Oska's Fennel & Squash Lasagne

Usually, I have people bringing food as well as making a dish myself when I have parties - food brings people together you know? And it makes the morning after a whole lot easier when you're not up all night dancing - eating is not cheating!

This once, my friend brought this amazing vegetarian lasagne, and the flavours were fantastic! Wanna know how the recipe goes? Keep readin'.

Oska's Fennel & Squash Lasagne
(Serves 4-6)

PS the one Oska made looked waaaaay better, but it was gone before I could take a snap!

For the filling:
500g squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 tsp thyme
2 fennel bulbs, the hard outer layer removed, the rest sliced
150g goats cheese, crumbled
20g parmesan

For the sauce:
1 litre milk (I used almond plus 1 tbsp vegetable stockto make it savoury)
1 bay leaf
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk,finely chopped
1 tsp peppercorns
30g unsalted butter
30g plain flour (I used cornflour)
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Lasagne sheets or more courgettes sliced lengthways to separate the layers

Side salad to serve

- Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

- For the bechamel sauce, heat the milk with the bay leaf in a casserole, add the celery, onion and peppercorns and heat through until right before it starts to simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

- Toss the squash with2 tbsp oil in a roasting dish, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for half an hour until softened, then toss immediately with the garlic and thyme, and set aside.

- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and soften the fennel for about 5 minutes, and set aside. Guess what? It is composition time!

- Gently re-heat the sauce and straing through a colander. Heat up the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the (corn)flour until you have a smooth rue, then add to the sauce and cook until it thickens, stirring constantly so it remains smooth. Stir in mustard season to taste and set aside.

- Spread a third of the sauce in the bottom of a large baking dish. Layer half of the lasagne sheets over, and then roast squash on top of that, another layer of sauce, then lasagne sheets followed by fennel. Scatter the crumbled goats cheese on top, and spoon over any remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese and a trickleof oil.

- Bake for about 30 minutes (or longer if needed) until golden. Serve with peas and a green salad.

Now how is that for a lasagne? Thank you so much for the recipe Oska!

What is your favourite vegetarian lasagne?


- Jules