Italian Week - Tomato and Mozzarella Salad and vegetarian lasagna

The group chose to make Italian food because, well... who doesn't love Italian food!?

The group decided to only use vegetables in this meal after we discussed how this can make the meal healthier by cutting out a lot of fat and adding lots of nutrients and vitamins. The group discussed why vitamins are important - to keep us strong and healthy and help us fight off illness.

Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

This is a simple but delicious salad using sliced tomato and mozzarella. We added fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper. 

This is a classic Italian flavour combination and everyone really enjoyed it.

A couple of members preparing the starters.

Vegetarian Lasagna:

We started by chopping the vegetables. We used Aubergines, Courgettes, Mushrooms, Peppers and fresh tomatoes.

We also diced some onions and crushed some garlic, very kindly donated to us by the Rathbone Gardening Project.

Garlic and Onions grown by the Gardening Project.

We cooked the garlic and onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil. We then added all the other vegetables and added tinned tomatoes, Oregano, Italian Seasoning and salt and pepper.

We gave it a good stir then left it to simmer on a low heat. This was so all the vegetables would soften and all the flavours would infuse together:

Then it was time to construct the Lasagnas.

We started layering the cooked vegetables, Fresh Lasagna Sheets and White sauce.

The group topped the Lasagnas with White Sauce, Parmesan Cheese and Black Pepper.

We then put our Lasagnas in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

The Layers of the Cooked Lasagna.

We served the Lasagna with some green beans which were boiled but still crunchy.

This was a very tasty and nutritious meal which everyone enjoyed making and especially eating!