Mexican Lasagne

I’ve spoken before about my love for Food Network, but if you have a similar addiction, you’ll know that most recipes on there don’t really fit on a website with a diet/fitness focus. So prepare to be even more shocked when I bring up Nigella – oh yes, I have a Nigella recipe for you today, and it’s really not naughty. AND I barely tinkered with it at all. I know, I know – I was surprised too. I kind of expected more of Nigella.

This Mexican Lasagne is vegetarian and super filling. I actually messed up my layers slightly as I forgot how to count, so I’m going to talk you through how I SHOULD have done it. It’s a really easy recipe though and very hearty. I must confess – even if it’s a touch TMI – I felt like it made me a little bloated, but it is quite carb heavy with the wraps and the beans. If I made it again, I’d cut down on the tortillas used (due to messing up the layers, I ended up using 12 in the whole dish which was overkill), decrease the beans and up the sweetcorn (and maybe the cheese). It’s a good, stodgy meal though – great for winter – and it freezes really well, so yay for that!

The main changes I made was cutting out the oil (honestly, you hardly ever need to cook with oil), upping the vegetables in the salsa (the salsa is almost entirely point-free, so next time I’d even be tempted to up the tomato!) and swapping the cheese. I think it would work with just low fat cheddar, though. I also changed the beans – the original recipe calls for black beans, but I couldn’t find them!

You can see Nigella’s original recipe here.

Mexican Lasagne
9 Weight Watchers wraps - 25PP
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup - 1PP
3 cans Pinto Beans - 17PP
2 165g cans Sweetcorn - 6PP
200g feta - 15PP
225g mozzarella - 10PP
50g low fat cheddar - 4PP
2 onions
1 punnet mushrooms
2 peppers (any colour)
2 green or red chillies, chopped and deseeded (or not, depending on how spicy you like it)
3 cloves fresh garlic
Fresh coriander
800g chopped tomatoes (2 cans)
400ml water (swilled in empty cans)

Serves 8
78PP / 10PP

1. Preheat the oven to 200c.
2. Finely chop all your veggies
3. In a wok or non-stick frying pan fry the onion, pepper, mushrooms, chillies and crushed garlic cloves until soft
4. Add the canned tomatoes, then swill the cans out with water and add this too. Spoon in the ketchup and let the sauce come to a simmer, leaving it to cook with the lid off for about 10 mins. It should thicken considerably, but if it still looks watery turn the heat up and leave it a little longer.
5. Meanwhile, in a large bowl mix the drained beans and sweetcorn. Add the chopped mozzarella and feta, and mix together until well combined.
6. When the sauce is done (make sure to season to taste with salt/pepper and any other spices) you can start assembling. I just used my lasagne dish.
7. Smear a bit of the salsa on the bottom of your dish – enough to just cover it.
8. Add a layer of tortilla. To fit the space I used 2 overlapping wraps, then chopped a third in half and put it on either end (see the photo)
9. Add half the remaining salsa, then add another layer of tortillas over them
10. Add all of your sweetcorn/bean/cheese mix then add another layer of tortillas
11. Add the remaining salsa over the top, then sprinkle your cheddar over that.
12. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, then let rest for a good 10-15 minutes before slicing.
13. As much as you may not want to, leaving it to rest DOES make a difference. I ate it straight out of the oven and it fell apart – I had to use a spoon to get it out! When I portioned up the rest, it sliced incredibly neatly and I could use a fishslice to lift it out.

To reduce points – you could easily leave out a tortilla layer, and I doubt you’d miss it. You could also cut down on the beans, or switch the type of cheese. Next time, I’m probably going to do all three of these things and I think it’ll taste better for it! I also think the ketchup added nothing to the flavour – I’d use sweet chilli instead.