Celebrating spring: wild garlic and pea lasagne

Yesterday was the perfect spring day - boundless sunshine, daffodils blooming and, finally, some real warmth in the air. Just being out in the countryside on a day like that is enough to bring joy to the soul. The previous day I had seen a pond full of frogs doing what frogs do in spring time, so all in all it definitely felt like nature was bursting into life.

I gained even more joy by discovering some wild garlic already looking lush and green in the Surrey Hills. I hadn't expected it to be ready for a few weeks yet - it's amazing how much earlier everything seems to be happening this year.

Here's the dish I created to celebrate springtime and the first of the wild garlic. Lasagne is often served with garlic bread, but I've put the garlic in the lasagne instead.

If you can't get hold of wild garlic, use spinach instead, and throw in several thinly sliced cloves of garlic. I've taken to making a lower-fat white sauce as a base for cheese sauces, using cornflour instead of the more traditional butter and flour. I find this simpler to make as well as healthier. But you can use a traditional white sauce (bechamel) if you prefer.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Several big handfuls wild garlic leaves (or use spinach plus some thinly sliced garlic cloves, or a mixture of spinach and wild garlic)
300g frozen peas
1 pint milk
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
2 bay leaves, fresh if possible
1 tsp English mustard
50g/ 2oz mature Cheddar or Parmesan, grated
6-10 lasagne sheets 

Method

Start by greasing a lasagne dish about 9in x 6in (23cm x15cm).

Wash the garlic well and chop it roughly, then put it in a large saucepan without any additional water, cover, and cook over a few minutes to wilt. It will shrink dramatically (the same applies if you are using fresh spinach, in which case add several finely sliced garlic cloves). Meanwhile, defrost the peas.

Blend the cornflour with a little of the milk, mixing well to eliminate any lumps, then transfer to a small to medium pan with the rest of the milk. Add the bay leaves and cook over a medium heat, stirring, until the sauce starts to thicken. It will carry on thickening the longer you cook it - you can add some more milk if it is getting too thick. Add the grated cheese and mustard and cook until the cheese is melted.

Check the cooking instructions on the lasagne and pre-cook if required (I sometimes pre-cook even when it's not absolutely required, so I can shorten the cooking time in the oven and make sure the pasta is tender all the way through.)

To assemble, remove the bay leaves from the sauce and put a quarter of the sauce in the bottom of the dish, then a layer of lasagne sheets. Cut to the right size if necessary so you have a neat fit. Cover with half the cooked garlic and half the defrosted peas, then another quarter of the sauce. Repeat with another layer of pasta, vegetables and sauce, finishing with a third layer of pasta and topping with the remaining sauce.

Bake in a medium oven for about half an hour, or until the inside is piping hot, the pasta is cooked and the top is starting to brown.

Serve on its own or with a salad or a vegetable such as green beans.