Red pepper & tomato lasagne

January 21, 2019January 21, 2020 ~ Corrie ~ 4 Comments

I tend to find myself crying a lot these days. Not about anything important – in fact, it’s the trivial things that really set me off. A slightly sentimental advert, a chick and a cat becoming friends or even just spilling coffee granules on the kitchen floor.
For example, today I’ve already cried twice, and both times were during the first half hour of Harry Potter film ‘The Goblet of Fire’. Bear in mind, nothing upsetting had actually happened yet. Thinking about it, the first cry was over Brendan Gleeson, until I realised he wasn’t actually dead in real life (thanks, Google). The second was the realisation I may never get to go to a glamorous wizarding ball.
So, to cheer myself up, I needed some serious comfort food and that came in the form of my mum’s red pepper and tomato lasagne – aka tomato and cheesy pasta realness. In fact, this recipe was one of the first-ever recipes I blogged about many moons ago, but I have to be honest, the picture was a bit shit and so was the recipe. So I spent the day rewriting, reshooting and re-eating it. It was so good it made me cry… Again.

Red pepper & tomato lasagne
Serves 6 / Hands on time 30 mins / Total 2 hour 10 minutes / V ❄
You’ll need: Rectangular oven-proof dish 22cm x 28cm and foil
9 dried lasagne sheets
24 tomatoes, cut into eighths
4 red peppers, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 tbs dried oregano
2 tbs dried basil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
300g mild/medium strength vegetarian cheddar, grated

TIP: This is an easy recipe but does take a couple of hours to cook so best make when you have plenty of time. Perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Method
1. Slice off the core and roughly chop each tomato into eighths and put in a large pot, over a medium heat with a tbs of extra virgin olive oil. Meanwhile, de-seed and finely chop the peppers and add them to the tomatoes. Sprinkle over the dried herbs, a tsp of salt and mix well.
2. Bring to the boil (you may have to dig down to the bottom to see the juices bubbling away). Put the lid on and cook the sauce down for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and continue to simmer for a further 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Meanwhile grate the cheese.
3. Preheat an oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400F/gas mark 6. Once the sauce has thickened, take off the heat and start assembling the lasagne.
4. Oil the oven dish and start layering. Begin with a layer of pasta sheets (feel free to break the pasta sheets to fit your dish if needs be). Cover the lasgane sheets with an even layer of sauce (3 ladles worth) and top with an even sprinkling of cheese. Continue to layer like this a couple more times before topping with the last layer of cheese. Season with salt and pepper and cover loosely with foil (ensure the foil isn’t touching the cheese – you don’t want the cheese to stick and peel the whole top layer of the lasagne off).
5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes before removing the foil and cooking for a further 10 minutes to brown the cheese a little. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving with a simple green salad.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian
❄– Suitable for home freezing before cooking. Wrap the lasagne well in 2 layers of cling film and 1 layer of foil. Defrost fully before baking.

Mexican mixed bean lasagne

July 11, 2017January 21, 2020 ~ Corrie ~ 1 Comment

Why I ever think drinking on a Sunday is a good idea is beyond me. To cut a long story short, Jamie and I went for a roast and I drank a bottle of wine. Next thing I know, I’m lying on my bed, fully clothed and surrounded by mini Toffee Crisp wrappers, popcorn and there’s a half eaten cheese toastie upon my person. My laptop’s open on the bed and is playing endless episodes of Ru Paul’s Drag Race (I love Netflix). So all in all, a very successful Sunday.
Although the fun never lasts, I was so horribly hungover at work today that I’m pretty sure I needed medical assistance. When I finally got to the hospital (to see my mum who is currently having chemo) I was stunned nobody took any notice of my condition, savages.
Anyway, enough about my life, lets talk about my new flat… What? It’s exciting and I feel like sharing! So yes, Jamie and I are officially the new renters of a one bedroom flat in sunny Archway. It has a roof terrace and everything so now I can buy plants and accidentally neglect them like everyone else in North London.
So let’s celebrate with this this rather tasty tortilla lasagne (which I’m sure I will be making with tomatoes I grow on my new roof terrace) okay I’ll stop it now. This recipe is actually one I wrote for Families First Magazine’s July/August issue (out now). They trust me to write recipes for them sometimes which is nice, they clearly have impeccable taste.

Mexican mixed bean lasagne
Serves 6 / Hands on time 1 hr / Total time 1 hr 30 mins / V ❄🌶
You’ll need: A deep ovenproof dish (roughly 10 inches wide)
Sauce
1 tsp of olive oil
1 white onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
2 tbs tomato purée
2 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
2 cans chopped tomatoes
500ml vegetable stock, I use Knorr
2 handfuls of fresh coriander, chopped
Filling
1 can black eyed beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can of sweetcorn, drained
100g vegetarian cheddar, grated
100g vegetarian feta, crumbled
6 medium tortillas

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6. Chop the onion and the yellow pepper and add them to a large saucepan with a tsp of oil. Cover with the lid and allow to sweat on a medium heat for around 10 minutes or until soft.
2. Stir in the smoked paprika and chilli flakes and continue to cook for a couple more minutes. Add the tomato purée, chopped coriander, canned tomatoes and the vegetable stock. Give it a good stir, season well with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat and let the sauce reduce for around 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, drain the beans and the sweetcorn and pour into a large bowl. Crumble in half of the feta and half of the grated cheese and stir well. Once your tomato sauce has reduced, take off the heat and put to one side.
4. Grease a large, oven proof, dish with oil and place 2 tortillas in the bottom (Don’t worry if they overlap). Top with about a third of tomato sauce and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle over half the bean and cheese mixture, before laying 2 more tortillas on top. Add another layer of sauce, the rest of the bean and cheese mixture and top with the final 2 tortillas. Spread the top with the last of the sauce and sprinkle with the remaining feta and cheddar.
5. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the top is lovely and brown. Remove from the oven and let the lasagne rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with a simple salad, sour cream and a couple of jalapeño’s.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian 🌶– Spicy
❄– One cooked and fully cooled, the lasagne is suitable for home freezing. Defrost thoroughly before reheating and consumer within 3 months.

Mum’s red pepper lasagne

June 28, 2015January 29, 2020 ~ Corrie ~ 7 Comments

Big news everyone… I HAVE A MAN COMING TO DINNER! Yes mum, an actual man, with a pulse and a head and everything. Although, if he has a weeping abscess on his leg, lets hope he keeps that information to himself, unlike my last date.
Was it a mistake to mention I had a food blog? Probably. Presumably his exceptions will be sky high, so that’s good. AGGHHH! What the hell am I going to cook him and what if it goes horribly wrong?! I’ll forever be known as ‘the food blogger who can’t cook and can’t kiss’… Not that I’m a bad cook or a bad kisser, in fact I’m an excellent kisser so not sure why I said that.
Anyway, I need to cook something safe, something I know and something I can prepare in advance to stop me getting frazzled like Robin Williams in Mrs Doubtfire. I don’t want to burn my tits.
Lets bring out the big guns, my mum’s tomato and red pepper lasagne. Now then, this aint no a regular lasagne, there’s no béchamel or mince, just a simple sauce of cooked down tomatoes and peppers. This was a week night staple in the Heale household throughout my childhood, until my mum had to give up dairy (selfish woman). Luckily my dad heroically stepped up and managed to cobble it together occasionally for my brother and I, thank god. In fact, it was the only thing my dad could cook apart from a jacket potato.
Over the years I’ve managed to cook it entirely from memory for all kinds of people, all of which have loved it. The sauce is easy to make but quite time consuming, so I recommend you make it the day before. Wish me luck! :S

Mum’s red pepper & tomato lasagne
Serves 6 / Hands on time 30 mins / Total 2 hour 10 minutes / V ❄
You’ll need: Rectangular oven-proof dish 22cm x 28cm and foil
9 dried lasagne sheets
24 tomatoes, cut into eighths
4 red peppers, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 tbs dried oregano
2 tbs dried basil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
300g mild/medium strength vegetarian cheddar, grated

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian
❄– Suitable for home freezing before cooking. Wrap the lasagne well in 2 layers of cling film and 1 layer of foil. Defrost fully before baking.