Farmersgirl Kitchen

Saturday, 10 May 2014

Spinach, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Lasagne

Lasagne is one of my favourite dishes. But sometimes it's nice to have a change from an 'al forno' meat sauce and make a vegetarian alternative. Spring bring lovely fresh green vegetables, one of which is spinach, it always seems to be a sort of magical leaf the way it fills the pan and then a few minutes later it has reduced to damp, dark green blob in the bottom of the pan! Mushrooms do a similar thing but not quite so dramatically!

Spinach and Mushroom and Blue Cheese Lasagne
Serves 6

2tbsp olive oil
180g pack spinach leaves
2 garlic cloves
250g pack chestnut mushrooms
400g can chopped tomatoes
300g lasagne sheets
600ml milk
3 tbsp cornflour
100g Castello Danish Blue Extra Creamy
100g mature cheddar
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Heat 1 tbsp of olive in a large pan, add half the garlic and spinach leaves and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until the leaves have wilted. Remove from the heat, season well and set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil to the pan, add the mushrooms and cook over a high heat for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms are browned. Stir in the remaining garlic. Mix in the tin of tomatoes and heat for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste.
3. Make the white sauce, take two tablespoons of the milk and mix to a paste with the cornflour. Heat the rest of the milk until just below boiling point and add to the cornflour mix, then heat stirring all the time until thick and glossy, cook for 5 minutes to cook out the starch. Season well.
4. Place a layer of lasagne in the base of your dish. Top with half the mushroom mix, then add another layer of lasagne. Spoon over a third of the white sauce and sprinkle over half the blue cheese.

5. Repeat the layers. Place a final layer of lasagne on top and spread over the remaining white sauce and top with the cheddar cheese.
6. Place on a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes or until the lasagne is tender and top golden. Serve with a green salad.

This was a really tasty dish, I love blue cheese and the sharp bite of the Danish Blue was a great foil to the mild mushroom flavour and the deep earthy taste of the spinach.

I'm entering this for blog challenge 'Extra Veg' hosted this month by Shaheen at Allotment to Kitchen . Its blog challenge created by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle of Utterly Scrummy. The theme this month is Savoury Vegetarian which fits my Mushroom, Spinach and Blue Cheese Lasagne perfectly.

I'm also entering this recipe for Four Seasons Food celebrating the vegetables of spring. FSF is run by Anneli at Delicieux and Louisa at Eat Your Veg who is hosting this month.

Thanks to Castello for the Danish Blue Extra Creamy Cheese.

Labels: Castello, cheese, Danish Blue, Extra Veg, Four Seasons Food, lasagne, mushrooms, spinach

Sunday, 13 April 2014

Chicken and 7-a-day Mediterranean Vegetables

I thought I'd better make a recipe for my own blog challenge: The Slow Cooker Challenge. The theme this month is 7-a-day Fruits or Vegetables. Now it might be pushing it to get a full seven portions of fruit or vegetables onto one plate, but it isn't that difficult to add 7 fruits or vegetables to a single dish.

Chicken
with 7 Vegetables

8 chicken thighs
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
8 mushrooms
7 small vine tomatoes
2 Aubergines (Eggplant)
3 large or 12 mini red, orange or yellow (bell) peppers
2 large courgettes (zucchini)
12 pitted black olives
2 tablespoons of pesto
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
small bunch of parsley

1. Brown the chicken pieces in a pan with a little oil, set aside.
2. Chop all the vegetables into even sized pieces and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Mix the pesto and balsamic vinegar into the vegetables and top with the chicken pieces.
4. Cook on medium for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours.
5. Top with chopped parsley.
6. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the juices.