Jamie's Summer Veggie Lasagne

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Asparagus
• Frozen peas and broad beans
• Fresh lasagne sheet
• Cottage cheese
• Tomatoes

After last week's 'challenging' effort, the theme of living dangerously continued as I attempted a summery veggie lasagne for none other than Chris' parents.

Once again the sheer quantity of food (a kilo and a half of green veg alone) threatened to overwhelm me and the kitchen, but thankfully nothing was too fiddly. Spring onions and asparagus were chopped and fried, quickly joined by a large volume of frozen beans and peas. With lemon, mint, cream, cottage cheese and a little stock this made the basis of the lasagne - refreshingly different from the more standard tomato/courgette/aubergine version.

This was then layered up in a large dish (or two) with lasagne sheets and parmesan, and topped with cottage cheese and thyme. Under the grill it went for long enough to melt the cheese - and that was pretty much it. The Tuscan salad of tomatoes, jarred sweet peppers, basil and capers added some welcome sharpness and colour, even though I managed to create my very own mushroom cloud by incinerating the first batch of croutons under the grill.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this one - broad beans are one of my least-favourite ingredients but they were perfectly palatable (and could easily have been left out in favour of more peas and asparagus). Plus if I hadn't felt under pressure to make the 30-minute mark I might have planned ahead a little better and avoided some of the mess in the kitchen which Chris is valiantly battling now. Per head cost: £2.61 - but easily could be made a lot more cheaply by reducing the amount of asparagus.

Best for... A tasty supper when you've been sent an allotment food parcel
Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30 Minute Meals
Chris says... Not really my cup of tea, if I'm honest, but much preferable to the aubergine/courgette version