Cheesy Lentil Lasagne

When anyone tells me they're making me lasagna, I can't help but smile because I just love it, and there are so many different ways of making it. I'm going to take a classic concept, but instead of using mince, I'm going to make a lentil one. Now, lentils are a fantastic substitute for meat. They're meaty, of course, in texture, and they're full of protein. And when these cook down low and slow in some white wine and red sauce, they are absolutely beautiful. It's also fantastic when it's laid with all the cheesy bechamel and our fresh pasta sheets. So let's get onto the very simple lentil ragu. I've preheated my pan in with a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil, two tablespoons, because I've got quite a lot of lentils here. These are two cups of Puy lentils. These are the French variety of lentils, and they're distinctly Puy lentils because they've got that little speckle on them. See that? I like them because they've got a really nice nutty flavour, and they hold their shape as they cook. Classics go in first. Onion. Celery. I grate the carrot. You don't have to. You can finely chop it. I just think it's so much faster to grate. And it also melts down into the stew, so you don't really see the carrot. I'm going to season the vegetables at this stage. Then I'm going to hold back and season right at the end. When I'm cooking with lentils, seasoning at the end is quite important, so they stay creamy. If you season them as they're cooking, they'll tend to become tough. So a good pinch of salt at this stage is fine. Pepper. And this is the part you don't want to rush. The longer you cook this, so about 10 minutes, the more intense the flavour is going to be in this beautiful lentil ragu. So while that's cooking down, I'm just going to finely chop some garlic. Be generous with the garlic in this. I've got four cloves of garlic. All right, this is looking pretty good. So lentils can go in. Two cups of those lentils. Give them a really good wash. We're just going to coat that in all of that carrot, onion and celery mixture. We can deglaze with some wine, just some white wine. You could also use red wine for this. And now for the passata. So about 700 grams of passata. Pour that in. And I've also got a litre of water. It looks like quite a lot of liquid. And I always like to just add the liquid to the jug. Just clean it out so we get as much tomato as possible. Give it a bit of a jiggle. And then in that goes. And then the rest of the water goes in. So this liquid is quite important because those lentils need to absorb all of that. It's going to become thick and rich as this cooks for about an hour, an hour and a half. Give it a stir regularly. And as soon as those lentils are tender, it's ready. One more thing. Don't forget the bouquet garni. So this is parsley, some bay leaf and some thyme. Fantastic flavour. Lid on. And I'll just turn that down just to a medium heat. Now while that's cooking, you can absolutely get your bechamel done and dusted. Bechamel, a white sauce. Got a pot here. I'm going to turn the heat on and we'll start with the butter. Roughly 80 grams of butter. Grab a wooden spoon. As that melts, I'm going to add 80 grams of plain flour. So even quantities of fat to flour when you're making a bechamel. So cook that off. And once it starts to sizzle and bubble away and almost split, see how that's just starting to split there? That's a good sign to go in with the milk. So keeping with the simple ratio, 80 grams of flour, 80 grams of butter and 800 mils of milk. We'll give that a stir. I'll add some more. I don't heat up my milk. A lot of recipes call for you to heat up the milk. I just think that's one extra step you don't need to do. I'm going to swap over from a wooden spoon to a whisk. So after this becomes quite smooth, the rest of that milk goes in. I'll bring it up to the boil and once it's smooth and thick, we'll season it with salt and pepper. A hint of nutmeg and that can just sit there until we're ready to assemble the lasagna. All right, I've got all my elements ready to go. Let's have a look at this lentil stew. So I have re-seasoned it with some salt. I also like to add a big handful of spinach, totally optional. And you can have the heat off because this is going to wilt with the residual heat of the lentil stew. It'll also cook in the oven. The bechamel, I have reheated it so it's warm and I'm going to add some parmesan cheese. Now you can use a variety of cheeses. A lot of recipes call for two, sometimes three cheeses. I'm just going to keep it simple with the parmesan. Cheddar works well too. I like my lasagna to not be dry so that's why I like to add lots of bechamel and lots of the lentil sauce. And another great way to ensure that your lasagna doesn't dry out is to use some fresh lasagna sheets. So these lasagna sheets are made with free-range eggs. They're made with Australian durum semolina and it cuts the time significantly as it cooks because they're not dry. They don't soak up as much of the liquid. I've got about six sheets in here. They're also really pliable so when you're building your lasagna, it's so easy to cut to make sure it fits in to your dish. Okay, I like to start with the lentils for the first one, one or two ladlefuls. This will be enough for eight people easily. So if you've got a dinner party coming up and you want to make something ahead of time, lasagna is always a great option. And who doesn't love lasagna? Some of the bechamel. I'm just going to use my whisk here just so it evenly spreads out. It doesn't have to be perfect. Next, some extra parmesan. I've just grated this in a food processor. I just love the texture of crumbs. Then our fresh lasagna sheets can go on top. Oh, look at that. That fits perfectly there. And then I just need a half sheet here. We'll just cut one in half. Okay, in that goes. Perfect. I'm going to continue the process. This is going to go into the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes. I'm not going to cover it with foil at all. It's just going to go straight in. Again, it takes much less time to cook because they're fresh sheets. Okay, the lasagna has come out of the oven. It smells fantastic. And all good lasagnas need to rest after they come out of the oven. If you don't rest it, it's going to be quite sloppy inside. So you just need everything just to chill for a moment. Now I'm going to cut into it. Nice generous portion. And see all these crunchy lasagna sheets on the top? That's why I like to because that for me is the best part. Okay, I'm just going to grab a spatula and have a look at that. See all those layers of beautiful lasagna sheets? This is looking just right. Onto the plate. I would serve this with a simple mixed leaf salad, maybe some lemon juice over it just to freshen the whole thing up. If you're going to make this, you're going to have to invite at least eight people because that's how many people it's going to feed. It is a crowd pleaser.