Roasted Vegetable Lasagne with Ricotta

• 2courgettes, cut into 2cm chunks
• 2red peppers, cut into 2cm chunks
• 1large aubergine, cut into 2cm chunks
• 2red onions, cut into thin wedges
• 4 tbspolive oil
• 3garlic cloves, sliced
• 700gpassata
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 30 gbasil leaves, torn, 20 g for the sauce and 10 g to finish
• fine salt
• black pepper
• 200gspinach
• 400gricotta
• 1egg
• 60 gvegetarian Italian-style hard cheese, finely grated
• 30 mllemon juice
• 1/4 tspfreshly grated nutmeg
• 250gdried lasagne sheets (about 12)
• 1 x 125gball mozzarella, torn and drained on kitchen paper
• Finely grated lemon zest (2 g)
• 100grocket
• 1 tbspextra virgin olive oil

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan). Tip the courgettes, red peppers, aubergine and red onions onto your largest roasting tray, or two if they will not sit in a single layer. Toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper and roast for 30 minutes, turning once, until soft and charred at the edges. Crowded vegetables steam instead of roasting, so spread them out.
2. 2While they roast, put the spinach in a large saucepan with a splash of water over a medium heat for 2 minutes until wilted. Tip into a sieve, cool under the tap, squeeze out every drop of water and roughly chop.
3. 3Wipe out the pan, add the last tablespoon of olive oil and the garlic and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute until fragrant but not coloured. Add the passata, 150ml of water, the oregano and half a teaspoon of salt and simmer for 10 minutes until slightly thickened but still loose; dried sheets drink a lot of sauce as they bake. Take off the heat and stir in 20 g basil.
4. 4Mix the squeezed spinach with the ricotta, egg, two-thirds of the vegetarian hard cheese, the lemon zest, nutmeg, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Season it boldly; the pasta dilutes it.
5. 5Turn the oven down to 190C (170C fan). Set aside two ladles of plain tomato sauce, then stir the roasted vegetables into the rest. Spread the plain sauce over the base of a 30 x 20cm baking dish and cover with a layer of lasagne sheets.
6. 6Spoon over half the vegetable sauce, then half the ricotta mixture in blobs, spread roughly. Add another layer of sheets, the rest of the vegetable sauce, more sheets, then the rest of the ricotta. Tear the mozzarella over the top and scatter with the remaining 20 g vegetarian hard cheese.
7. 7Bake for 35 minutes until deeply golden on top, bubbling at the edges and a knife slides through the pasta with no resistance. Rest for 10 minutes so the layers set and it cuts cleanly.
8. 8Toss the rocket with the lemon juice, the extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Serve squares of lasagne with the rest of the basil on top and the salad alongside.

Per serving

kcal

599

protein

29.5g

fibre

8.8g

carbs

57.4g

fat

29g