This is a vegetable lasagne with no pasta when you feel like eating a lighter dish but not compromising on comforting lasagne flavours and texture. I concocted this dish after making a fair few purportedly ‘healthy’ lasagnes for example one with squash sauce and another with no cheese. This one was definitely the best. The squash sauce style lasagne was too heavy for me and the no cheese one was, well, what’s the point?

It’s essentially a classic lasagne but with thinly sliced vegetables replacing the pasta and lentils adding even more nutrients. It’s been a while since I last made this, I forgot all about it until I was reminded by my sister-in-law to be so this is a shout out to her!

Vegetable lasagne ingredients for 2 with leftovers

1 x Sweet potato

Lentil and Tomato sauce

150 ml water

White sauce

salt

Grated cheese 80g

Preheat the oven t0 180 degrees.

Slice the vegetables into 3-4 mm slices, I used a mandolin but they can be cut by hand too.

Make the tomato sauce by gently frying the garlic and bayleaf in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add the passata, water and red lentils and simmer for 10 minutes then season and add sugar, simmer for a further 10 minutes or until it is a pourable consistency for the lasagne. Take out the bay leaf before you use.

In another pan make the white sauce by melting the butter and then adding the flour and briskly stirring with a whisk by hand. Cook for about 2 minutes on a low heat until you get a golden hue and a faint nutty smell. They whisk in the milk bit by bit so there are no lumps. Add the mustard, nutmeg and further seasoning. Stir on a low heat until thickened, again pouring consistency.

In a baking tray, I used an enamel 22cm by 17 cm roasting tin, about 2 inches deep, layer a third of the vegetables in the bottom of the tray, pour over half of the tomato sauce and then pour over a third of the white sauce. Then repeat until the final layer of vegetables pour on the last of the white sauce and scatter the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 and if you need to, increase the heat of the oven to 200 and bake until the cheese is golden.

It’s best to let the bake rest for at least 20 minutes once it is out of the oven to set the layers. Delicious with a green side salad or garlic bread.