Garden Pea Vegetarian Lasagne

200g frozen garden peas

400g tin chopped tomatoes

Half an onion, finely chopped

Half a celery stick, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 tablespoon vegetarian (fish-free) worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon caster sugar

7 or 8 lasagne sheets

Small handful of chopped fresh parsley

Handful of grated cheddar

1 teaspoon English mustard

500ml milk

2 dessert spoons plain flour

35g butter

Salt

Pepper

preparation 10 mins • you cook for 25 mins • total time 1 hr 10 mins

Serves 2

Watch a 30 second preview of my cook-along video below

If you cannot view the video below, click here to download QuickTime from Apple's website.

Lasagne is such a popular dish, made evident by how many restaurants serve it! I prefer vegetarian lasagne as the meat is never the star of the show anyway. The best bit is surely the delicious sauce?! Made properly, lasagne should have three sauces - fresh tomato, rich white and creamy cheese. Making all three from scratch is so easy, and much tastier than any packet or jar. By replacing mince with garden peas you lose none of the flavour but gain healthy nutrients! This meat-free lasagne easily stands up to any beef version. It is a two part recipe. In part one, we cook the tomato sauce and in part two, we cook the cheese & white sauces and build the lasagne.

Large frying pan/wok for the tomato sauce.

1 medium & 1 small saucepan for the cheese & white sauces

1.5 litre ovenproof dish

Spoons to stir

Before you start, have all the vegetables chopped and ready. Have all your bottles and tins open. Part one is all at the hob so try to have everything as close as possible. Put your frying pan/wok on a high heat and click here!

Before you start, have the butter, milk, mustard and parsley to hand. Put both saucepans on the hob and click here!

Put your large frying pan/wok on the hob on a high heat then add a teaspoon of oil. Add in the onion, garlic, celery & carrot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to avoid anything burning. Add the other ingredients, one at a time, stirring each time: 1 tablespoon of tomato puree, a tin of chopped tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and the same of sugar. Lastly, throw in the peas and season with a good pinch of salt & pepper. Half fill the empty tin of chopped tomatoes with cold water and pour this into the pan. Bring the pan up to the boil and then simmer vigorously for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, turn the heat under the tomatoes down to low. Put your medium pan on a low heat and add in the butter to slowly melt. Once the butter has melted, turn the heat off and add 2 dessert spoons of plain flour. Stir the pan to incorporate the flour into the butter. Turn the heat back on to low and cook and stir for 1 minute to cook out the flour. Next, add a small splash of milk and stir in. Once the milk has been stirred in, the flour and butter should come together into a ball. At this point, add another dash of milk and repeat the process. Keep doing this - each time you should be able to add a little more milk than the time before, as the mix loosens. Persevere until all the milk has been poured in and you have a nice thick sauce. Season with a pinch of salt & pepper.

Transfer half the white sauce into the smaller pan - don't bother turning the heat on. Add the chopped parsley to 1 of the pans and stir. That's the white sauce done! Into the other saucepan, add your grated cheese and 1 teaspoon of English mustard. Give it a stir to melt the cheese. That's the cheese sauce done!

Turn off the hob under the tomatoes and it's time to build your lasagne. Add a thin layer of the tomato sauce to the bottom of the ovenproof dish then cover with a single layer of lasagne sheets. Don't worry about how it looks - break the sheets to fit your dish if necessary. Next, pour a layer of white sauce over and spread it out with the back of a spoon. Add the rest of the tomato sauce and spread with a spoon. Add another layer of lasagne sheets, then finally your cheese sauce on top! Pop the dish in the oven for 35 minutes and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.

I hope that you enjoy it.

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