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Roast Pumpkin + Spinach Lasagne
What's great about it
This lasagne gives your body a massive hit of antioxidants. Pumpkin is high in immune-boosting vitamin A, which is important for eye health, protein synthesis, reproduction and a healthy immune system. It's also high in fibre to help lower cholesterol and has good amounts of potassium which helps to regulate fluid and mineral balance in the body. I normally make up a big baking dish and enjoy for lunch or dinner the next day with a large salad or steamed green vegetables, as it keeps well for up to 3 days. It freezes well too.
Ingredients
Serves 6
1 kg pumpkin, peeled
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 onion, diced
800 g chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons, fresh chopped parsley
200 g baby spinach
500 g reduced fat deli-style ricotta (see notes)
1 organic egg
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200°C.
- Slice pumpkin into 1 cm thick slices + place onto a baking tray.
- Brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle over a little cinnamon.
- Bake for 30 minutes until tender and remove.
- Sauté the onion in a pot.
- Add tomatoes and paste + cook for 15 minutes until thickened. Add herbs and season to taste, then remove from heat.
- Spread 1/4 of the sauce into the base of a baking dish.
- Add half of the spinach then half of the roasted pumpkin on top.
- Spoon over ½ of the tomato sauce. Repeat.
- Beat the ricotta and egg until smooth and spread over the pumpkin.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve with leafy greens or steamed green vegetables.
Notes and Inspiration
You can increase the protein content by adding beans, lentils or chicken when making the tomato sauce.
Substitute the ricotta for pureed, white cannellini beans blended with roasted garlic and a splash of olive oil. It makes a great replacement for the ricotta in the recipe, plus it's high in protein and fibre to help lower cholesterol and keep blood sugars stable.
Alternatively, combine 500 g silken tofu with 60 g raw cashew nuts into a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth and creamy and use to replace ricotta.
Quickly steam 1 whole cauliflower then blend with roasted garlic and a splash of olive oil until smooth and creamy. Spread over the lasagne and bake. When using this version, you need to add protein to make this meal complete, so add 500 g chicken breast to the tomato sauce or brown lentils or beans.