Full-of-veg Turkey and Fennel Lasagne

Full-of-veg Turkey and Fennel Lasagne

• 500 g Turkey mince
• 500g ricotta cheese
• 100g grated parmesan (or gran padano/pecorino as substitute)
• 1 mozzarella ball (optional)
• 1 box lasagna sheets (ones that cook in the oven)
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 onion  
• 1 small carrot  
• 1 courgette (sliced lengthwise on a mandolin or grated finely)
• 1 small fennel bulb  
• 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 1 egg
• 1 tin whole plum tomatoes (chop tomatoes but keep remaining sauce in tin)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• chicken stock cube (crumbled)
• whole cloves
• 2 tbsp chopped, fresh (or 2 tsp dried) parsley

1 Trim the courgette and slice lengthwise on a mandolin, if you don’t have a mandolin, grate it and get rid of the excess liquid by placing the grated courgette in a tea towel and squeezing the moisture out. Place the dry courgette uncovered in the fridge until needed to dry out further.

2 In a medium mixing bowl, add the ricotta, 1/2 the parmesan, the egg and parsley. Mix, cover and refrigerate till needed.

3 Roughly peel and chop the onion, garlic, carrot, celery sticks and fennel and put in a food processor, hand blender attachment and blend till fine. If you don’t have a processor, chop ingredients as finely as possible.

4 In a frying pan on medium heat, place the oil and whole cloves until fragrant, removing the cloves.

5 Add the pulsed onion mixture into the frying pan adding 1/2 tsp of salt and cook until softened. Remove from the pan and set aside.

6 Add a dash more of oil to the frying pan and add the fennel seeds. Once fragrant, add the minced turkey and break up with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock cube to the meat along with 2 of the garlic cloves.

7 Now add the cooked onion mixture back to the meat and add the chopped plum tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and the remaining garlic cloves. Using the empty tin of tomatoes, fill it up with water and add to the frying pan. Let simmer on medium-low till it has reduced. (There should be a little moisture in the sauce; when you move the mixture around in the pan, no huge amount of liquid trails behind the spoon). Once reduced, take off the heat.

8 In a lasagna dish, layer with a large spoonful of the meat sauce, followed by the lasagna sheets, courgette slices and the ricotta mixture. Mine pictured had three layers total. Finish off with a mixture of broken lasagna sheets, ricotta and meat mixture.

9 If you are using the mozzarella, tear off chunks and scatter over the top of the lasagna.

10 Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C / 160 C fan-assisted for 50-60 minutes. Cover with foil if it gets too brown on top. Serve with lots of wine and a fresh green salad.