Mushroom and silverbeet (chard) lasagne

Recently, Michelle Bridges of the Australian version of Biggest Loser has been publishing some really delish sounding recipes in the Sunday Life magazine in The Age.  I have been collecting them for a while, and finally got around to making one on the weekend. 

I selected Michelle's Mushroom and Silverbeet Lasagne. This recipe was not hard to make - it just took a while because there are a number of components (cooked mushrooms, cooked silverbeet, tomato sauce, white sauce), and of course, plenty of vegetables to chop.  Next time, I would not include the stalks of the silverbeet, or else would chop them much finer, as they ended up being a little stringy and firm.  I also didn't have quite enough lasagne sheets, as I made this with a view to using up the lasagne sheets that I had. This was a really nice vegetarian lasagne, with white sauce and cheese (so not vegan), and quite light and tasty.  Here are the layers:

The mushrooms make this lasagne surprisingly meaty and filling - I really didn't miss the meat. 

Instead of serving this lasagne with a salad, as Michelle suggested, I cooked up some peas:

To make this lasagne, you will need:

spray cooking oil
1 diced brown onion
400g chopped mushrooms
3 crushed cloves garlic
1 tbspn chopped thyme
salt and pepper (the original uses only pepper)
600g chopped silverbeet (chard)
400g can tomatoes
2 1/2 tbpsn cornflour
2 1/2 cups low fat milk
10 sheets dried lasagne
3/4 cup low fat grated mozarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and lightly spray an 8-cup oven proof dish with cooking oil.

Coat a frypan with a light spray of cooking oil and heat on high.  Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft.  Add the mushrooms, garlic and thyme to the pan and cook for 8 minutes or until the mushrooms are browned.  Season with salt and pepper and remove the mixture from the pan.

Add the silverbeet (chard) to the pan and cook until the leaves wilt.  Add the tomatoes, bring the mixture to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens.  Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

Mix together the cornflour and 1/4 cup of the milk in a small bowl.  Put the remaining 2 1/4 cups milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat.  Whisk in the cornflour and continue stirring until the sauce boils and thickens.   Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

Mix he two cheeses together in a small bowl

Cover the base of the oven proof dish with a little silverbeet/tomato sauce.  Top with lasagne sheets.  Cover the lasagne sheets with half of the silverbeet/tomato sauce, then half the mushrooms, then cover with a third of the white sauce and sprinkle with one third of the cheese.  Repeat.  Finish with a layer of lasagne sheet and the last of the white sauce and cheese.

Place the lasagne in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the lasagne is soft and the top is golden.

Serve with salad.

This lasagne is definitely a keeper - I will make it again for work lunches.

On the weekend, I also got the chance to see the gladioli sculpture at The Arts Centre in Melbourne, erected to celebrate the opening of renovated Hamer Hall:

The sculpture was dedicated by Barry Humphreys,"manager" of Dame Edna Everage, who is synonymous with gladioli.  I am going to see Edna's show, Eat Pray Laugh, next weekend at The Regent. The little "card" on the sculpture says "Melbourne, take a bow."  Unfortunately, the sculpture was taken down on Monday. I also got to see the sculpture being erected a week to the day before that, as I was at the art gallery that evening.

Hope you are having a great week.