It’s hardly a ground breaking recipe – but it’s still one of my favourites. The perfect meal to make in a big batch and keep in the freezer, I’m always pleasantly surprised when I remember I have some.

Sometimes I cheat with this Jamie Oliver has a great tomato sauce which I use instead of tomatoes and Italian seasoning.

Ingredients

• 500g lean beef mince (5-10% fat)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 2-3 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 cup red wine – this isn’t essential, but I think the wine gives a depth of flavour
• 1-2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 500ml beef stock
• 1 can chopped tomato
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• Cheese Sauce – replicate the sauce created in my Mac and Cheese recipe, you might want to double the amounts
• 250 -300g lasagne sheets

Method

1. Heat some olive oil or Frylight spray in a pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and cook until clear, then add the garlic, carrots and celery. Celery can be stringy, so I tend to blitz it in a food processor. Cook these for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the wine and reduce.
3. Add the beef mince and fry until brown on a high heat.
4. Reduce to a medium heat and add the Italian seasoning, tomato puree, beef stock and chopped tomatoes. Bring this to the boil, then reduce the heat and let this simmer for 1 hour allowing the bolognese sauce t0 thicken.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the cheese sauce. It’s exactly the same as the mac and cheese sauce in my other post. I like to use cheddar and parmesan here – you can also add mozzarella if you like. Again you can judge it by eye but I love cheese so the more the better :).
6. Set your over to about 160-170 C fan.
7. Once your bolognese has thickened and you have your cheese sauce, take an oven dish and start to layer the bolognese, then lasagne sheets and then the cheese sauce. Top this off with cheese sauce and some parmesan cheese.
8. Place into the oven and cook for 20 minutes.