I love food (in case you hadn’t guessed!) but this remains one of my all time favourite meals. Lasagne and peas – ummm.
Recipe: this is enough for spaghetti and lasagne for a family of 4. As our littleies are only 17 months there was a portion of lasagne left for me to take to work for lunch too.
Bolognaise Ingredients:
1lb / 400-500g lean beef mince
1 tin of kidney beans, drained
2 onions diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
A couple of handfuls of green beans
6-7 nuggets of frozen spinach
1-2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 carton passatta
3-4 tbsp herbs (I used a mix of basil, parsley and oregano)
A couple of shakes of balsamic vinegar
A good grind of black pepper
We often add in a couple of grated carrots or courgette too but none left today!
Method:
Use just a little oil or a good non stick pan to fry off the beef and the onions.
Add in the garlic for a couple of minutes.
Add everything else and allow to simmer gently. Pop the lid on.
At this point you can stick it in the oven. If cooking on the job ensure that it doesn’t stick.
For the lasagne put a layer (about 1cm deep) of bolognaise in your rectangular oven proof dish. Cover with one layer of lasagne sheets, repeat another two times. Spread a layer of cottage cheese over the top and then add the final layer of pasta sheets. Cover these with a little béchamel sauce and a sprinkle of grated cheese. Cook in the oven at about 180’C for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Tips:
I used green beans and pre chopped onion, garlic and peppers from the freezer. It saves time and money and best of all did you know that the micronutrient (Vitamin and mineral) levels are usually higher in frozen fruit and veg as they get frozen soon after picking and the freezing process locks the goodness in. Win, win, win!
Another money saver is to buy herbs in big plastic tubs rather than the tiny glass jars. I use a lot of herbs when cooking instead of salt.
Lasagne doesn’t need to be a mega carb fest, in fact it can be a really balanced meal. However when you’re eating out it often also comes with one or two additional carb portions (garlic bread and chips), well actually the size of these ‘sides’ can be much more than a couple of portions 😂. The number of layers of pasta can also vary massively.
This lasagne is made using the bolognaise that I made for spaghetti earlier in the week and instead of putting the leftovers in a tub I put it straight into the tray with a couple of layers of lasagne. I left the top layer of pasta sheets off as I find it curls if you don’t put the topping on right away. By doing this as part of the clearing away process on Monday it took the faff out of cooking on Wednesday as all I needed to do was the béchamel sauce, grate a little cheese and dollop some cottage cheese.
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