Roast Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne

I challenged my dear daughters sense of food adventure last week with what I thought was a most delicious fennel and squash lasagne.  So to restore order and keep the peace I promised to fulfil their request for their favourite veggie lasagne.  This is a relatively new addition to our repertoire but instantly became a favourite.  I was asked to provide some vegetarian option food at a friends wedding earlier this year and after scouring my books and not finding anything that excited me I turned to the web and came across this, courtesy of Delia Smith.  So on to the recipe ….
Ingredients
First on the list is 9 sheets spinach lasagne I personally ignore that and make my own pasta. I  find a 2 egg to 200g of 00 flour mix makes about the right amount for my lasagne dish.  And it gives me the chance to use one of my favourite kitchen toys ...

 

As it’s Tales from  the Table it wanted a photo shoot .....

Now on with the rest ….

• 3 oz. Mozzarella
  
• 1 small aubergine cut into 1” dice
  
• 2 medium courgettes cut into 1” dice
  
• 1 ¹⁄₄ oz. plain flour
  
• 1 lb. cherry tomatoes skinned (so the recipe says, I don’t bother!)
  
• 1 ¹⁄₂ oz. butter
  
• 1 small yellow pepper de-seeded and cut into 1 inch squares
  
• 1 pint milk
  
• 1 large onion sliced and cut into 1 inch  squares
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 garlic crushed
  
• 1 grating nutmeg
  
• 2 tablespoons basil leaves torn so that they stay quite visible
  
• 3 Tbsp. Parmesan grated
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 2 oz. black olives chopped
  
• 1 Tbsp. Parmesan grated
  
• 1 Tbsp. capers
  
• Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 9 475F (240C)

Firstly chop all the aubergine, courgette, peppers and onions into 1 inch dice.
Then arrange the tomatoes, aubergine, courgettes, peppers and onion on a couple of roasting trays, sprinkle with the chopped garlic, basil and olive oil, toss everything around in the oil to get a good coating, and season with salt and pepper. Now place the trays in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are toasted brown at the edges.
Meanwhile make the sauce by placing all the ingredients (except the cheese) in a small saucepan and whisking continuously over a medium heat until the sauce boils and thickens. Then turn the heat down to its lowest and let the sauce cook for 2 minutes. Then add the grated Parmesan. When the vegetables are done, remove them from the oven and stir in the chopped olives and the capers. I also stir in another good handful of Basil for good measure . Turn the oven down to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).
Now, into your lasagne dish pour one quarter of the sauce, followed by one third of the vegetable mixture. Then sprinkle in a third of the Mozzarella and follow this with a single layer of lasagne sheets. Repeat this process, ending up with a final layer of sauce and a good sprinkling of grated Parmesan. Then place the dish in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is crusty and golden. All this needs is a plain lettuce salad with a lemony dressing as an accompaniment according to Delia but I usually find some Garlic Bread on the side is expected too in this house!
And the finished result (here’s one I made earlier, tonight's was sabotaged before I could get a pic, which is a shame as it looked better, great start to the blog!)