Mexican Cheese & Bean Lasagne

Mexican Cheese & Bean Lasagne

1 tbsp garlic oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
2 green bird's-eye chillies, chopped  with seeds
1 tsp sea salt flakes or 1/2 tsp pouring salt
2 tbsp coriander stalks, chopped  very finely
2 x 400g cans chopped  tomatoes, plus 400ml water swilled from empty cans
1 tbsp tomato tomato ketchup

  For the filling:

2 x 400g cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Fajita seasoning mix to taste
2 x 250g cans (225g drained weight each) sweetcorn
250g mature goat's Cheddar, grated , or cheese of your choice
8 soft tortillas

Preheat the oven to 200°C / gas mark 6, slipping in a baking tray at the same time.

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a pan on the stove and fry the onion, pepper and chilli. Add the salt and cook gently for 15 minutes and, once soft, add the chopped  coriander stalks.

Add the canned tomatoes, then swill the cans out with water and add this too. Spoon in the ketchup and let things come to a simmer, leaving the sauce (or salsa, in keeping with the Mexican mojo) to cook while you get on with preparing the filling - about ten minutes.

To make the filling, mix the drained beans and sweetcorn in a bowl add fajita seasoning mix to taste.  Add most of the grated  cheese, reserving some to sprinkle on the top at the end, and mix together.

Start to assemble the lasagne by spooning about a third of the salsa into the bottom of your ovenproof dish and smearing it about, then layer on two tortillas so that they cover the sauce overlapping slightly, like a Venn diagram.

Add a third of the beans and cheese mixture, covering the tortillas, and then about a quarter of the remaining salsa and another two tortillas.

Repeat with another third of beans and cheese, and some more salsa before layering on another two tortillas. Finally, add the last layer of beans and cheese, nearly all of the remaining salsa and cover with the last two tortillas. Spread the very last bit of salsa over the tortillas and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, and let it rest for a good 10-15 minutes before slicing like a pizza, and eat with some avocado salsa.

 

Based on a Nigella Lawson recipe with tweaks by Rosemary P