Lasagne

A friend of mine recently told me about a lasagne she made with an unconventional sauce (she used honey and soy sauce among others), which reminded me that I hadn't made a lasagne in ages.. Well here you have it, a very scrumptious and delicious albeit more traditional variant ;) Takes about 45 minutes of preparation and another 30 minutes in the oven - but it is worth the wait!

For 4 people (who like to have seconds) you will need

500 g of minced beef
3 carrots
1 courgette
5 tablespoons of tomato puree
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
lasagna sheets (depends on the tin you use later on)
250 g of cheese
1 garlic clove or 1 teaspoon of garlic paste
basil, thyme, oregano and pepper and salt
shot of olive oil

for the Béchamel sauce:
75 g of butter
75 g of plain flour
500 ml of vegetable stock (you could use just milk, but I find that the stock gives it a little nicer taste)
500 ml of milk

Chop up the onion and fry it in a shot of oil until softened. Add the mince and let it brown nicely. Season it with salt and pepper and add the garlic (either cut up into very small pieces or in a paste). Next, add the tomato puree and let it cook for a little so it loses its bitter taste. In the meantime, peel the carrots and chop them and the courgette into small pieces. Add them to the frying pan and mix in well. Let them cook for about 5 minutes before adding the chopped tomatoes and the herbs. As for the herbs, I use about 2 tablespoons of each, but you can add more or less, depending on your taste.

Let it bubble away for another 10 minutes (the longer the better really) and prepare the béchamel sauce in the mean time. In a sauce pan, heat up the butter and once bubbling away, stir in the plain flour and cook this roux for 3 minutes. Then add in the vegetable stock, continuously stirring to make sure the sauce doesn't form any lumps. Add in the milk in little portions as well, whisking it all together. Season with salt and pepper. Bring up to a boil and let it simmer away until the beef-tomato sauce is ready.

Grate the cheese and preheat your oven to 200° C. Get your tins out and add a layer of béchamel sauce to cover the bottom. Place the lasagne sheets on top and cover with another layer of béchamel sauce. Add in some ladles full of beef-tomato sauce and cover with lasagne sheets and béchamel sauce again. Repeat this until you have filled your tins, ending with lasagne sheets and béchamel sauce. Sprinkle the cheese on top and shove it in the oven for at least 30 minutes for the lasagne sheets to cook through. This will also give the cheese some time to acquire this lovely golden brown touch ;) Enjoy :)