Vegetarian Lasagna

This is a very quick dish that I make when I'm out of time. I used off-the-shelf ingredients such as cooked tomato sauce and ready made cheese sauce.

There are two versions of this dish--a pasta version and a carb-free version. Both are as delicious and can be either served with a green side salad, garlic bread or garlic potatoes.

The availability of a microwave oven with grill function accelerates the cooking time. Otherwise, a classic oven is fine but cooking time may vary.

Ingredients

500 g of aubergines (eggplant), sliced lengthwise and soaked for a few minutes

500 g courgettes (zucchini), sliced lengthwise

1 can tomatoes, chopped

250 g soya mince

3 lasagna sheets (optional)

2 or 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp olive oil

Packet of cheese sauce (optional)

125 g fresh mozzarella, sliced

1 large tomato, sliced in horizontally

Method

1. If using dry soya mince, soak in 4 times the quantity of boiling water for about 20 minutes to reconstitute.
2. Prepare the tomato sauce. In a saucepan, fry the garlic and onion in a little olive oil. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir well.
3. Add the reconstituted soya mince, salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer on low heat for ten minutes. If sauce too thick, add a little hot water.
4. Pre heat oven at 185 C (365 F).
5. Coat a medium sized gratin dish with olive oil.
6. Line the dish with the slices of courgettes.
7. Pour half the soya mince sauce over the courgettes.
8. Cover with the aubergine slices.
9. Pour the other half of the soya mince sauce.
10. Cover with the lasagna sheets.
11. Top with the cheese sauce.
12. Decorate with slices of fresh mozzarella and tomato.
13. Bake in pre heated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, if not using lasagna sheets and 1 hr if using them.

Tips

1. If you don't want to use the soya mince, diced carrots, peas or other diced vegetables can be used.
2. The aubergines and courgettes can be used raw or slightly grilled after sprinkling with olive oil.

Garlic Potatoes

Cut the potatoes into wedges. Sprinkle with salt, dried herbs and finely chopped garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in microwave for 20 minutes per 500 g.

Garlic bread

Drizzle brown bread slices with olive oil and sprinkle with finely chopped garlic. Grill until crispy. I usually put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 150 C.

Bon appétit!