Lasagne

 Serves 8

Preheat the oven to 200 or 180 fan. For 8 people you will need a large lasagne dish approx 28cm x 35cm (or two smaller).

Ingredients:

Ragu:

1kg beef mince 

1 tbsp olive oil

4 slices pancetta sliced finely or 75g chopped 

1 very large onion (or two small) diced

2 medium carrots diced

2 sticks celery diced

2 to 3 bay leaves

Thyme (fresh or dried) 1 1/2 tbsp dried or a good sprig fresh leaves only chopped finely 

3 cloves garlic crushed 

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 heaped tsp bovril

400 ml beef (or chicken) stock 

Several dashes of Worcestershire sauce

1 tin (500g) tomatoes

For the bechemel sauce:

2 ounces butter

2 ounces flour 

1 pint milk heated in a Pyrex jug to speed up sauce making process 

Bay leaf 

Lasagne sheets 

100g Red Leicester

50g Parmesan (20g in sauce and 30 on top)

Method:

Begin by frying the bacon until starts to crisp up then add mince, breaking up with a wooden spoon until browned all over. Place in a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, turn the heat to medium, add 1/2 tbsp olive oil and add the finely diced onion, celery and carrot. Stir round to coat in oil then pop on a lid and leave on a low heat for 10 mins to break down and soften, stirring round every now and again to make sure it doesn’t catch. 

Add tomato puree, bay leaves, thyme and garlic, stirring to combine. Add the meat back into the pan and mix in the tin of tomatoes, bovril, Worcestershire sauce and half the stock. Bring to a gentle simmer without a lid for 20 mins - half an hour if possible, adding stock a little at a time as liquid evaporates. You don’t want too sloppy a consistency but the liquid will cook the pasta later so not too dry either. 

Taste the mince and season as necessary (it shouldn’t need much as have bovril and Worcestershire sauce which are quite salty).

For the bechamel, melt the butter in a non stick pan over a medium to low heat. Add flour. Stir vigorously to cook through for a minute then very slowly add the warmed milk a little at a time stirring rapidly after each addition to get a smooth consistency. Gently increase the heat a little as milk is added. If you get lumps stop adding liquid and beat with a balloon whisk until smooth. Once milk added, pop in the bay leaves and bring to a simmer stirring all the time as comes up to a thick pouring consistency. Add 20g Parmesan and stir through.  Season with a little salt and pepper to taste. Some people sprinkle a pinch of nutmeg in.

To compile the lasagne, pop about 1/3 of the mince on the bottom of your lasagne dish. It will look like you have to spread it thin but that’s fine. Pour a little sauce very sparingly over - it looks more like a drizzle - the bulk of the sauce is saved for the top..  Cover with a layer of pasta sheets breaking them up if needed to cover the whole surface in one layer. Repeat the mince, sparing amount of sauce and pasta. Top with remaining mince and then pour over the bulk of the sauce. 

Sprinkle the grated parmesan and Red Leicester over the top and place the dish in the centre of the oven for 40 mins or until browned. 

Enjoy!