The recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s vegetarian cookbook Veg Every Day!. Hugh spent one summer to get to know the vegetables more. He’s come up with an abundance of veg-tastic recipes. I could cook and bake all the recipes from the book. With over 200 recipes and vibrant photography, River Cottage Veg Every Day is a timely eulogy to the glorious green stuff. You can watch the series on  YouTube-on.

This lasagna was a winner. Everyone in my family loved it.

Kale and Mushroom Lasagna

Ingredients (serves 4-5)

For the lasagna
– 300 g kale, tough stalks removed, leaves cut into bite size pieces
– 500 g button mushroom, sliced
– 3 cloves garlic, chopped
– 180-190 g lasagne sheets
– 30 g butter (unsalted)
– 20 g Parmesan, grated
– 2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
– olive oil
– sea salt, pepper

For the béchamel sauce
– 750 ml non-dairy milk (oat, rice, soy, you can substitute with milk)
– 1 onion, chopped
– 1 small root of celery, chopped
– 50 g butter (unsalted)
– 50 g plain flour
– 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
– 1 bay leaf
– a frew black peppercorns
– sea salt

In a pan heat the milk with bay leaf, onion, celery and peppercorns until just below simmering. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.

Put the kale leaves into a pan and cover with cold water. Add salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

In a large pan heat 30 g butter, add mushroom, some salt and pepper. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the liquid released by the mushroom has evaporated. Stir in garlic and thyme, cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Reheat the infused milk slowly, then strain. In a large saucepan heat 50 g butter for the béchamel sauce. Stir in the flour and cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add about a quarter of the hot milk and beat vigorously until smooth. Repeat with the remaining milk until you have a smooth sauce. Return to the heat and cook for a few minutes – stirring -, allowing it to bubble until thickened. Stir in the mustard, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Stir about half of the béchamel sauce into the kale, put to one side.

Spread half the remaining sauce over the bottom of a 29*20 cm (11,4 * 7,8 inch) ovenproof dish. Put one layer of lasagna sheets in the dish, then spoon the kale over the top. Add another layer of lasagna, then the mushrooms. Finish with a final layer of pasta and the remaining of béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan and olive oil and bake at 180C (350F) for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.