Lasagne

Lasagne is a dish that is equally at home on the family table or as a causal meal for guests. It can be made in advance and reheated when required and so getting all the prep work out of the way well in advance - at end of recipe Make Ahead tips. Just add a salad of mixed leaves and your meal is complete.

Making a good lasagne does require a bit of time - there are two sauces to make then the dish needs to be baked – but the results speak for themselves.

Serves 4-6

125g instant or fresh lasagne sheets
¾ cup grated Origin Earth Takenga Gold
salt and freshly ground black pepper
WHITE SAUCE
50g butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1½ cups Origin Earth Whole or Reduced-fat Milk
pinch freshly ground nutmeg
MEAT SAUCE
2 tbsp olive oil
500g beef mince
Salt
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp plain flour
400g can chopped tomatoes, with their juices
1 cup beef stock
pinch oregano

1              To make the meat sauce, heat oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Brown meat in batches, removing to a bowl after each batch is browned.

2              Add onion and carrot to pan, reduce heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until vegetables start to soften. Add garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute longer. Stir in tomato paste and return meat to the pan. Stir in flour, then add tomatoes, stock and oregano. Mix well to combine. Bring to simmering, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1–1 ½ hours minutes or sauce has reduced and thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper

3              Meanwhile, make the white sauce, melt butter in saucepan over a medium heat, whisk in flour and cook, whisking for 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and continue whisking until sauce boils and thickens. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

4              Preheat oven to 180°C.

5              To assemble lasagne, spread a little of the meat sauce over the base of a 15 x 20cm foil tray or baking dish. Top with a layer of lasagne noodles, then spread with about ⅓ of the white sauce, then about ¼ of the remaining meat sauce and another layer of lasagne noodles. Repeat layers, ending with a layer of noodles, spread with remaining meat sauce and scatter with cheese.

6              Cover dish with a sheet of baking paper, then wrap dish in foil and bake for 40-45 minutes or until lasagne sheets are just tender. Remove lasagne from oven and keep covered.

7              Increase oven temperature to 220°C. Remove foil and baking paper from lasagne, then return to oven and cook for 15 minutes longer or until top is golden and lasagne is bubbling. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Make Ahead

The lasagne can be made in advance to several points.

1              Make both the meat and white sauces cover and store until ready to assemble and bake. If storing white sauce, cover with cling film pressed on to the surface of the sauce – this stops a skin forming.

2              Assemble, but do not bake, then cover and store in the fridge or freeze until ready to bake. If frozen defrost before baking.

3              Make complete dish, store in fridge or freezer until required then reheat – remember this is a fairly dense dish so will require about 30 minutes to reheat. Take out of the fridge and let stand at room temperature, cover with foil and reheat in a preheated 180°C oven for 30-40 minutes. Remove foil and heat for 10-15 minutes longer.

If the lasagne has been frozen, for best results defrost before reheating.