Sweet Potato Lasagne with Pork Sausage, Chicken Mince & Kale – Gluten Free
Freeze ahead is a fabulous way of getting ahead of the game and taking out some of the stress of having to do everything.
This Sweet Potato Lasagne with Pork Sausage, Chicken Mince & Kale may not be the healthiest dish to be making this January, but is one of the tastiest and gluten free to boot!
I’m not one of the biggest fans of pasta, although I’m never going to say no to a great dish, but if I have the option of changing out pasta for something vegetable based, that’s the way I’ll probably go.
Sweet potato, what a amazing thing to be available almost all year round, a vegetable that is high in fiber and antioxidants, really high in beta carotene which gets converted into vitamin A which goes to support my eyesight and my immune system. Not a bad thing to be eating any time of the year, but to munch on it during the winter months gives me a big boost in my feel-good factor.
And as a S.A.D sufferer, i need all the help i can get!
However, if you know me, just because it’s good for me doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll eat it, it has to taste really good.
This does.
Why the pork sausage chicken mince mix?
Well, it gives a lovely texture and flavour and I get to stay away from the red meat for one more meal, not a bad thing!
And then there’s the freezing.
I can never seem to make just a two people meal, a throwback to my childhood, so making good use of my freezer makes perfect sense to me.
I freeze this dish two ways.
Firstly, whole, as it is, either cooked of uncooked.
I like to freeze mine once it’s been cooked in the freezer to oven proof dish.
Triple wrapped in foil after its cooled completely and then into the freezer.
The other way is to place into individual portion size containers, again freezer to oven proof, triple wrapping and then freezing those, this way I can bring out one portion at a time when I want to.
To eat, I don’t even have to defrost it, as long as the dishes they’ve been frozen in are oven proof, just straight into a pre-heated oven of 200c and cook until its piping hot in the centre and golden brown on the top.
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Fresh from the oven
What You Need
8 Large Pork Sausage
500g Chicken Mince
200g White Mushrooms – Chopped into small chunks
2-3 Large Sweet Potato – Peeled & Very Thinly Sliced – See Tip Box
100g Kale – Finely Chopped
400g – Herb & Garlic Cream Cheese
270ml Double Cream
200g Extra Mature Grated Cheese - Plus extra for crumbling in the top
200g Grated Parmesan
1 Large Onion – Finely Chopped
2 Large Eggs
1 Celery Stalk – Finely Chopped
1 Tin Chopped Tomato
3 Tbsp Tomato Puree
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil – May Need More
4 Tbsp Dried Oregano
1 Beef Stock Cube – crumbled
3 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 Cloves Garlic – Minced or grated
Salt & Pepper
Onions, mushrooms and celery sizzling away.
How It’s Done
Heat the oven to 200c
Wipe some of the oil around a large oven proof dish and set aside until needed
Cut the sausage skins and squeeze out all of the sausage meet, discard the sausage skins
Pour 2 Tbsp of oil into a large frying pan and place in the celery, onion and mushrooms
Sprinkle over salt, pepper and 2 Tbsp pf the dried oregano
Cook over a medium heat until everything is soft and the liquid has evaporated.
Once the liquid has evaporated add 2 tbsp. of oil and the meats, and cook until all the pink has disappeared.
Break up the sausage meat as its cooking.
Once the meat is cooked, add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, crumbled beef stock cube, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard the 2 cloves of minced garlic, mix and let it cook for 10 minutes.
Add the chopped kale, cover with a lid and cook until the kale has wilted - just a few minutes
Once cooked, set aside to cool a little.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cream cheese, parmesan, double cream 2 tbsp of dried oregano, salt and pepper and the eggs.
Peel and slice the sweet potatoes as thinly as you can – See Tip Box
Lay a thin layer of the sweet potato on the base of the greased baking dish
Spoon over a layer of the meat and then a layer of the cheese sauce.
Repeat this another two times, finishing with a layer of the cheese mixture.
Add a layer of the extra grated cheese
Cover, very loosely, with foil and into the hot over for one hour, or until the sweet potato is soft when prodded with a fork – See Tip Box
Once the potato is soft, remove the foil and then put the pot back into the oven until the top is golden brown and bubbling hot.
Before eating, let it sit for around 10 minutes.
Mash up the sausage and chicken mince while cooking
To Freeze
To freeze, either triple wrap the pot and place in the freezer for up to three months, or portion up, place into individual portion size containers, triple wrap and place into the freezer for up to 3 months.
If freezing, make sure the dishes the lasagne is frozen it is also a dish that can be placed straight into a hot oven.
Once the kale has wilted, let it cool a little before assembly
From Frozen
When ready to eat, remove from the oven and place straight into a hot oven until the middle of the lasagne is piping hot and the top is golden and bubbling.
Layer it up…..
…finishing with a layer of sauce and some grated cheese.
Tip Box
Sweet Potato – 1) How many sweet potatoes needed will depend on how thinly it’s sliced
2) I slice my sweet potato on a mandolin to get the thinnest I could possible. Using a sharp knife works just as well. Aim to have the slices wafer thin if possible.
make sure the foil is loose so the top of the lasagne doesn’t stick to it.
Foil – To avoid the top pf the lasagne sticking to the foil, make the covering very loose when it goes into the oven
Frozen – 1) This is a great dish to make ahead and freeze for the family. When ready to eat, remove from the oven and place straight into a hot oven until the middle of the lasagne is piping hot and the top is golden and bubbling.
2) If cooking from frozen, make sure that the dishes are freezer to oven proof.
Those burnt bits around the edges ate my favourite bits.
