seven letters, starts with "L"

Mr Big and I were lucky enough to get hold of 1 cent flights to Ireland last weekend. We love Ryanair. We love Ireland. And I love the weekend papers and the Observer Food Monthly.

Since getting back from our break in this beautiful country I have slowly been working my way through copious recipes included in an article from this excellent monthly liftout entitled "Brain Food - are you getting enough?". We've had Best Fruit Nut Mix for breakfast, Best Fish Patties, and now this Best Herby Veggie Bake. Accordingly, we are expecting our registration forms from Mensa any day now.

Here is the recipe for the Herby Veggie Bake, a vegetarian lasagne. Jamie Oliver has an amazing recipe for meatballs with cumin and parmesan which really livens things up so I was intrigued to try this spice out again in a surprising way. The white sauce is made from soya milk, full of essential fatty acids and isoflavones to help protect against osteoporosis, menstrual problems and crossword trouble.

Best Herby Veggie Bake (from the Observer Food Monthly)
serves 6
for the white sauce:
50g unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cumin
500 ml soya milk

for the lasagne:
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 tbs flaxseed oil
3 zucchinis, diced
1 aubergine, diced
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 tbs tomato puree
3 tbs fresh oregano
400g dried lasagne (I used much less)
3 tbs Parmesan, grated
6 fronds fresh dill
salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 220C (gas mark 7). Melt the butter in a saucepan, then remove from the heat, stir in the flour and cumin and put back on a gentle heat and stir continuously for 2 minutes, slowly adding the soy milk until quite thick.
Sweat the onion and garlic in a frying pan, then add the chopped veggies, oregano and tomato puree, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.
Put a layer of veggie sauce into a lightly greased baking dish, then the lasagne sheets, alternating and finishing up with the veggies. The pour over the white sauce and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and scatter the parmesan and fresh dill and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.