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Lasagne

Ingredients

  • 700g of mince beef
  • One large onions (or two medium to small ones), finely chopped
  • Garlic puree
  • One large carrot
  • Two celery sticks
  • Tinned chopped tomatoes (have 2 in case)
  • 3 closed cup mushrooms
  • 1 large red peppers chopped into small pieces
  • Tomato puree (1/5 tube)
  • 2 tea spoons of ground cumin
  • Schwartz Italian herbs
  • Sea Salt – approx tea spoon but don't overdo it – better under than over at this stage
  • Black pepper – approx half a level tea spoon of ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of gravy granules – possibly more depending on the liquidity of the mix
  • Tablespoon of honey
  • Lemon juice – bottle or squeezy
  • One jar of white béchamel sauce (Ragu)
  • White cheese to grate on top of the white sauce
  • Olive oil
  • Fresh egg pasta sheets

Method

  1. Fry and stir the onion in olive oil – not much needed – About five minutes until they start to soften and slightly change colour to golden
  2. Add the carrot – fry and stir for a couple of minutes
  3. Add the meat + cumin + Italian spices + black Pepper + salt + honey + squirt of lemon juice – stir until the mince changes colour – from raw to light brown
  4. Add the celery – fry and stir for a minute
  5. Add the red pepper – fry and stir for a minute or so
  6. Add mushrooms
  7. Add tinned tomatoes + tomato puree
  8. Add garlic puree
  9. Depending on how thick it is add one tablespoon of gravy granules – stir it for a minute or so – it should be quite a deep red/brown colour – add more tomato paste to increase the redness. It needs to be moist but not runny – if there is too much liquid add a few more gravy granules but don't overdo it. If you do add a little bit of milk.

Assembly

  1. Put a layer of cooked meat in the dish (about half) then a layer of pasta, overlapping in the middle
  2. Add another layer of meat and pasta
  3. Cover with white sauce and grate cheese over the top. I sometimes grate the cheese into the white sauce to enrich it a bit.
  4. Cook for about one and a half hours at 160 in a fan oven or 180 if no fan.