Leftover Green Lasagna

This is turning simple fridge leftovers into something very special.  It makes a pretty great dinner party dish served with a radicchio salad with blanched almonds and aged balsamic vinegar.   You can swap around with the types of veg but just keep the quantities roughly the same.  Please check out more pasta recipes here.

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

400g broccoli heads, blanched for 3 mins

270g petits pois, blanched for 1 minute

1 radicchio, roughly chopped

60g mushrooms, chopped

14 sheets of lasagna pasta

Handful basil leaves, torn

40g Grana Padano, grated

2 good pinches of dried chilli flakes

10g butter

2 tbsp olive oil

Green sauce:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

190g spinach

80g cavolo nero, steals removed

100g rocket

300ml veg stock, hot

Few drops lemon juice

Sea salt and black pepper

Bechamel sauce:

40g butter

2 cloves, grated garlic

2 tbsp plain flour

770ml whole milk

generous gratings nutmeg

150g Grana Padano

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C degrees and grease a 36cm by 25cm baking dish with olive oil.

Blanch the veg.

Set a frying pan to a medium to high heat and add 2 spoons of oil.  Add chopped mushrooms + radicchio and season.  Fry for 2 mins until soft.  Set aside.

For the green sauce, set the same frying pan to a medium heat + add 2 spoons of olive oil.  Add the onion and fry for 3 mins to soften, followed by the garlic for another min.  Then add the cavolo nero and fry for 2 mins.  Add the hot stock and simmer everything for 2 mins before adding to a blender with the rocket, spinach, lemon juice + season well.  Blend to a smooth consistency + set aside. 

For the béchamel, set a large saucepan to a medium to high heat + add the butter to melt.  Then add the garlic and cook for 1 min before stirring in the flour.  Let this cook for 2 mins + pour in the milk a little at a time.   Whisk until there are no lumps, it's thickened + it is smooth with flour taste cooked off.  Add grated cheese, lots of nutmeg + season generously. 

Spoon a few ladles of the green sauce onto the bottom of the baking dish + make a layer of pasta.  Then add another layer of green sauce, white sauce, add one third of the broccoli, peas, radicchio + mushrooms.  Scatter some basil, season + grated cheese.  Top in the same way until you have 3 layers.  The top should be green + white sauce with the 10g of butter, season, chilli flakes + 2 spoons of olive oil.  Bake at 200C for 35 mins or until golden on top.  Eat straight away!

--