Cheese and Spinach Lasagne

This week we're thinking multi-generational casual family gatherings for the upcoming bank holiday weekend, gangs of trick or treaters in need of nutritious sustenance to fill them up before they get their hands on the junk


or just a gang of friends around the kitchen table. What they all want is a plate of something delicious and


informal – here are three crowd-pleasing vegetarian lasagnes with a twist that will do the


business. Be generous with the garlic bread and green salad.


recipe: serves: 8 costs: less than €3.60 per portion prep time: half hour


Cheese and Spinach Lasagne Cost: €21.04


1.8kg fresh spinach, washed


3 tbsp olive oil


6 onions, finely chopped


6 cloves garlic, finely chopped


360g lasagne (ready to cook)


150g butter


150g flour


2.25 litres milk


525g grated cheddar cheese


100g grated parmesan cheese


2 tbsp Dijon mustard


Place the spinach in a large saucepan with just the water that adheres to the leaves, cover and cook on high heat until wilted. Squeeze out any excess moisture and chop finely. Heat the oven to 190° C/ Gas 5. Heat the oil and cook the onions and garlic until soft. Mix with the spinach. Make the sauce by heating the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat, stir in the flour until you have a paste, then add the milk a little at a time. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and stir or whisk until smooth and thickened. Add most of both cheeses, the mustard and season. Layer the lasagne, sauce and spinach in a large dish, starting with one-third of the lasagne and ending with lasagne and sauce. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake for 25-30 minutes.


Butternut Squash Lasagne Cost: €29.87


(Adapted from Allegra McEvaddy's 'The Good Cook')


2 large aubergines


4 butternut squash


150ml olive oil


300ml milk


600ml double cream


10 cloves garlic, peeled


110g pine nuts


230g Parmesan, with rind


Bunch fresh rosemary leaves, chopped


450g ricotta


500g fresh lasagne or 300g dried


900g spinach, washed and dried


Preheat oven to 180° C/ Gas 4. Slice the aubergine. Salt and leave for 30 mins. Cut the squash in half, remove seeds, drizzle with olive oil and bake until soft (40 mins). Rinse and dry aubergine, brush with olive oil and roast (20 mins). Put milk, cream, parmesan rind and whole garlic cloves in a pan over low heat (20 mins). Remove rind and blend. Roast the pine nuts for 10-12 minutes. Cook pasta. Combine the flesh from the squash with the parmesan (save a handful), rosemary, pine nuts and ricotta. Grease the baking dish. Layer the ingredients: pasta, squash, cream, spinach, aubergines, seasoning. Repeat, ending up with pasta spread with cream and reserved parmesan. Bake for about
40 mins.


Nigel Slater's Mushroom Lasagne with Basil and Cream Cost: €25.65


4 onions, roughly chopped


6 small cloves garlic, finely sliced


100g slice butter


20g dried porcini mushrooms


1.5 kg chestnut mushrooms, sliced thickly


Large handful chopped parsley


100g freshly grated Parmesan


300ml double cream


1.5 l bechamel sauce (ready-made is fine)


360g dried lasagne (or, better, 700g fresh)


350g good quality pesto, loosened with olive oil if necessary to make a sloppy paste


Preheat oven to 180° C/ Gas 4. Soak porcini in warm water. Melt butter. Cook onions and garlic over low heat until soft (20 mins). Add sliced mushrooms and cover. After 10 mins add the porcini in their water, parsley, 8 tbsp of parmesan and cream. Season and simmer until cream thickens. Spread a few spoonfuls of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish, and layer as follows: pasta, half the mushrooms, pasta, the rest of the mushrooms, pasta, pesto, béchamel, parmesan. Bake for about 50 mins.