 Grated Garlic Clove

2 Chopped Roasted Red Peppers

400g Tin Of Chopped Tomatoes

Salt And Pepper To Season

2 Tsp Butter

2 Tsp Plain Flour

300ml Semi Skimmed Milk

150g Grated Cheddar Cheese

1 Large Mozzarella Ball

4 Sheets Of Lasagne

1. Begin by placing a lightly oiled pan on the hob at a medium heat and once the pan is hot, chuck in the onions, Quorn mince and garlic and fry until the onions are beginning to soften. Add in the peppers and fry for a further minute.
2. Pour in the tin of tomatoes with a splash of water and season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture up to a simmer and then leave for 15 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce. Once reduced, remove the pan from the heat and leave to one side.
3. Take a saucepan and add in the butter and melt over a medium heat before adding in the flour and mixing together to form a paste. Slowly add in the milk in small batches, whisking after each addition until the paste has dissolved and there are no lumps in the milk. Keep heating the milk until the sauce thickens and then remove the pan from the heat and add in 100g of the cheddar cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted.
4. Time to assemble the lasagne but before you do, turn your oven on to 200 degrees (180 fan). Take your mozzarella ball and cut in half. Take each of the mozzarella halves and ripinto 8 pieces so you have 16 little pieces of mozzarella.
5. Take a baking dish and spoon in a small amount of the white sauce to coat the bottom of the dish. Place one of the sheets of lasagne over the white sauce and then spoon over half of the mince mixture to cover pasta. Dot 8 of the mozzarella pieces around in the mince and then cover with another sheet of pasta. 
6. Cover this sheet of pasta with half of the remaining white sauce and then spoon over the remaining mince mixture.Cover the mince with another lasagne sheet and use the remaining sheet to fill in any gaps by breaking it up into smaller pieces. 
7. Cover the top layer of pasta with the remaining white sauce, dot over the remaining mozzarella and sprinkle over the remaining cheddar cheese. Finish with a good crack of pepper.
8. Place the lasagne onto a baking tray to catch any leaking sauce and cover the lasagne with foil (try not let the foil touch the top of the lasagne or it will stick to the cheese!). Pop in the oven to bake for 20 minutes before removing the foil and baking for a further 10 minutes until the top of the lasagne is all golden brown and delicious looking.

Remove the lasagne from the oven but then leave it for about 5-10 minutes to rest slightly so that you can remove it from the dish easily (it will be too sloppy and go everywhere if you try to do this straight away!). It can be hard to wait that long especially when you're looking at all that mouthwatering bubbling cheese on top of the lasagne but do be patient as when you can finally crack through the top (love the crispy bits!) and lift out a beautiful layered portion of that gorgeous Quorn mince, tomato and pepper masterpiece then you know really are in for a proper treat. Now that's what I call a lully lasagne!