Neven Maguire: A great vegetarian lasagne that cooks beautifully in the slow cooker

Neven Maguire is our Irish Times Food Month guest chef this week and each day he will be sharing a recipe from his latest cookbook, Midweek Meals: Simple Recipes for Everyday Eating.

As a chef, restaurateur and TV presenter, Maguire has finger on the nation’s culinary pulse and has sold more than 100,000 cookbooks.

This week he will be sharing five recipes for meals that are easy to cook, and quick to prepare (or will sit happily in a slow cooker).

Slow cooker ratatouille and aubergine lasagne with buffalo mozzarella

This a great vegetarian dish that cooks beautifully in the slow cooker. It uses a simple ratatouille, which gets layered up with slices of aubergine and lasagne sheets. Buy the best buffalo mozzarella you can find – Toonsbridge is a particular favourite of mine.

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Serves four to six
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Freezer friendly

Ingredients
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large courgettes, diced (about 400g (14oz))
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 × 400g (14oz) tin of Italian chopped tomatoes
2tbsp sun-dried tomato purée
½ vegetable stock cube, crumbled
15g (½oz) fresh basil
1 large aubergine, thinly sliced lengthways
6 lasagne sheets
500g (1lb 2oz) buffalo mozzarella, cut into cubes

Method
1 Preheat your slow cooker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

2 Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for five minutes, until softened. Add the courgettes, peppers, tomatoes, sun-dried tomato purée and stock cube. Season with salt and pepper, then cover and simmer for five minutes. Don’t be tempted to add any more liquid, as plenty of moisture will come from the vegetables once they start cooking. Strip the leaves from the basil sprigs and tear most of them in, reserving some to garnish.

3 Arrange half of the aubergine slices in the bottom of the slow cooker and cover with half of the lasagne sheets, breaking them up to fit as necessary. Add one-third of the ratatouille, then cover with the rest of the aubergine slices. Add the remaining lasagne sheets and finish with the rest of the ratatouille. Cover and cook on high for three hours, until the vegetables and pasta are tender. Turn off the slow cooker.

4 Preheat the grill to high. Scatter over the mozzarella, then flash under the hot grill for five minutes, until the mozzarella has melted into the ratatouille. Scatter over the rest of the basil and arrange on plates to serve.