Here in Melbourne we are well and truly into Spring. Spring is probably my favorite season, with gardens coming back into life with an abundance of colour. Subsequently there is a wider variety of fresh local produce on offer. Mix this with longer days and later evenings, and you have the perfect excuse to bring out some new recipes.

Now being British, I fall into the category of people who love Jamie Oliver. So last week whilst watching yet another ‘Jamie’s 30 Minute meals’, I find myself mesmerized as Jamie makes what looks like the perfect spring lasagne. There and then I decided that I needed to make this. So after jotting down the recipe here we are a week later, and let me tell you, its a good’un.

This is the perfect meal for spring evenings when there is still a cold nip in the air and you are wanting some warming comfort food. However, paired with some beautiful fresh peas and asparagus it adds to a lighter delicate dish as we head into warmer days. I have made a couple of adaptations to the original recipe to suit my own person tastes. So here it is, my idea of the perfect spring lasagne. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

(The recipe below is not exactly the same as Jamie Oliver’s, for several things I changed the quantity to my suiting and have used feta as opposed to cottage cheese)

• A bunch of spring onions (50g diced)
• 10 anchovies in oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 700g asparagus
• 700g frozen peas
• 100g frozen broad beans, de-shelled
• Handful of fresh mint
• 300ml single cream
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 beef or chicken stock cubes
• 200ml of water
• 500g feta
• Lasagne sheets
• Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Pour roughly 1 tsbp of the anchovie oil into a saucepan and place on a medium heat. Finely slice the spring onions and anchovies and then add them to the saucepan. Crush the garlic cloves into the pan and fry for a couple minutes making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. You can add a dash of water if it starts to stick.
2. Trim the pointed tips off the asparagus and put aside. Then trim the woody ends from the other side and discard. Finely slice the stems of the asparagus into 1.5cm pieces before adding to the pan with a splash of water. After 5 minutes, add the peas and broad beans along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir well.
3. Pick and chop up the mint leaves then add them to the saucepan along with the cream, 2 stock cubes, 200ml of water and the zest of 1 lemon. Let this all cook together for a couple more minutes before stirring in 250g of feta.
4. Take the vegetables of the heat and spoon about 1/3 of the mixture into a deep lasagne dish. Top with a layer or lasagne sheets and a generous grsting of parmesan cheese. Repeat the layers of vegetable and lasgne sheets until you have used all of the filling and then top with a final sheet.
5. Mix the remaining 250g of feta cheese with a splash of boiled water and then spread over the lasagne.
6. Drizzle olive oil over the asparagus tips then place onto the lasagne along with another good grating of parmesan.
7. Bake in the over at 200 degrees for roughly 30 minutes until the top has browned.