Lentil Lasagne

Lentils make a fabulous alternative to minced meat in our tasty lasagne. Great for vegetarians or an easy mid-week meat free option.


Ingredients
500g red lentils, washed
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1tbls extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
5 large tomatoes, peeled and blended to sauce consistency
1 tbls tomato puree
1tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt & pepper

8 lasagne sheets
White sauce, infused with a handful shredded basil leaves

De-seed the peppers then chargrill until skins are blackened. Place in a sealed plastic bag for 20 minutes, then peel away the skins and blend to a paste.
Put the lentils in a pan and cover with boiling water. Cover and bring to a boil, skim off any foam and reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes until the lentils have absorbed the water and are partially cooked, then drain.
Heat the oil, add the onion, cover with a lid and sweat the onions for 10 minutes, add the garlic,thyme and nutmeg, stir for 2 minutes then add the tomatoes & tomato puree*. Simmer for 5 minutes before adding the blended peppers.
Cook for a further 10 minutes, remove from the heat. You want the consistency to be quite saucy or the mix will dry out too much in the oven.

Spoon some of the lentil mixture into the bottom of an oven dish,then top with a single layer of lasagne sheets. Repeat. Top the final layer of Lasagne sheets with the white sauce/basil. Then bake in the oven at 210C for 35 minutes.

* Skip this step and add 1/2 a large jar or 1 small jar of Erbe's Kitchen tomato sauce recipe, if you've already got some prepared

I find I've got plenty of lentil mix left to fill 2 large jars. We store in the freezer for use in stuffed peppers or as a simple pasta topping when we need to save time.