I wasn’t going to blog this.
This was a I-haven’t-defrosted-anything-for-dinner-the-fridge-is-full-of-vegetables-it’s-half-past-three-in-the-afternoon-what-am-I-going-to-feed-my-family meal.
It involves canned foods; quite a few of them. <blush>
As a foodie (and a mother), using tins and ready made jarred products is something I feel embarrassed about admitting using. Surely you’re supposed to go the extra haul and make absolutely everything from scratch from organic, seasonal produce right, lovingly simmered for hours on an immaculately clean cooker gently stirred while sporting perfect hair and nails? If not, you’re a failure, right?
Bah – stuff that!
I live rurally on a remote island in the middle of the North Sea. Come the winter the ferries – our lifeline to the mainland – sometimes can’t sail because of rough seas. That means no fresh produce, often for days at a time. I have learned to rely on store cupboard tins and jars throughout the winter months, and I have a few regular staples throughout the summer too.
Recently I read and thoroughly enjoyed the book Vanilla Salt by Catalan chef Ada Parellada. This paragraph struck a chord with me.
Tins are like those friendships you don’t care about, but which can get you out of all sorts of messes without moaning about being shunted aside for something more beautiful, younger and fresher. Your tins wait in the pantry, patient and uncomplaining, until you need them. Then you’re full of praise for these ugly, inscrutable, aluminium cans and, when you decide to open them, you find that they’re hiding a singular personality, discreet uniqueness, exquisite taste and great humility. Although they’re so honest, you hesitate before presenting them in society, because they’re not considered natural enough, or fresh enough, or young enough, or beautiful enough to be hanging on your arm. I have the highest regard for them because they’ve never let me down.
So, dear readers, inspired by this paragraph I am sharing my recipe, with one Instagram photo hastily snapped with my iPad as it’s the only photo I have before we scoffed the lot. Like I said, I wasn’t planning on blogging it – but I changed my mind.
A tin of tomato soup often gets added to my tomato based sauces for pasta, something my husband was taught by his Norwegian mother and he taught me. The soup adds a lovely creaminess to the sauce and we’ve all become rather fond of it.
Wild garlic pesto is a new thing to me. I first heard about wild garlic through an Aberdeen food blog I follow: the lovely Claire over at Foodie Quine (who I had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago en route to BritMums Live in London!). As far as I am aware wild garlic doesn’t grow here in Shetland but I’ve been anxious to try it ever since Claire wrote about it. Imagine my delight when a jar arrived in a box of Sacla’ pesto and pasta sauces I was sent to sample. I am in love with wild garlic!
This lasagne was one of the best I’ve ever made, and I’ve experimented with quite a few. It makes enough to feed a family of four, twice, or one large family with a little leftover for lunch the next day. It freezes well too.
Sacla’ have offered my readers the chance to win one of two of their gift baskets, RRP £50 – visit my Giveaways page to enter!
Veggie Lasagna with Wild Garlic Pesto
Ingredients
For the Tomato Sauce
- 40 grams butter
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 large carrot finely chopped
- 1 stick celery finely chopped
- 2 400 gram tinned chopped tomatoes
- 1 400 gram tin tomato soup
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Shetland sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- handful fresh parsley chopped
For the Cheese Sauce
- 30 grams butter
- 40 grams plain flour
- 450 ml full fat milk
- 200 grams mature cheddar cheese
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Vegetables
- 1 red bell peppers
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 2 courgettes
- 200 grams fresh spinach
- 5 large brown mushrooms sliced
- olive oil to brush
To assemble
- 80 grams wild garlic pesto
- 50 grams mature cheddar cheese
- no cook lasagne sheets
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Instructions
- To prepare the tomato sauce heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium high heat.
- Sauté the onion until it softens, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic, carrot and celery and sauté a further five minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and bay leaves and season well.
- Reduce heat to medium low and simmer gently with the lid half on for half an hour (or longer if you have the time). Stir in the fresh chopped parsley at the end of cooking.
- Meanwhile, prepare your vegetables. Quarter your peppers and cut part way so they are flat. Brush with olive oil and grill until softened (I used my Tefal Optigrill but you could do this on the hob or under a grill, or even roast them for half an hour in a hot oven). Slice the courgettes lengthwise and do the same. Set aside to cool.
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan over a high heat. Quickly cook the mushrooms and, when they are nearly ready, stir in the spinach leaves and cook until wilted. Set aside in a colander to drain.
- To prepare the cheese sauce, heat the butter over a medium high heat in a small saucepan.
- When the butter is hot stir in the flour and cook for one minute.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the milk. Return pan to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.
- Remove again from the heat, stir in the grated cheese and mustard. Set aside with the lid on until needed.
- To assemble, place two soup ladles worth of tomato sauce onto the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
- Top with a layer of lasagna noodles and then the layer of drained mushroom/spinach. Season this layer well with salt and pepper.
- Add another layer of noodles and a layer of tomato sauce followed by a layer of cheese sauce.
- Add a layer of your grilled vegetables, more noodles, more tomato sauce and finish off with a layer of cheese sauce.
- Spoon the wild garlic pesto in 1 tsp drops over the top of the cheese sauce, sprinkle with extra mature cheddar cheese and bake at 180 C/ 350 F for 30-40 minutes until golden and bubbly.
- Leave to stand for ten minutes before serving with a lovely fresh side salad and crusty bread.
Notes
Environmental Information
Linking up with Shaheen over at Allotment 2 Kitchen and her Eat Your Greens challenge, Lavender and Lovage’s Cooking with Herbs (the parsley was grown in my own garden!), Caroline Makes… and Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker and their Alphabakes Challenge (the letter p for pesto!) and Jacqueline over at Tinned Tomatoes and her Pasta Please challenge, hosted this month by Nanya at SimplySensationalFood. Also linking up to Extra Veg by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy, hosted this month by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.
OTHER VEGGIE LASAGNES
Vegetarian lasagne with peppered cheese sauce and garlic and gruyere flatbread triangles by A Mummy Too
Veggie Lasagne for National Vegetarian Week by Tinned Tomatoes
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagne by Kellie’s Food to Glow
OTHER WILD GARLIC RECIPES
Wild Garlic Pesto by Food Urchn
How to have wild garlic all year round by Kavey Eats
Wild Garlic Pesto Pinwheels by Foodie Quine
Wild Garlic Pesto with Walnut and Truffle Oil by Franglais Kitchen
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Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary was sent a selection of Sacla’ products for review. All opinions expressed are my own. This is not a paid post.
Sacla’ Pesto Review & Hamper Giveaway RRP £50
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I come from the countryside, rural environment too but even I am not that hidden away as you! I don’t understand why there is a big hoo hah over frozen produce when it can make delicious meals like this!
Its good not to have meat at least one meal a week
Sounds divine – and healthy.
looks yummy
I get so fed up of cooking the same vegetarian food when my sister-in-law comes to visit. I know she will be most impressed with this dish, as will I. Can’t wait to give it a go. x
Sounds wonderful and comforting.
This looks delicious and also makes a dent in the mountain of courgettes I’ve grown this year!
This looks absolutely beautiful! It will be a fine addition to my veggie day recipes!! 🙂
Wife will love this one.
This sounds absolutely delightful, will be giving it a go tonight
That looks delicious – I’m definately going to try this. I like the idea of adding a tin of tomato soup to make the sauce creamier too!
My girlfriend tried this and said its the best recipe for veggie lasagne she’s come across
Good tinned tomatoes are preferable to tasteless fresh ones in my book.
It looks gorgeous, like I could pick it right off the screen and eat it!
How well do you think this would work with the other flavour pestos?
I’m sure it would still be lovely. They have a tomato based one that could be used, or even one of the more traditional basil ones would be lovely. I usually sprinkle regular basil pesto over the top of my beef lasagne which is nice.
I have yet to find wild garlic pesto in the shops near me, but I’m going to keep looking. This sounds great
This looks amazing
Oh this looks very good. I really need to get more imaginative with my veggie cooking. Thanks for sharing my post. x
My pleasure Kavey, glad you like the look of my lasagne even if it was just an ipad snap! 🙂
This looks amazing! I’ll have to try it
ooooh this looks amazing!
Amazing how versatile pesto is.
I am SO sorry for the VERY late reply Elizabeth – things have been VERY hectic here in Lavender and Lovage Towers – friends and family staying and lots of work too! This is a FAB herby recipe, thanks, and thanks so much for adding it to Cooking with Herbs for August! Karen xxx
I love garlic pesto I will definitely be making this!
Lovely lasagne Elizabeth.
I keep jars and packets to hand and I live in central London – I like to be well stocked!
Personally I think this vegetable lasagne sounds amazing and the ingredients used very tasty, in fact there’s nothing on the list that I don’t like, so this dish would be well worth trying out.
this looks so good i will have to give it a go 🙂
sounds scrummy, yum yum!!!
It sounds and looks good to me, i love pesto as well
I live in London and can pop to specialist shops whenever I want anything – I even went to Chinatown for an ingredient once – so I can’t imagine what it must be like where you live! I think it’s great to have recipes using up storecupboard ingredients wherever you live anyway and this lasagne looks fantastic – thanks for entering Alphabakes!
That must be nice to gave such a wide variety of food near you. I visited some of the shops in Chinatown when I was in London earlier this year and was really impressed!
well my pantry is crammed with tins and jars – I wouldn’t be without my baked beans and soups – and happy to throw them into cooking when needed. love that you use tinned soups in your cooking – it is something my mum did and I love the nostalgic feel of doing it (and sylvia plath put tinned soup into cakes so you are in good company). And being able to use tins and jars when you need, shows you have some healthy balance in your life rather than running yourself ragged.
I also love your lasagna – it is the sort I love to make – though I often throw in an extra tin of legumes. I have never had wild garlic fresh but have had it dried and in a salt mix – without preserving I would never have the chance to taste it – yet another reason for jars and tins.
Thanks Johanna, so glad to hear I’m not alone in the tin department! 🙂 Legumes in a lasagne sounds lovely too – have you blogged the recipe? I agree that tins and jars allow us to taste things we never otherwise might have the opportunity to.
Gosh, don’t give yourself a hard time about using tins and jars – we all need a break sometimes and cooking from scratch every single day is a very tall order. This sounds delicious and your photo looks pretty good to me Elizabeth. It makes me want to tuck in and that’s what counts.
Thanks Choclette 🙂 I don’t mind using tins and jars, I just don’t like to admit to the rest of the world I use them! 😀
Thank you for this recipe. I have a cupboard full of tins waiting to be used.
My pleasure Maya, I hope you like it!
There’s nothing wrong with a cupboard full of tins………. they are a necessary time-saver in our house (guilt or not!)…… I’m incredibly impressed that you chose to make lasagne as a ‘late in the day’ meal…… I only risk it when I have loads of time to spare (which is a shame because it is one of my favourites).
Thanks Kate – glad to hear I am not alone with the tins! 🙂 I was surprised I made lasagne that late in the day too – it’s usually something requiring advance planning, but once I got going that was it!
Yummyyy this is such a lovely recipe! Lasagna is one of my all time favourite foods ♥
Thanks Mary 🙂 I’m quite fond of it too – I really ought to make it more often!
Looks and sounds delicious. I think tomatoes it my biggest cheat – whether it’s tinned toms or tom soup – so brilliant for sauces – and who can afford the time or expense to use fresh toms for everything?
Me too 🙂 glad to hear I am not alone!
I too make my own wild garlic pesto in vast quantities which I freeze and use through the year, I rarely if ever buy the stuff these days ;). I wouldn’t expect you to find any in the Shetlands as it grows in woodland. Like you I put pesto in lasagne and on pizza, with pasta and sometimes in quiches too. Love the stuff!
Mmm pesto in a quiche – love that idea! 🙂 How lucky you are that you can harvest and make your own wild garlic pesto – I am envious!
I’ve got plenty of basil and garlic and things from the garden to make my own pesto – would that work as well?
Absolutely! I usually make my beef lasagne with regular pesto over the top.
love the idea of adding pesto to the lasagne – I got a jar of the sacla stuff too (my own stash being long gone) so will try this out. It does taste so good, and your idea looks fab.
Thanks Nazima. I was really impressed with the quality of the Sacla products – I will be looking out for this garlic pesto on the shelves for sure!
That looks GORGEOUS! Why have I never put pesto in a lasagne before?! I definitely will now. And thanks very much for the mention.
I’ve been putting ordinary basil pesto on the top of my regular beef lasagne for years, so this was a natural progression. It’s really a simple way to add extra flavour (and it looks nice too!) 🙂
Sounds lovely, there is nothing better than making (and eating!) your own lasagne
I’m inclined to agree, and it doesn’t take nearly as long to make as you think it might, once you get going. 🙂
No confession required Elizabeth! You my have used a couple of tins in there but you still have homemade tomato sauce, homemade cheese sauce and lots of fresh veggies! Sounds delicious!
Thanks Vohn 😀
Looks really tasty.
Thanks Paul, it was! 🙂
Your lasagne looks and sounds totally awesome Elizabeth and I too want to try wild garlic pesto as I keep reading about this plant and have yet to cross paths with it!
Thanks Camilla – I was really impressed with the flavour of the wild garlic. I wish it grew here! Checked in the supermarket yesterday can couldn’t find it there either.
We totally forgive you Elizabeth, I sometimes use store bought stuff too.
I love Wild Garlic and have been making my own wild garlic pesto ever since I discovered it when living in the West of Scotland. I have been fortunate to find some not far where i live in Wales too, so its a seasonal treat, perfect if you can preserve it in a jar. Thank you for sharing this comforting veggie lasagne for #EatYourGreens. PS I will enter the comp. keep my fingers crossed and see if I win so that I can compare the Sacla Wild Garlic pesto with homemade 🙂
Thank you! 😀 How lucky to have wild garlic growing nearby! Unfortunately the gift hamper doesn’t contain it (I was hoping it would, but alas!). Good luck with the competition nonetheless!
I’m a veggie! What a lovely recipe. I’m gonna have to try this out.
Thanks! 🙂 Let me know what you think of it when you do!
This sounds delish and I’ll certainly be cooking it. Many thanks x
Let me know what you think of it when you do Debbie! 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
This looks yummy my sister in laws mother once made us one using a recipe from her home country the seychelles it was similar to this but contained chicken and tasted amazing!!
Thanks Georgina – your sister in laws mother’s recipe sounds lovely too – it’s been a long time since I put chicken in a lasagne. I used to make a chicken and leek one – I really ought to make it again!
This made me smile. That is a great quote. We have a cupboard full of tins, they rarely get used but they are there ‘just in case’. I will always have just in case tins, what if some natural disaster strikes and we have to live off of tins?! I like the idea of adding tomato soup to pasta sauces too.
Thanks Holly 🙂 I guess I won’t be lynch mobbed after all! Tins do have their place in the world. 🙂
Even your ipad photos are beautiful! I wish my mum liked tomatoes because I would be making this for sure while I’m home. As it is, it will have to wait until I’m back at uni but I’m looking forward to trying it for sure!
Thanks Laura 🙂 I’m really impressed with the quality of the photos taken on the iPad. I can spend an hour photographing something with my camera and then take a quick iPad snap for Instagram and that ends up being the best one of the lot!