Vege Lasagne

This is one of my most popular dishes I have made at the different kitchens I have worked in. It is very hearty and its as delicious as a meat version.
I like to make a combination of slices of veges and using them in the sauce as well, making a sort of vegetable bolognese.

This is as an example, but you could interchange the veges used to change the flavours a bit.

For the bolognese sauce:
1 Brown onion
1 Tin of crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 Zucchini
1/4 pumpkin
1 carrot
1 Dessertspoon of dried Mixed Herbs

Finely dice the onion and crush the garlic. Heat about 2 Tablespoons of Oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and garlic over a medium low heat until onion starts to go clear. Add the tin of tomatoes and refill the tin with water, and add that as well. Also add the dried mixed herbs.
For the rest of the veges, you have 2 choices. You can grate them all up or dice them finely. If you grate them, you will have a smoother end product, if you dice them, you will have a slightly chunkier sauce. Entirely up to you!

Cook the sauce on a simmer (a few bubbles in the sauce) until the pumpkin is cooked.


For the rest:
1 packet of Lasagne Sheets
1 Eggplant
1 Sweet Potato
2 Zucchini
2 tubs of Ricotta Cheese (500g)
1 cup of Cream
Grated Tasty Cheese (or your other favourite melting cheese)
Oil
Salt, pepper
Mixed Herbs


Thinly slice the eggplant, peeled sweet potato and zucchini
Toss through oil with salt, pepper and mixed herbs to lightly coat.
If you have a char grill, or a bbq, cook the sweet potato, eggplant and zucchini slices until they are soft. The Sweet potato will probably need to be transferred to a tray in the oven at about 180C to finish cooking.
If you don't have something to grill them on, you could cook them under a grill or in the oven until they are soft.

To Assemble:

Mix the ricotta and cream together to get a smooth sauce consistency. You may need to add some hot water to get it to loosen up and thin down.
Spoon a thin layer of your tomato sauce on the base of your lasagne dish. Lay out lasagne sheets to cover (you might need to break some to fill in spaces). Then place a layer of your cooked sliced veges, a layer of ricotta mix and a layer of tomato sauce. Keep going in this manner until you have 4 layers. The top layer should be just ricotta on the top, and then cover with tasty or other cheese.

Cook until a knife will go through easily - approximately 35 - 40 minutes at 180C.

This is enough for about 8 serves of lasagne.

Easy as finger food

After a twitter discussion with Zan from Triple J (follow her on twitter @triplejmornings), I thought I'd put up some of my super easy snack/finger foods.

The first one, based on said convo, is Cheesymite Scrolls. Super easy, kids will love making and eating them, and you can play around with the fillings.

All you need is:

Puff Pastry
Vegemite
Cheese - Grated is easiest

You also need a greased tray or if you have it, use glad bake - so much easier to remove when cooked!
Preheat your oven as per the packet instructions for the puff - usually about 180C.


Separate a sheet from the stack of pastry (this is easiest to do when it is still frozen - use a knife blade between the sheets) and leave the plastic on the bottom.

Now, spread vegemite all over the sheet, leaving a 2cm width along one edge.

Then, sprinkle the cheese over the vegemite, again making sure you leave the 2cm edge.

Next you need to roll up your pastry - start at the opposite edge to your free 2cm, pull the plastic off partly and use the plastic to roll the pastry together into a roll. When you get to the end, use the empty 2cm to stick it all together. You can use a little beaten egg or water to help it stick.

When you have it all stuck in a nice roll, take a knife (serrated edge works best) and cut the log into 1.5cm discs.

Place the discs flat on your tray, and into the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the pastry is puffy and golden. Let them cool on the tray for a couple of minutes, then remove.

These are great hot or cold, so you could pre-make them and serve cold or reheat them.


OTHER FILLINGS
The great thing with these is that you can make them as fancy as you like. Some other fillings I have done are:

Sweet Chilli Sauce and Cheese
Ham and Cheese
Olive tapenade and crumbled feta
Pesto and parmesan

Peanut Butter and Jam
Peanut Butter and Honey
Nutella
Sugar and Cinnamon
Lemon and Sugar

Hope you have a go and enjoy!