Today I had Cat and LJ over for a dinner and a hang out and I again took out Jamie's 30 Minute Meals. I'm ploughing through it at this stage and it's holding well!
Today it was the Summer Veg Lasagne, but after a late-afternoon trip to Tesco, I picked up nearly all of the veg I used- for actual pennies. My shopping for the meal for three (with another portion left over) came to about €25 which included all of the lasagne ingredients, salad, a baguette, fruit and ice cream for dessert. Amazing like.
If you're buying ingredients for the dinner you'll be making that night, buy the discounted stuff! You'll save loads of euros, obviously, and there's nothing wrong with them. Obviously scope them out before you buy them, but all of mine were perfect.
For the healthier option I went for a wholemeal baguette and to save some monies, bought a ready made salad bowl so I didn't have to get all the little ingredients. Plus all the chopping is done for you.
My recipe varied a bit from Jamie's cos I got the 'cheap veg buzz' and put in veg he didn't tell me to. And left some ones out cos I either couldn't find them or I found a cheaper alternative.
Also, Jamie's recipe is VERY generous with the ingredients, so this is my take on it. It feeds four.
Ingredients!
small bunch of spring onions
1/2 a 30g tin of anchovies
5 cloves of garlic
250g asparagus
about 15 cherry tomatoes
500g frozen peas
fresh string beans
300ml veg stock
2 x 250g tubs of cottage cheese
300g fresh lasagne sheets
Parmesan cheese
sprigs of fresh thyme
*Preheat the oven to 200C.
*Pour the oil from the anchovies into a saucepan and place on a medium heat. Finely slice the spring onions and half of the anchovies and then add them to the saucepan.
*Crush the six cloves of garlic into the pan and fry for a few minutes ensuring that the garlic doesn't burn.
*Trim the pointed tips off the asparagus and put aside, then trim the woody ends from the other side and discard. Finely slice the stems of the asparagus into 1.5cm pieces before adding to the pan with a splash of water.
*After five minutes, add the peas and beans along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir well.
*Give everything a good stir and cook for a few more minutes.
*Take the vegetables off the heat and spoon around one quarter of the mixture into a deep dish. Top with a lasagne sheet and a generous grating of parmesan cheese. Keep repeating these whilst adding chopped cherry tomatoes, until you finish with a layer of lasagne.
*Mix the remaining 250g of cottage cheese with a splash of boiled water and then spread over the lasagne.
*Drizzle olive oil over the asparagus tips then place onto the lasagne. Sprinkle over the thyme along with another good grating of parmesan and a final drizzle of olive oil.
*Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes until the topping has browned.
Drizzle some balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil over the salad mix and tear up the baguette. Serve and enjoy!! We all tucked in and were feeling very full afterwards.
I'm going to write the dessert in another post, or this will be the longest one ever.
Big love!
L xx
YUMMMMMM
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