The Big Issue Australia #618 – Clare Scrine's Ultimate Vegetable Lasagne

Clare Scrine

Tastes Like Home

The Ultimate Vegetable Lasagne Ingredients

Method

Serves 10

To make the ragu, dice the mushrooms and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan, add the onion and carrot and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 15 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium and add the mushrooms, garlic, thyme and basil, cooking for another 5 minutes.

Add the passata, tomatoes and seasoning, along with about 125-250ml (½-1 cup) water, from rinsing out the passata jar and tomato tin. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then reduce the heat and allow it to bubble for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin pieces for the bechamel on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil and roast until soft and brown. Mash the pumpkin until smooth, or process in a blender, then set aside.

While the pumpkin is roasting, spread some of the eggplant and zucchini slices on a separate tray. Drizzle with a little olive oil, season each piece and bake for 20 minutes, or until soft and turning golden. Repeat with all the eggplant and zucchini. (You can also cook them on a grill if you prefer.)

To make the bechamel, melt the butter in a small saucepan until bubbling. Add the flour and whisk to combine for 1 minute. Slowly pour in half the milk, whisking to combine into a smooth sauce, then slowly whisk in the remaining milk. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens. Add the nutmeg and blended pumpkin. Stir well, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

To assemble the lasagne, spread a few spoonfuls of ragu in the base of a large, deep baking dish.

Cover with a single layer of lasagne sheets. Top with another 1cm layer of ragu, a few handfuls of spinach leaves, a layer of roasted eggplant and zucchini, followed by the bechamel sauce. Layer more lasagne sheets on top.

Repeat once or twice to make another layer of all the fillings; the number of layers will depend on the size of your dish. Finish the lasagne with pasta sheets and top with a final layer of bechamel sauce.

Sprinkle the cheddar and parmesan (or equivalent) on top and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden. Serve garnished with fresh herbs if desired.

3 eggplants, cut into 1cm slices 4 zucchinis, cut lengthways into 5mm slices Olive oil, for drizzling 500g lasagne sheets 200g baby spinach leaves 125g (1 cup) grated cheddar (or nutritional yeast if making it vegan) 50g (½ cup) grated parmesan (or extra nutritional yeast)

Mushroom Ragu 300g button mushrooms 200g Swiss brown mushrooms 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 brown onion, diced 1 carrot, finely diced 5 garlic cloves, chopped 2 teaspoons dried thyme 1 teaspoon dried basil 700g jar tomato passata (pureed tomatoes) 400g tin chopped tomatoes

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THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

Pumpkin Bechamel 500g pumpkin, cut into 3cm cubes 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons butter (or vegan margarine) 3 tablespoons plain flour 750ml (3 cups) milk (or nut milk) ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

Clare says…

THE SHARED TABLE BY CLARE SCRINE IS OUT NOW.

21 AUG 2020

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Tastes Like Home edited by Anastasia Safioleas

PHOTOS BY SAVANNAH VAN DER NIET

I

n my loud, busy family we always valued shared meals. When we all lived under one roof, the dinner table was often one of the only spaces we’d actually manage to spend time together. Even as a kid I was passionate about creating food that celebrated this shared space, and it’s a philosophy I’ve carried into my adult life.

There’s something special about bringing your people together to celebrate, commiserate or just share each other’s lives for a small moment.

Home for me is the feeling of happy quiet amid chaos. Of sitting around a rambunctious table of cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles – or with my housemates, their lovers and friends. Various conversations buzzing in the space, arms reaching for a little bit more of that, a taste of this. It’s a feeling I’m sure many are missing this year.

This enormous slab of lasagne, carefully prepared over a couple hours, then divided and devoured by a crowd, is the perfect meal to sit at the centre of a bustling table. Whether it be for a post-lockdown gathering, a special occasion, or simply a family or housemate dinner – this one won’t disappoint. For those of us living alone, this is a meal that can keep for a while; in fact it gets better by day two or three.

This is a “the works” vegetarian lasagne, in that it features just about every element you might hope to find in a meat-free variant of the Italian classic. Layers of roasted vegetables, mushroom ragu and a rich sauce. The pumpkin bechamel is the truly special addition that will change your life.

The added sweetness from the pumpkin creates a rich sauciness that complements the other flavours. My sister and I still argue about whose idea the pumpkin was – we’re both desperate to be responsible for this stroke of genius. Okay, I’ll admit the original idea may have been hers – but hey, who’s writing this article?

So whether you’re able to enjoy this lasagne in its intended shared form, or it’s a more solitary affair within your iso bubble, I’d encourage you to slow down, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy the process.