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, overlaping 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.