Lasagne

Serves:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped oregano)
• 600g lean beef mince
• 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 250g grated mozzarella (or bocconcini, cut into little pieces)
• 400g instant lasagne sheets or 375g packet fresh lasagne sheets

Bechamel cheese sauce

• 50g unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup cornflour
• 750mL (3 cups) milk
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, add onion, carrot and celery and cook until lightly browned. Add garlic and oregano and cook for 2 minutes.

Add mince and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until browned. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.

To make the cheese sauce, place the butter in a saucepan and melt over a medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes until the mixture begins to bubble. Slowly add the milk, a ladleful at a time, whisking until all the milk is added and the sauce is smooth.

Remove from the heat, season well with salt and pepper and stir in half the parmesan until combined and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.

In a 20cm x 30cm baking dish, layer the bolognaise sauce, then the cheese sauce, mozzarella and lasagne. Repeat the layering twice more, finishing with a layer of lasagne, then cheese sauce and the remaining parmesan. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Rest for 10 minutes (you and the lasagne!) before serving. Great on its own or with vegies or salad.

Notes:

• Like many baked dishes, lasagne is often better the next day when the flavours have developed. Usually, I cook the meat sauce the day before, then assemble and bake the next day.
• My baking dish is slightly bigger than that given in the recipe, so I only do two layers, otherwise I run out of cheese sauce and get a horrible hard crust.
• I use gluten-free lasagne (San Remo or Orgran) sheets to make this dish gluten-free.
• You will have enough to feed 8 people or, today’s dinner, tomorrow night’s dinner and some in the freezer for I Don’t Want to Cook nights!
• Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.

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Serving Suggestions

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