Lasagne

Eat like an athlete recipe for 8 people, takes only 10 mins; recipe has olive oil, celery, onion, carrot, garlic clove, pancetta, beef, pork mince, milk, tomato, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, oregano, beef stock cube, red wine, pasta, parmesan, milk, onion, bay leaf, clove, butter, plain flour and nutmeg.

Lasagne

Lasagne

Recipe by Chef Soomro Course: Eat like an athlete
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

20 mins

Ingredients

  • Beef: 500g pack beef mince (we used 10% fat)
  • Red Wine: 500ml red wine
  • Garlic Clove: 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • Parmesan: 50g parmesan, finely grated
  • Olive Oil: 3 tbsp olive oil
  • Onion: 1 onion, finely chopped
  • Tomato: 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
  • Milk: 200ml milk
  • Carrot: 1 carrot (about 100g/4oz) finely chopped
  • Pasta: about 400g dried pasta sheets
  • Butter: 100g butter
  • Oregano: 2 tsp dried oregano
  • Bay Leaf: 2 bay leaves
  • Thyme: 2 thyme sprigs
  • Pancetta: 140g pack cubetti di pancetta
  • Rosemary: 1 rosemary sprig
  • Nutmeg: good grating of nutmeg
  • Celery: 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • Plain Flour: 100g plain flour
  • Clove: 3 cloves
  • Pork Mince: 500g pack pork mince or British veal mince
  • Beef Stock Cube: 2 beef stock cubes

Directions

  1. First infuse the milk to make the bechamel sauce. Put the 1 1/2 litres milk, 1 thickly sliced onion, 3 bay leaves and 3 cloves into a largesaucepanand bring very gently just up to the boil. Turn off the heat and set aside for 1 hr to infuse.
  2. For the meat sauce, put the 3 tbsp oil, 2 finely chopped celery sticks, 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped carrot, 3 crushedgarliccloves and 140g cubed pancetta in another large saucepan. Gently cook together until the veg are soft but not coloured.
  3. Tip in 500g pork mince and 500g beef mince, 200ml milk and 2 cans of chopped tomatoes. Using a wooden spoon, stir together and break up and mash the lumps of mince against the sides of the pan.
  4. When the mince is mostly broken down, stir in 2 bay leaves, 1 rosemary sprig, 2 thyme sprigs, 2 tsp dried oregano, 2 beef stock cubes and 500ml red wine, and bring to a simmer.
  5. Cover and cook for 1 hr, stirring occasionally to stop the bottom catching.
  6. Uncover and gently simmer for another 30 mins-1 hr until the meat is tender and saucy. Taste and season.
  7. To finish the bechamel sauce, strain the milk through a fine sieve into one or two jugs.
  8. Melt 100g butter in the same pan then, using a wooden spoon, mix in 100g plain flour and cook for 2 mins.
  9. Stir in the strained milk, a little at a time - the mix will thicken at first to a doughy paste, but keep going, adding milk gradually to avoid lumps.
  10. When all the milk is in, bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly (if you have lumps, give it a quick whisk). Gently bubble for a few mins until thickened.
  11. Season with salt, pepper and a good grating of nutmeg.
  12. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
  13. Spread a spoonful of the meat sauce over the base of a roughly 3.5 litre baking dish.
  14. Cover with a single layer of dried pasta sheets, snapping them to fit if needed, then top with a quarter of the bechamel. Spoon over a third of the meat sauce and scatter over a little of the finely grated parmesan.
  15. Repeat the layers - pasta, bechamel, meat and parmesan - two more times to use all the meat sauce. Add a final layer of pasta, the last of the bechamel and remaining parmesan.
  16. Sit the dish on a baking tray to catch spills and bake for 1 hr until bubbling, browned and crisp on top.