We had a random pumpkin growing in the back yard. You have to love free food! Our neighbours have quite a few things growing in their garden, and have been quite generous with them over the last year. This weeks score is a pumpkin from an intruding vine. So I’ve made some pumpkiny things to use it up. This is the first.

It does kind of turn out like a sheperds pie, because the bottom layers of pumpkin get quite soft. In any case this recipe is super yummy, and lasts a few meals (depending how hungry you are!) . My little girls loved it too, which is definitely a win for me. There is a little bit of dairy in this recipe, feel free to substitute.

Paleo Lasagne Bake

Meat Sauce

500g quality beef mince
1 carrots
1 big stalk of celery
1 brown onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tin of tomatoes (you may like to use 2, depends how saucy you like it)
herbs as desired

Finely chop all the vegetables and garlic, and put in a pot with a knob of butter or whatever oil you like to use for cooking. Let them cook and soften a bit, then add the beef mince. Stab it all up so it’s nicely separated and evenly mixed with the veges. Once its all nice and browned, add the tomatoes, and mix and cook until it’s reduced a bit.

‘Cheese’ Sauce

1 head of cauliflower
50g butter

Cut up and steam the cauliflower. Let it cool, once it’s cooled, put it in a food processor and add 50g of butter. ( You could use coconut oil, some kind of oil is nice for creaminess) Blend until it’s nice and creamy and thick like a cheese sauce.

So I used thin slices of pumpkin as the ‘pasta’ and layered them as you would a normal lasagne in a dish about 30cm x 20cm…. pumpkin, meat sauce, pumpkin, meat sauce, pumpkin, cauliflower ‘cheese’ sauce over the top, and a layer of grated cheese, and another sprinkle of herbs on top. I cooked it for about 35 mins at 180 degrees. You don’t have to put cheese on top, I just haven’t quite got to a place where I can give it up completely, but the cauli puree really makes it nice and creamy. I hope you enjoy!