Clean Lasagne

Has anyone ever watched The Newsroom?

Oh my god, I think it's safe to say I am in love with that show. I'm halfway through the season and it's been two days. I haven't done any work. I am totally in love with the whole idea. Adam Sorkin is some kind of genius. Also, Will McAvoy is one of the greatest main characters ever. He is such a tool, but then has these really brilliant moments.

Also, Don, who I generally hate, had pretty much the best line ever in episode four. While he's not the greatest guy most of the time, he had the sweetest moment. So the episode is titled 'I will try to fix you' and the song 'fix you' by Coldplay is playing (and, um, how much does everyone love that song). In the tv show Gabrielle Giffords, the politician, has been shot and all the other news networks are pronouncing her dead. They ask Don what they should do - whether they should say she is still alive or not, as the newsrooms are all relying on one piece of information. And Don says, "It's a person. A doctor pronounces her dead, not the news."

Woah.
 
I find this pretty much sums up the main reason I don't want to be a news journalist - the things you have to deal with as a news journalist are pretty heavy. And what if you pronounce her dead, her family sees the news show and thinks she is, and then she isn't. Or worse yet, what if that is how they find out she died. That's not right.

P.S. If you all want to watch this amazing scene, which I recommend you do, watch it here.

So, sorry for all the heaviness this Monday. It's a bit too early in the week, huh?

On that note, let's move on to today's recipe. After I posted a pic of this recipe last week I got a ton of comments asking for the recipe. I couldn't believe it. So here you are, probably the most requested recipe yet - my version of lasagne.

This lasagne is truly amazing. I have made it twice in the last five days. I absolutely love this recipe. It is probably the recipe on my blog which takes the most time to prep, but there is not too much cooking time. Having said this, it's not like it is difficult to cook. It's rather easy. Furthermore, when you taste this, you will be in love. The flavours are absolutely fantastic and the entire thing is packed with vegetables and healthy carbs. It is very difficult to fault this recipe as it is full of good things; sweet potatoes, rye bread, lean chicken, tomato and cheese. And that is just a few of the ingredients.

I cannot tell you how brilliant this is. I can't even do it justice. You'll probably have most of these ingredients already. It oozes with flavour and the melted, brown cheese is perfectly goey when combined with the fresh tomato tang. It even tastes good cold as leftovers the following day. Just, trust me. Make this. Today. 

Now, I'm going to be honest here for one sec - here is what the lasagne actually looks like when you put it on a plate. It doesn't stay together very well, at least not in my tin. But hey, who cares when it tastes this good?

Level of Difficulty: Easy, though a lot of time is required to prepare this

Average Cost: $

Main Ingredients: lean chicken mince, rye wraps

Occasion: Dinner and Lunch

Menu Options: I’m sure you could add whatever veggies you like to this. This is pretty much a compilation of my favourite vegetables minus spinach and pumpkin. However the flavours are pretty good as is, so I would recommend at least trying it my way first.  

Serves 2-4, depending on serving size.Nutritional value calculated for 4.

What you will need:

-          2 tbsp olive oil

-          500 g chicken mince

-          ½ large onion, diced very finely

-          ¼ large capsicum, diced very finely

-          1 carrot, diced very finely – as small as the capsicum and onion

-          6 or 7 small-medium sized mushrooms (I used swiss brown), diced

-          1 tbsp ricotta or cottage cheese

-          1 sweet potato, sliced thinly

-          1 large zucchini, grated into long thin strips

-          2 large tomatoes, sliced thinly

-          3 tbsp tomato paste

-          3 large, square rye wraps. For Australians, I would recommend, as this is what I used – Mountain Bread Rye Wraps

-          ¾ cup – 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or some other hard cheese)

What to do:

I would recommend prepping all the vegetables first – chop them as described above.

Once the veggies are prepped, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Heat the oil in a frypan over medium-high heat.

Once the pan is hot enough, combine the chicken, onion, capsicum and mushrooms and add to the pan. Mix well to ensure veggies are spread throughout the chicken mince. Cook the meat until browned – this will take at least five minutes. Make sure all the meat is cooked.

Drain the meat when cooked. Make sure there is no excess water with the meat, as we do not want the wraps to get soft in the oven.

In the remaining oil, or add more if necessary, cook the mushrooms until soft. Once the mushrooms are soft, add the ricotta or cottage cheese and stir into the mushrooms. This just gives the mushrooms a nice, creamy flavour. Remember to take the mushrooms off the heat first.

Place one wrap on the kitchen bench. Cover the top of that wrap in 1 tbsp of the tomato paste. Stick another wrap on top of it, so the wraps become one. This is the bottom layer of the lasagne – it keeps the bottom nice and thick.

Line a bread baking tin (usual size) with the bottom wraps. Add another 1 tbsp of tomato paste to the top of this wrap.

Layer the sweet potatoes over the tomato paste.

Place half of the meat mixture over the sweet potatoes. Add half of the mushroom mixture over the top of the meat. Add half of the zucchini strips over the top of the mushrooms. Add the slices from one tomato over the top of the zucchini.

Therefore the layers should be: wraps with tomato paste, sweet potato, meat mixture, mushrooms, zucchini and tomato.

Place the remaining wrap over the top of the tomatoes. Spread the remaining 1 tbsp of tomato paste over the top of the wrap.

Repeat the layers as described above.

On top of the final tomato layer, add the cheese.

Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes.