Recipe: Christmas-sagna

A leftovers recipe that is scrummy!  It doesn'#t have to be Christmas leftovers, of course, but the one I made was, hence the name.

Ingredients:  I made a portion for one but the ingredients are very flexible.
one sheet of lasagne
spray oil
chopped spring onions - just cut off the worst bit of the green at the top and the roots
chopped pepper - I used a bit of red and a bit of yellow
one mushroom, thinly sliced
a squidge of garlic puree
a pinch of mixed herbs
a tsp chicken stock powder
some tomato puree
a can of chopped tomato
salt and pepper to taste
some leftover bits of cooked turkey and ham, shredded or chopped

five or six sprouts, shredded into thin slices

two triangles of Dairylea Light, each triangle cut into three wedges (you could use more, of course)

30g finely grated very strong cheddar (or 40g of a lighter cheddar but I prefer the stronger kind)

You also need a suitably sized high sided oven dish


Method.
In a saucepan or frying pan, pour in some boiling water and some salt and boil the lasagne sheet until it is almost done.  Remove from the water and put it on something it won't stick to - easy leave or parchment - and cover.

Discard the water and in the same pan, spray some oil and add the onion and the pepper, stir well, reduce the heat, cover and let is gently sweat untiul softening, stirring occasionally.  Then add the mushroom slices, spray them, cover and continue cooking.

To the mixture, add some garlic puree, a pinch of dried mixed herbs and the chicken stock powder and mix well.  Then pour in the chopped tomatoes, the tomato puree and a bit of salt and pepper, mix well and allow to simmer away, uncovered, until the mixture has thickened. Add the meat and mix in well.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Preheat the oven to around 180C
Cut the sheet of lasagne in half.

In the oven dish, layer up the ingredients in this way.  First of all, about a third of the tomato and meat mix, then half of the stredded sprouts, then three little bits of Dairylea light - so it looks like this.

Then add the half lasagne sheet (it just fits right in my dish) and repeat the layering with another thiord of the sauce, the rest of the sprouts, the other cheese triangle and the rest of the lasange.  Finish with the rest of the tomato sauce.

Sprinkle over the grated cheddar and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or so.

OR - of you want to eat it later, for example, after group when you want something quick but filling, don't add the cheese, cover it with foil and bake it.

Then, twenty minutes before you want to eat, add the cheese, pop it back in the oven and let it reheat until piping hot all through with melted cheese.

Messy photo, I know, but it was really nice.  I only had half, that was more than enough, so that's lunch for today sorted out.