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.