Recipes

Dave's Potato Bake

This started out with me wondering what a lasagne would be like with potatoes instead of lasagne, in an effort to ring some fresh changes in the diet of the family vegetarian. As I thought it through, some changes to the basic lasagne style suggested themselves, as in an egg/sour cream mix instead of white sauce to increase protein content. Charlie is currently working as a labourer for a contracting firm, and can handle - in fact needs - a fairly high calorie diet, but protein is still important.

Very tasty and a thumbs up from all involved.

You will need:

4 medium to largish potatoes, par-boiled, and sliced to about 3 mm thickness

400-500g pasta sauce or tomato puree

1 medium onion, finely sliced

2 cups grated tasty cheese

3-4 eggs

30-50g sour cream

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

handful of chopped parsley

1 stick finely chopped celery

2 sticks asparagus, chopped to about pea size (optional)

1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)

1 finely chopped capsicum or mild hungarian chilli

12 stuffed olives, coarsely chopped (optional)

12-15 small pieces blue vein cheese

I use a large open casserole dish for this, about 250-275 across. Reserve a half cupful of cheese and the blue vein pieces for topping. Combine the parsley, garlic, eggs and sour cream, salt and pepper, and use a hand blender/kitchen whizz to combine.

Lightly oil the casserole dish. Sprinkle a layer of tomato puree over the base, and cover it with a layer of onion and a layer of potato followed by a layer of cheese. Continue in roughly this fashion, including layers of various other vegetables, either singly or in combo as you go. If calories aren't a serious issue, then brush the potatoes with some melted butter. Finish with a layer of potato slices, then pour the egg mixture over the layers in the casserole, sprinkle with the final layer of cheese and dot the blue vein cheese more or less evenly around the top.

Place in the middle of a 180C oven until the top is toasty brown - about 30-45 minutes.

Serve with a sharpish green salad or chunky salad.

For Charlie this was a main dish. We had much smaller servings accompanying grilled pork mince rissoles.