We’re all about celebrating filling, healthy food at Slimming World – so we’re excited to show off the prize-winning recipes from our Free Food Festival cook-off competition. We’ve already enjoyed Jane’s flavourful lamb dish and Megan’s zingy sea bass. Now it’s time for our brilliant bronze medallist to take a bow…
Three cheers for Nicola Dibble, from India Harris’ Pilton group, and her jackfruit enchilada lasagne – a cheesy vegetarian bake that’s perfect for feeding a hungry tribe, and completely Free!
A taste of Mexico
“I love Mexican food and enchiladas are my absolute fave,” Nicola says. “I’d seen a few recipes using jackfruit and, as a fairly new vegetarian, I liked the idea of using it as a substitute for chicken – it adds a fab texture when shredded. So, here’s my vegetarian enchilada lasagne – it’s packed with flavour, full of goodness and is proper comfort food!”
Nicola’s jackfruit enchilada lasagne
serves 4
ready in 1 hour 10 minutes
6 Syns per serving (or Free if you have the cheese as one of your Healthy Extra ‘a’ choices)
What you need:
low-calorie cooking spray
400g can jackfruit in water, drained and shredded
1 red onion, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 peppers, deseeded and chopped
300g can sweetcorn, drained
400g can red kidney beans, drained
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 vegetable stock pot
500g passata
1 tbsp Henderson’s Relish (a vegetarian/vegan alternative to Worcestershire sauce)
1 tbsp garlic granules
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp paprika
160g reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, grated (see tip below)
12 dried lasagne sheets
What you do:
1. Preheat your oven to 200˚C/fan 180˚C/gas 6.
2. Place a large non-stick saucepan over a medium heat and spray with low-calorie cooking spray. Add the jackfruit, onion, courgette, carrot, peppers, sweetcorn and beans and cook for 5 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add the tomato purée and stock pot and simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Put the passata, Henderson’s Relish and all the dried herbs and spices in a second pan and simmer over a low heat for a few minutes. Add half to the veg along with half of the cheese and simmer until the cheese is melted.
4. Spoon one-third of the jackfruit mix into an ovenproof dish, followed by a layer of 4 lasagne sheets. Repeat twice more to use up the jackfruit mix and lasagne (you should have 3 layers of each), then top with the remaining passata. Scatter over the remaining grated cheese, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Serve hot with salad.
Tip: To make this enchilada lasagne vegan, swap the cheese for your favourite vegan alternative and adjust the Syns. Slimming World members can use the food search on the website and app to find out Syn values.
Jackfruit joy
Jackfruit is the Free Food superstar at the heart of Nicola’s delicious dish. A tasty, plant-based swap for chicken, pork or beef, having a can of this vegan hero in your store cupboard means you can create all sorts of tasty meat-free meals. As well as using it in her now famous jackfruit enchilada lasagne, Nicola also enjoys hers in a mixed bean chilli. Jackfruit is also delicious in pad Thai and loaded fries (you’ll find a cracking recipe on the member website) – and if you love a vegetarian chilli, our spicy jackfruit version is hard to beat.
We hope Nicola’s mouth-watering enchilada lasagne bake has brightened your day a little and got your taste buds tingling. If we’ve sparked an idea for creating your own Free Food feast, send us your foodie photos – we’d love to see!