Easy Pesto Lasagna with Spinach, Peas and Pine nuts

Last Sunday was one of those days that you think that you picked a quick and easy recipe for dinner but still end up in the kitchen most of the day…

The culprit was this Easy Pesto Lasagna recipe I found in the reader’s section of BBC’s Good Food Magazine. Not the most photogenic lasagna I ever made, but it’s mainly the taste that matters, right?

A packet of fresh lasagna sheets and some pecorino and parmesan cheeses were already sitting in the fridge. Just wasn’t sure what the filling would be, so I started browsing for ideas. This combination of pesto, spinach, peas, and mint seamed nice enough.

What worked and what didn’t:
Making the lasagna was dead easy and as advertised only 15 minutes preparation time was needed before you can bung it in the oven. In short, you put pesto, water, and mascarpone into a big pan and bring it to a simmer, add chopped fresh spinach and let it wilt. Add the herbs and either fresh or frozen peas and the sauce is ready. Layer it with the lasagna sheets and finish – instead of a béchamel – with a layer of mascarpone that is mixed with a splash of milk to liquify and sprinkle the grated cheese and pine nuts on top.

No real wow factor, but overall, it did not disappoint. The kids were not too fond of the texture as the peas were still firm and were standing out too much from the otherwise very creamy lasagna. Consequently, their rating of the dinner was a meager 3 out of 10 😉 Perhaps we should not have let them watch all those series of Masterchef and Taste….

Recipe accuracy:
As I said, the recipe was easy to follow. The quantity we used easily serves 6 adults as a main course.

Suggested tweaks:
It was quite rich, which hardly comes as a surprise when using a big tub of mascarpone. My recommendation is to reduce the mascarpone and water in the sauce by 20%, as the sauce turned out a bit wet (the top layer held beautifully) and it would bring the pesto flavor a bit more in the spotlight.

Verdict: 7/10; Nice try, but not likely to be made again.