Vegetarian Lasagne

After five days of illness in the family, I'm going to see if this vegetable lasagne will make any difference. This recipe has been tweaked over the years and it was originally based on a spaghetti bolognaise recipe that I got from my aunt. I replaced the mince with TVP and since Quorn has become so easily available I sometimes use it instead. I diced 1 large onion and fried this with two chopped cloves of garlic. Once softened, I added 3 chopped carrots and a chopped red pepper (as far as I'm concerned green peppers are the work of the devil). I then added 4 large chopped mushrooms and stirred, allowing them to soften. Add about 200g Quorn mince and cook through. This is what it looks like..

Add 1 tin tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of tomato purée, 1 tsp mustard (I used English mustard), 2 tsp sugar and stir well. Fill the tomato tin three quarters full with water and add to the mixture. At this point, I add about 1 tsp of mixed herbs but I've run out so I added some fresh thyme which has been growing on my window sill.

Leave to cook down for 10-15 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, I made the cheese sauce. Since I've discovered the microwave method, I'm making this more often as I don't have to worry about cleaning a pan that has cheese sauce stuck to the bottom and I don't have to stand over the stove for at least 30 minutes continually stirring. Melt 100g marg and stir in 100g plain flour. Mix in enough milk to make a thick mixture and cook for a couple of minutes on high. Stir in the rest of the two pints of milk - I use semi skimmed organic milk - making sure there are no lumps, and cook on high for 13 minutes. At this point, the sauce will have thickened so stir well and add the cheese. To make the lasagne, put a layer of sauce, lasagne sheets then cheese sauce. Repeat again topping off with the cheese sauce and a sprinkling of cheese. Cook in the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the lasagne to make sure it doesn't burn.

I had enough cheese sauce to make a macaroni cheese as well with 250g of pasta. To be honest, there was enough cheese sauce left over for more pasta than this. Here are the lasagne and macaroni cheese before they went into the oven.