Green lasagna ‘carbonara’

Ingredients

• Lasagna sheets

Filling:

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 600 gr (21 oz) spinach
• 250 gr (9 oz) mushrooms
• 1 courgette
• 250 gr (9 oz) ricotta
• ½ vegetable stock cube

Sauce:

• 50 gr (2 oz) butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 400 ml (14 fl oz) milk
• 100 gr (4 oz) parmesan, grated
• 150 gr (5 oz) vegetarian ‘bacon’ strips (or 2 heaped tbsp pesto)

• salt 
• pepper
• oil

How to make it

1. Preheat your oven to 200 C (390 F)

Filling:

1. Chop and fry the onion until translucent. Add crushed or chopped garlic
2. Roughly chop up the spinach (this is optional, but we like it better this way). Add to the pan in bits while stirring occasionally until everything is in
3. In the mean time, cut the mushrooms in small pieces and add them to the pan when the spinach has wilted. Stir fry for about three minutes before tipping in the ricotta with the ½ vegetable stock cube. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t add too much salt, as the sauce will be rather salty already
4. Let simmer for a few minutes and then turn off the heat.

Sauce:

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. When it stops bubbling, add the flour. Let the flour-butter mixture cook and brown for about two minutes slightly while continuously stirring
2. Add the milk and let it thicken. Add in a about a quarter of the grated parmesan
3. In a frying pan, fry the vegetarian bacon strips in a bit of oil. When done, add them to the sauce and stir through

If you don’t have or prefer not to use the vegetarian bacon, you can substitute it with two heaped tablespoons of good pesto. This will make the dish slightly different, but will give an equally savoury flavour to the sauce.

Assembling:

1. In a large oven dish, start with a thin layer of the creamy bacon sauce. Put on a layer of pasta sheets, followed by a layer of the spinach mix, a layer of thinly sliced courgette and again a layer of the sauce
2. Repeat twice and finish with a last layer of pasta sheets with sauce on top. Spread the rest of the grated parmesan over the top and slide the dish into the preheated oven
3. Let cook in the oven for about 25 minutes. If the top browns too fast, cover up the dish with some aluminum foil

Best enjoyed with a fresh side salad.