Del-icious!: Vegetable lasagna 'sunny side up'

Attending a catered event as a guest was often a risky business at some companies I worked for as a student. Unlike eating in a restaurant, which is generally manned by competent chefs, a catered event could be a recipe for disaster and angry, disgruntled clients. The problem was always the chefs, who were somewhat less than professional in one company I worked for.

One such event at which I waitressed was full of hungry hypnotists on their annual conference, (I kid you not). There was a pleasant relaxed atmosphere as the guests laughed over shared stories of humiliating people foolish enough to volunteer to be hypnotised and eager in their anticipation of a good meal. Once the food had been brought out and everyone had started to eat, all seemed well until grunts of discord began to ring from certain quarters. Muffled and polite at first, then rising to a full blown furious crescendo. Rushing to quell the outburst, we soon discovered that the problem seemed to be centred around the vegetarian lasagna.

A few guests demanded we take a look at what was supposed to be a colourful arrangement of zucchini, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes in a cream sauce. Instead, the lasagnas were beige and meat like, layered between sheets of green lasagna and a gloopy, bland sauce. Thinking the chef had accidentally bought a vegetarian 'meat' variety with some dodgy meat substitute made from soy, we tried to placate the guests with promises that they were definitely not eating 'real' meat. We were wrong. The chef had bought lasagna verde and in his extremely fluent grasp on French, had mistakenly believed that verde meant vegetables instead of the green lasagna sheets made with spinach. About 15 angry vegetarian hypnotists had just eaten ground beef stewed with tomatoes and onions. I seem to recall several of them demanding an audience with him, after which he disappeared very quickly and was never seen or heard from again.

Make no mistake. This is 'vegetable' lasagna, not 'vegetarian' lasagna. It contains both bacon and anchovies, neither of which would be in any way acceptable for a vegetarian dinner. The sunny side up refers to two eggs, cracked over the final layer of lasagna sheets and blanketed very cosily with lots of cheese. Neil and I both feel cheated without a hit of meat every day, (although we are trying to have the odd vegetarian meal). I think it comes from both of us growing up in families where meat and two veg were the mainstay dinners. If we are feeling too lazy to buy some meat that day and the freezer seems a little bare, eggs are always a good protein provider.

This recipe will be presented in stages to fit nicely with the images, so, from the picture above:

Recipe : Lasagna with vegetables, bacon and anchovies

Vegetable layer

6 rashers of streaky bacon

1/2 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 bell pepper or half each of two different colours, seeded and chopped finely

1 handful rocket

1 handful of freshly podded peas

6 anchovies from a tin, chopped finely

1/2 tsp salt

black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

Heat a frying pan over medium to high heat and add the bacon without any fat. Fry, turning once or twice until the bacon is crispy and all the fat has been rendered, leaving you with a couple of tbsp in the pan. Remove the bacon and drain on kitchen towel.

Add the onion, garlic, peppers, rocket, peas and anchovies to the bacon fat in the pan and reduce heat to medium. Allow to saute until the vegetables are softened and wilted.

Season with the salt, pepper and paprika and stir the bacon back in.