I never liked the American version of lasagna with the packaged noodles all ruffled around the edges and dry, tasteless ricotta cheese. When I first came to Italy and had real lasagna, made with besciamella, I was an instant convert. Lasagna is a quick seller at the cafe and, much like everything else we do, it’s never really made the same way twice. Things get made based on what needs to be cooked and maybe bits and pieces of what’s left over from a previous shift. Laura, when she first started, made a radicchio, hazelnut and gorgonzola lasagna that really blew me away - the crushed hazelnuts on top added a texture and sweetness that I’d never imagined could work - this is an example of the fact that when it comes to certain dishes, we’re not afraid to break the rules.

And this brings me to my most recent experiment. Having come back from Bali recently I’ve been trying to incorporate coconut more into my dishes. I’d had rice dishes with toasted coconut and a wonderful smoothie of banana, ananas, dates and coconut. When I came in for my shift the other day there was a note from Laura saying that there were a bunch of carrots that needed to be cooked and a lasagna to be made. I decided to make a velouté of the carrots, blending in some coconut and coriander seed. To offset the sweetness I alternated with swiss chard, cooked in garlic, oil and peperoncino, and some fresh sheep’s milk cheese.

Normally I send a lunch menu out to the nearby office workers around 11 and they come to eat around 1pm. My lasagna came out of the oven at about noon and was pretty much gone by about 3pm. Italians don’t like to see their traditional dishes massacred by Americans - but a coconut/carrot and chard lasagna sounded too interesting for them to pass up. Ultimately I have to say that it worked well and we were all pleasantly surprised at how well the flavors balanced. As I said, it’s rare we make things exactly the same way twice, but this is a dish I’ll be repeating next time I find a surplus of carrots.