Halloween Veggie Lasagne

It’s half term, it’s almost Halloween so it’s time to have some fun with your food and make this spooky green veggie lasagne! It’s a delicious warming supper that’s great to serve up to a troupe of hungry cold trick or treaters.

The bright toxic green sauce is actually just a regular cheddar cheese sauce with fresh spinach leaves wilted and blitzed through it in a blender. It’s layered up between pasta sheets with a vegetable-packed tomato sauce that’s full of flavour from roasted peppers and sundried tomatoes. I’ve used Quorn mince but any meat-eaters out there could of course use beef or pork mince, but you’ll need to brown it first.

I’ve used my Optimum Froothie 9400 to make my sauces for this recipe, but if you don’t have one you can make them in a saucepan and then blend afterwards for a smooth result. I can’t stress enough how useful my blender is though, as you can whip up a hot cheese sauce in a matter of minutes without standing over the pan stirring. Read my review of the Optimum Froothie 9400 or click here if you’re interested in purchasing a Optimum Froothie 9400.

The beauty of this monstrous supper is that you can rope the kids into making it with you, so it kills a bit of time if you’re looking for school holiday activities. Divide the recipe up into little jobs – grating cheese, washing spinach leaves, building the layers of the lasagne – there’s something achievable for kids of every age. Read my guide to cooking with kids here for more tips and advice.

Plus the great thing about the kids helping you cook a meal is that they are far more likely to want to taste it as they go along and therefore will be less suspicious of it when it lands on their plate later on.

Halloween Veggie Lasagne

Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 45 mins

Ingredients

For the bolognese sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp dried oregano
500g passata
85g sun dried tomatoes
100g roasted red peppers
1 lemon, zest only
300g quorn mince

For the green cheese sauce
45g butter
45g plain flour
500ml milk
pinch ground nutmeg
salt and pepper
125g fresh spinach
85g cheddar cheese, grated

6 sheets of lasagne

For the topping
Handful breadcrumbs
Handful cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a lidded pan and gently cook the celery, carrot and pepper with a pinch of sea salt flakes until softened, stir through the garlic paste and oregano and cook for a further minute and remove from heat.

2. Put the passata, sun dried tomatoes, roasted peppers and lemon zest into a blender jug along with the softened vegetables you’ve just cooked and blend for a few minutes until smooth, before returning to the pan along with the quorn mince. Mix and then allow to simmer on the hob for 15 mins.

3. Make the green cheese sauce by combining the butter, flour and milk with the pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper in a power blender and blitzing on full power until the sauce has heated up and thickened. Add the spinach which should wilt in and blend until combined, then finally add the cheese and blend again for a further minute until smooth.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 6. Take a rectangular ovenproof lasagne dish and spoon half of the bolognese sauce into the bottom. Then place 3 sheets of lasagne pasta over the top to form a layer of pasta. Pour half of the green cheese sauce over the pasta and smooth out with a spatula. Repeat to use up the remaining sauces and then finally scatter with the breadcrumbs and cheese.

5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until bubbling and then remove, allow to cool a little before serving straight from the dish in the middle of the table with a large bowl of green salad. All things green for halloween!!!!

Cook’s Tips: This is a perfect make-ahead recipe for filling the freezer. I’d make it up to the end of step 4, allow to cool, wrap tightly in cling film and then freeze.

Disclosure: I am an ambassador for Optimum Froothie and have included affiliate links in this blog post. If anyone decided to purchase one of these blenders after reading my post and clicks on the link I will receive a small percentage of the sales.

I’m entering this spooky veggie lasagne into a few blogging link-ups….

Credit Crunch Munch from Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours

 

Extra Veg from Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy, hosted this month by Veggie Desserts

No Waste Food Challenge from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary, hosted this month by Veggie Desserts