I have ended up with a huge bag of pumpkin seeds after making the watermelon and feta salad at the weekend. The seeds do have a creaminess about them (although not as much as a pine kernel) and they have a nice nutty edge. I experimented with a pumpkin seed pesto earlier this week with our harvest of lemon basil from the ‘kitchen garden’ (aka ‘pot on the roof’). It was okay, but I added too much garlic (2 cloves instead of my usual 1) and it needed a lot more basil. By the way, if you haven’t tried lemon basil, it tastes fantastic and it smells like an essential oil. I have found it very hard to grow, so any tips greatly appreciated. We ate the pesto simply with spaghetti but I made a note to self to make an improved version and to dollop it into a veggie lasagne.

Fresh pasta is something that I try to make every few months if I have the time. Yes, it does take longer but I find it so satisfying and well worth the effort for the improved texture and flavour. You can control the richness of the flavour too by adding extra eggs, or just extra yolks, as I believe is the proper method.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagne with Pumpkin Seed Pesto

For the pesto

A good handful pumpkin seeds
A good handful basil (not lemon this time)
1 small clove garlic
A good handful grated parmesan
Olive oil
Pepper

For the pasta

300g ’00′ Flour
3 eggs
1tsp salt

For the lasagne filling

3 small courgettes, diced
1 small aubergine, diced
2 red onions, diced
2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, diced

Small handful capers
Small handful Olives
Sliced mozzarella (as much as you dare)
Grated parmesan (not too much, it goes in the sauce too)

For the cheese sauce

1 pint milk
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1 bay leaf
45 grams butter
40g plain flour

- Give the veg a nice coating of olive oil and seasoning and roast for around 30 minutes.
-Make a well in the flour and salt (either on a surface or in a bowl) and crack in the eggs. Gently incorporate until it is a soft but firm dough, adding a few drops of water if too dry and a sprinkle of flour if too sticky. Wrap in cling film and let rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
-While the pasta is resting, make your pesto. If you have a mezzaluna then you are lucky. I don’t and I usually make my pesto in a pestle and mortar but I found the pumpkin seeds to be resistant to this kind of treatment and ended up pulsing it (very hesitantly) in the food processor.
- I add the garlic, basil and seeds first. Then remove from the processor, stir in a bit of oil to loosen it and add the cheese. Then I add more oil to reach the desired consistency and adjust the seasoning.
-For the cheese sauce, chuck everything apart from the cheese into a pan. bring up the heat until it thickens. Then remove from the heat and stir in the cheese.
-I use a pasta machine to roll out my pasta. I am assured that it is do-able by hand but I’ve never tried it.
-I layered the lasagne by starting with roasted vegetables, then a sprinkling of capers and olives, slabs of mozzarella, a flash of grated parmesan and dollops of pesto followed by pasta sheets and cheese sauce. I repeated this once more and finished with a slightly unreasonable amount of mozzarella, pesto dollops and grated parmesan on top.

I’m pleased to say that this turned out be wonderful despite the huge amount of bold flavours. I was sparing with the olives and capers but I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave them out altogether. I still think that they work, even with the pesto, and that fresh pasta made all the difference. I also experimented with leaving the pasta machine at number 5. This is too thick, although still delicious. The most pleasure to be had from this dish came the next day, when we ate it cold, with some crisp leaves dressed in olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper.

Serves 2 greedy people for 2 days or 6 people with sensible appetites for dinner.