Meat-Free Monday: vegetable lasagne

I've never made a good meat lasagne. I don't know why - I make a pretty good ragu and a killer bechamel, but somehow in the layering or something it all goes pear-shaped and ends up like a particularly robust housebrick.

My vegetable lasagnes, and even my seafood lasagnes, on the other hand, are brilliant. I hardly ever make them, because they are fiddly, time-consuming and use lots of pans, but when I do, it is all worthwhile. I don't have a fixed recipe for them, it's more riffing on a theme of varied colour, flavour and texture. So it might be layers of various barbecued mediterranean vegetables, pumpkin and mushroom or smoked and fresh seafood.

The finished article

This one is a layer of leeks and courgettes, bound with a 200g tub of soft philly, seasoned with celery seed, oregano and black pepper, then two layers of spicy tomato, onion and pepper sauce (fresh red and my last smoked dried hungarian wax), and a top layer of spinach, garlic and ricotta, seasoned with loads of nutmeg. If I'd been feeling more energetic I might have topped it with a layer of bechamel, but instead I just used grated cheese, so the top layer of pasta sheets curled and crisped in the oven like tortilla chips. Yum. It makes 8-10 portions, so this is a pretty economical way to go about making our lunches for this week.

Leeks & courgettes, sauteed hard, then bound with philly

One way of tying the various flavours together without everything tasting same-y was to take advantage of the different alliums. So leeks in one layer, onions in one layer, garlic in one layer.

Spinach (the frozen stuff), garlic & ricotta

Spicy tomato, onion and peppers. Lots of liquid in this layer.

Letting it sit for a bit before cutting gives tidier slices