I love cooking it, I love eating it and most joyous for you I love taking pictures of it and smearing it round social media in the hope people I went to school with will see how shockingly housewifey I am and not the crackhead they thought I would grow up to be.
I've got a very original method in the kitchen. I get an idea of something dribblingly delicious in my head, look up a recipe on the BBC, see it's not there, look up a recipe on Jamie Oliver's page, see it's not exactly what I had in my head, desperately try 16 different ways of phrasing it on Google, find the perfect one and then completely ignore it.
I must have 4 million cookbooks, each have had there glorious first moments, cherished, eagerly flicked through, gingerly bookmarked and each have met the same fate, gathering dust on the bottom shelf, bearing long forgotten train tickets and shopping lists.
I just don't seem to be able to follow a recipe to the letter. Maybe it's a throwback from my rebel youth, maybe I am exceptionally lazy and arrogant, either way, it has never really proved my downfall. I do, against the odds seem to have come up with some top grub by getting an idea in my head and then just quickly looking up a timing or a rough measurement.
I would like to give those of you like me, some quick, easy recipes with tonnes of flexibility and those of you, enslaved to Gordon Ramsey a chance to free yourself from the sheet music and fire yourself into the jazz kitchen. You can always have a cheeky Google if you're still unsure.
My first foray is going to be my absolute staple. It's a dish I have almost every week, mainly in an attempt on a Sunday after a weekend of cheese and wine, to force as many vegetables into my body as possible. Don't let that fool you, it's no kale and wild algae smoothie, it's more than likely, like all my other recipes, double the fat intake of a BOGOF Dominos.
I will firstly gratefully thank who I nicked the idea off. Katie, cheers. You gave me a beautiful, healthy spinach lasagne, that tasted more than brilliant and I took it, and pumped 70g more fat in it and ruined all the elegant subtlety.
Ginge's Veg Lasagne
Ingredients:
1 can of plum tomatoes
1 bag of fresh spinach
1 courgette
1 red pepper
1 red onion
1 small jar of green pesto
1 small can of black olives
A dash of nutmeg
Some fresh lasagne sheets (You can make them yourself, if you have a pasta machine, it's cheaper and tastier, though it takes bloody ages, so I just buy mine from Asda for £1)
1 block of feta cheese (Don't get the really cheap stuff, it tastes like washing up liquid. You want a decent salty, full fat one)
For the 'kind of bechamel, kind of cheese' sauce:
Well this is one, where you are better off going and finding a decent recipe. I make my cheese sauce by just chucking the butter, cheese, milk and flour all in at once and stir like a bitch till it comes to a boil.Which is definitely NOT what you are supposed to do. Whatever recipe you use, make it a little less salty than normal as the feta will do that bit for you.
Right, so start by pre-heating your oven to about gas mark 6 (whatever the hell that is in centigrade) get a nice, deep frying pan or cooking pot and glug in a bit of olive oil, whack your spinach and onion in the food processor till it's nice and ground down. Pop in the pan and turn up to a high heat, adding the nutmeg and fry off the acidity of the onion. Chop your red pepper pretty small and chuck that in, stirring all the time and then wash and grate the courgette straight into the pan. Once you've added the olives it's time for the delicious pesto. I use a cheap one from Asda because at the end of the day I work in charity and I can't justify spending £15 on one from Booths, even though I want to. If you do opt for the more expensive one, it will be nicer. I chuck a full jar in of the cheapo but if you have a decent oily, strong, cheesy one, you will only need about 2/3rds. Give the veg a good quick, hard heat then turn down and add the plum tomatoes. No need to chop them, they will mush down themselves and the plum, as opposed the the chopped are usually creamier with less water in them. Let that simmer away for 10-15 minutes and crack on with your white sauce.
Once they are both ready you can begin to assemble. I do the one thing your aren't meant to do with lasange and layer the bottom of the dish. Whatever Trevor, I've only had a few al dente nightmares. Just use your common sense and layer as to the consistency of the sauce. I do pasta-veg-pasta-veg-pasta-white sauce, but hey, go wild.
Now crumb the block of feta on the top, yep the whole block and pop into the oven for about 25-35 mins. Give the pasta a good prod in the middle and you should know when it's done.
It's got a really nice strong flavour, so I don't usually serve with anything, but if you're stretching it round for guests, I'd go for a nice green salad and a bottle of young, light red, like Primativo or a Sangiovese.
Couple of notes for this:
If you can't find the fresh pasta sheets, don't want to make them or simply have some dry ones in the cupboard, extend your cooking time for about 10-15 minutes and whack some foil over the top to stop the feta burning.
Frozen spinach is also great in this, it's cheaper and obviously has a better shelf life, just make sure after you have thawed/cooked it, to THOROUGHLY squeeze that water out, otherwise your talking toilet water soup time.
I wanted to take a pic of this for you to give you an idea, so I made it last night and it was so nice I ate it, and then ate the rest today and completely forgot to take a picture. You will just have to trust me, it's incredible.
Stay tuned for more this week:
Pork Roulade
Fresh Tortellini
Tuna Cannelloni and
Ginger's Mexican Feast!, with slow cooked pork Pibil, fridge raiders quesadillas and home-made guac and coriander, lime rice.
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