Ingredient 18 - Fresh Lasagna Sheets

Lasagna sheets come in both fresh and dried forms. From my quality internet research it seems that there isn’t any outstanding differences between the two.

Fresh is favored for its convenience, with no cooking required prior to assembly of the lasagna dish. The sheets are also much easier to trim and fit the cooking dish. One criticism is that on occasion the sheets can become quite soggy; however this suits this dish perfectly as there isn’t a lot of fluid to soak up.

I actually will admit I have never cooked lasagna in fact. I will blame my mothers talent with vegetarian lasagna!

A perfect dinner for a female mid-week gossip session!

Lentil and Smashed Pumpkin Lasagna

1 tin brown lentils

1 brown onion

2 cans chopped tomatoes

1 cup vegetable stock

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp chilli flakes

½ tsp minced garlic

½ butternut pumpkin

2 tbsp olive oil

500g low fat ricotta cheese

150g feta

Small bunch basil

Fresh lasagna sheets

• Preheat oven to 160°.
• Finely dice the onion. Chop pumpkin into bite sized pieces.
• Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a deep fry pan over medium heat and gently sauté the onions until soft. Add the lentils and spices and sauté for further 5 minutes or until spices become fragrant. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30min or until most of liquid has absorbed. Remove the cinnamon stick and season well.
• Place pumpkin on a baking tray, pour over 1tbsp olive oil and roast in oven for 30minutes or until soft. Roughly mash the pumpkin with a fork on the tray so you get a mixture of mash and pieces.
• Mix the ricotta and 100g of feta together in a bowl.
• Grease lightly a rectangular lasagna dish with a little olive oil. Spoon half the lentil mixture over the base, dollop with ricotta mixture on top and top with a single lasagna sheet. Arrange the smashed pumpkin over next layer, sprinkle with half the basil, as well as more dollops of ricotta, and then top with another lasagna sheet. Finally spoon the remaining lentil mixture and dollops of ricotta on top, sprinkle with remaining crumbed feta and basil.
• Bake in oven for 30min or until lasagna sheets are tender and cooked.

Ingredient 17 - Watercress

Watercress is one of the oldest known leaf vegetables to the human diet.

They provide great nutritional benefit, rich in iron, calcium and folic acid. Watercress was also described in herbal history as being the spring-cleaning herb for purifying the blood and toning one’s body. This is due to the leaves stimulating effect on the digestive juices within the body, which is why there is caution out there to not over-consume!

A quick recipe for midweek dinner.

Smoked salmon, watercress and roasted almond pasta

Serves 4

180g smoked salmon

1 bag of watercress (120g)

1 red onion

2 limes

¼ cup slivered almonds

350g dried penne or rigatoni

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp minced garlic

• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta following packet directions, until al dente. Drain well.
• Remove watercress leaves from stalks and roughly chop. Finely slice the red onion into thin rings. Mix together the onion and watercress in a bowl with the juice of 2 limes.
• Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat. Dry roast the slivered almonds until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
• Roughly tear the smoked salmon into bite size pieces.
• Place the pasta, watercress mixture and salmon in a large serving bowl and combine well. Serve with additional lime wedges and pepper.

Ingredient 15 & 16 - Nannygai Fish & Green Peppercorns

Green peppercorns were the ingredient this week, however on receiving a freshly caught Easter gift from some very generous Innisfail friends Nannygai fish found its way into this weeks recipe.

Green peppercorns are simply unripe peppercorn berries, described as having a fresher and milder flavour than black peppercorns. They are available as either preserved in brine, water packed or freeze-dried.

Nannygai fish are a reef fish that occupy the waters from Queensland to West Australia. They are relatively small fish, reaching a length of 20-25cm at maturity, and have pinkish fins and red tails. Hence Nannygai are commonly called ‘redfish’ and are popular for their delicate firm mild taste.

A big thankyou to the fishermen!

Pan-fried Nannygai, Potatoes, Leeks and Asparagus with a Green Peppercorn dressing

Serves 3

3 portions Nannygai fillet

4 white potatoes

1 leek

1 bunch asparagus

1 tsp lemon rind

1 tsp green peppercorns

2 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 ½ tbsp light olive oil

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tsp honey

Extra olive oil

• Preheat oven to 180°.
• Slice potatoes lengthways into pieces around 2cm in width. Place the potatoes on roasting tray, drizzle generously with olive oil and roast in oven for 20min or until cooked.
• Trim ends of asparagus and then chop in half. Chop off the green part of the leeks and discard, then slice the leek into thin strips approximately the width of the asparagus stems.
• Whisk together the crushed green peppercorns, red wine vinegar, mustard, honey, lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl.
• Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Panfry the fish fillets each side for 2min until browned. Place in preheated oven and cook for a further 10min or until cooked.
• Using the same frypan heat another 2 tbsp olive oil with lemon rind over medium heat. Sauté the leeks for 10min or until soft, add the asparagus and 1 generous tbsp of dressing and sauté for further 5minutes.
• To serve place the potatoes on a plate, top with leek and asparagus, place the fish on top and spoon over the dressing. Serve with lemon wedges.