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Butternut squash and spinach lasagne

Posted on January 7, 2010 | 8 comments

Snowed-in. Good excuse to make Butternut and spinach lasagne.

Christmas has had me confused: am I vegan or carnivore? This light vegetably vegetarian dish is a compromise.

And..it does NOT require a white sauce!

As I had been planning to make the dish for a week, I had the main ingredients:

In my pic, lined up for their photoshoot, from left to right:

1 organic butternut squash, 1 packet of frozen organic spinach, 1 organic milk and 3 sheets of lasagne pasta. You need mozzarella for topping.

I got the recipe from a free promotional recipe booklet from Olive Magazine two years ago (when I had advised Hardeep Singh Kholi on going organic).

Here is the beautiful butternut squash cut in half.

I used the whole squash for the recipe and produced just over the 500g required.

I cut the squash into manageable pieces with a small sharp knife, peeled the skin using a potato peeler and scooped out the seeds.

Love the way the butternut squash is so orange.

You fry 1 onion in a large frying pan then add the 500g cut-up squash. I cut-them up smaller when I realised they had to fry.

The recipe said fry until tender and slightly brown round edges but I put the lid on – answered a few emails – and in 15 minutes it had gone very soft indeed, but not brown.

Then add 100 mls of milk (or plant milk, vegan-me).

The BEST things about this recipe are:

no need for a white sauce
500g of squash and 150g of (frozen) spinach makes it LIGHT and vegetably.

So you cook the 3 lasagne sheets in boiling water for 3 minutes then drain.

Then layer: one sheet of pasta, followed by half of the cooked squash and half the warmed spinach.

Another sheet of lasagne pasta, then rest of squash and spinach.

Finish with the third lasagne sheet and tear a 125g ball of mozzarella over it.

(I used Buffalo Mozzarella from Laverstoke Farm, the organic farm ‘university’ owned and run by ex-racing car driver, Jody Scheckter. 20% off in Better Food organic supermarket just before New Year).

Put the dish under a heated grill until it bubbles and browns.

I photographed it against the snow.

No food-stylist, I! Look at the food splashes…not very stylish.

But definitely delicious.

For more squash recipes, including recipes for carnivores and vegetarians, nutritional information and how to grow squash from seed, see the book I co-authored, Make More of Squash. Aad on the right of this post offers 20% discount…

Interested in reviewing a copy? Email me at elisabeth.winkler AT yahoo.co.uk

8 Comments

Posted in eating well on a budget, food, health, organic, producers, recipe, vegetarian

Tagged buffalo mozzarella, butternut squash, healthy lasagne recipe, Laverstoke Park, Make More of Squash, Olive magazine, snow, squash recipe

Celebrity to market

Posted on August 20, 2008 | 4 comments

celebrity-to-market-this-one

I had to set an organic challenge for Hardeep Singh Kohli of Celebrity Masterchef fame: become 100% organic in two weeks. See how the comedian fared in olive, on sale now. It was a tall order because, in truth, going organic happens gradually.

I was mad-keen for Hardeep to visit a farmers’ market but he stuck to supermarkets. Farmers’ markets only set up stall once a week (or less), so I can see why they are not convenient. But the difference in quality between local organic food grown, made – or reared – within 50 miles, and the much-travelled organic food in supermarkets, is beyond compare.

Buying organic food from the person who grew it (from farmers’ markets or veg box delivery) adds a new dimension to shopping – you know where your food is from. Price-wise, buying direct is cheaper than supermarkets – no middleman to add costs.

Last Thursday at noon, catching a lift with Mike to Exeter train station, we unexpectedly passed Exeter’s farmers’ market.

“Stop the car,” I said. I had ten minutes to gather dinner (see above). Everything was organic apart from the fish, which was wild. With only a short season, the sprats, caught in Dorset , are special. And cheap. I got six portions-worth for £5. Sprats are sustainable to fish and healthy to eat. Grill without oil – they are naturally rich in must-have omega-3.

I fried the above darlings, eating them with Rod and Ben’s salad and Emma’s homemade bread, fresh from Exeter’s Farmer’s Market.

As well as shallow-frying the fish, I slathered oil on the salad and butter on my bread – what am I like?

The next day my pal and child came round. We ate the fried sprats whole, crunchy heads and all. I was surprised a four-year old would enjoy them but he did.

This time I served them with organic mash potatoes grown at Radford Mill Farm 30 miles away, and sold at its inner-city organic farm shop luckily on my flight-path.

How do you access local organic produce? Do you find it hard like Hardeep?