“This is a brilliant dish for days when you want comfort food, but with a bit of zing. It’s packed with green veggies, silky fresh pasta, and fragrant lemon. Plus, using cottage cheese instead of the traditional béchamel sauce means that it’s not only quicker, but less indulgent, too. ”
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of spring onions
- ½ x 30 g tin of anchovies in oil , from sustainable sources
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 700 g asparagus
- 500 g frozen peas
- 300 g frozen broad beans
- 1 big bunch of fresh mint , (60g)
- 300 ml single cream
- 1 lemon
- 300 m organic vegetable stock
- 2 x 250 g tubs of cottage cheese
- 500 g fresh lasagne sheets
- Parmesan cheese
- olive oil
- a few sprigs of fresh thyme
Method
- Preheat the grill to full whack.
- Trim and finely slice the spring onions.
- Pour the oil from the anchovy tin into a large frying pan over a high heat, then add the spring onions and anchovies (save the rest for another day).
- Using a garlic crusher, crush the garlic straight into the pan and toss everything together well.
- Line up the asparagus, trim off the woody ends, then finely slice and add the stems to the pan, reserving the tips for later.
- Season with sea salt and black pepper, add 1 splash of boiling water and cook for a few minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally.
- Add the peas and broad beans to the pan, then pick, roughly chop and add the mint along with the cream. Finely grate in half the lemon zest.
- Roughly mash and squash everything in the pan using a fork or a potato masher, then season to perfection with salt and pepper.
- Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, then stir in 1 tub of cottage cheese – the consistency should be creamy and loose.
- Place a deep 30cm x 35cm roasting tray on a medium heat. Spoon in a quarter of the veggie mixture to cover the bottom of the tray, then top with a layer of lasagne sheets, and a good grating of Parmesan. Repeat the layers with the rest of the veg and pasta, finishing with a layer of lasagne sheets.
- Mix the remaining tub of cottage cheese with 1 splash of water to loosen, then spread evenly over the top of the lasagne.
- Toss the reserved asparagus tips in a drizzle of oil, then tip onto the lasagne, pushing everything down with the back of a spoon to compact.
- Strip over the thyme leaves and finish with a drizzle of oil and a generous grating of Parmesan.
- Turn the heat under the tray up to high and cook until the lasagne starts to bubble, then place under the grill on the middle shelf for 8 minutes, or until golden and gorgeous. Delicious served with a seasonal green salad.
Source: Jamie Oliver
