Pumpkin and Ricotta Lasagne

There is an awful lot being said about eating less meat these days.  Even celebrity chefs are extolling the virtues of eating more vegetables in place of meat, in an attempt to save the planet from our over dependence on cheap beef.  I'm all in favour of this and as such we are eating less meat.  We try, where possible, to eat higher welfare meat so that when we do tuck into a steak it's a really good one.  It's our way of helping out. 

Dutch scientists have taken a different approach.  To aid our apparent obsession with red meat, those crazy men in white coats have managed to grow muscle tissue in a petri dish.  Their apparent end-game is a completely lab created burger.  I'm in two minds about this and the flippant one wonders if the scientists shouldn't be doing something more valid with their research grants than playing Build A Better Burger.

That aside tonight's menu is a vegetarian one.  Roasted pumpkin, fried onions, ricotta and tomato sauce, all seasoned with sage, are layered with sheets of pasta and baked.  There is not a sniff of meat anywhere near this lasagne.  It's far from vegan but I don't love the planet that much.