Courgette lasagne

Goodbye clean work surfaces, adios baking supplies, arrivederci  kitchen.

And hellooooo uni.

I’m not even there yet (only four days to go…eeek) but I’m already anticipating the greasy ovens, lack of clean utensils and overall reduced quality of kitchen escapades. No access to my 60,340 recipe books – what on earth will I do?! (the answer ‘Get a life’ is not welcome here by the way). To make things a little bit more like home I am packing a large selections of spices however. I think it’s highly likely that I will be the only student to be taking a jar of wild sumac to uni….and dried yeast for that matter….

Oh well, I’ll just be known as ‘Delia’ or maybe if I’m lucky, ‘Nigella’. Most likely though I’ll be ‘that cooking freak who makes jam instead of going out’. Oh dear, I can picture it now; me welcoming flatmates home after a night out with brownies and a glass of milk.

Well, I’ve been trying to make the most of my last days at home, so taking part in this month’s Random Recipe Challenge was a must. The premise was to randomly select one of the thousands of recipe cards and magazine clippings us crazy cooks horde. I was rather happy with my result: Creamy Courgette Lasagne from Good Food. Unfortunately my carnivorous family were not so impressed; “There’s no meat in it?” and “courgettes?! Urghhhh”, were common reactions. However, the dish actually turned out wonderfully creamy and meat was certainly not missed.

This is definitely one I’ll cook again. Actually, it’ll be a great dish to cook at uni, maybe even to share with my future flatmates…after all, who said that you can’t cook yourself to friendship!

Creamy Courgette Lasagne (Good Food magazine, September 2007) 

Ingredients

• 9 dried lasagne sheets
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 onion , finely chopped
• 700g courgettes (about 6), coarsely grated
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• 250g tub ricotta
• 50g cheddar
• 350g jar tomato sauce for pasta

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Put a pan of water on to boil, then cook the lasagne sheets for about 5 mins until softened, but not cooked through. Rinse in cold water, then drizzle with a little oil to stop them sticking together.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan, then fry the onion. After 3 mins, add the courgettes and garlic and continue to fry until the courgette has softened and turned bright green. Stir in 2/3 of both the ricotta and the cheddar, then season to taste. Heat the tomato sauce in the microwave for 2 mins on High until hot.
3. In a large baking dish, layer up the lasagne, starting with half the courgette mix, then pasta, then tomato sauce. Repeat, top with blobs of the remaining ricotta, then scatter with the rest of the cheddar. Bake on the top shelf for about 10 mins until the pasta is tender and the cheese is golden