Beef Lasagne is one of the great comfort foods ever. This is one of my most used recipes, it’s easy and uses low-cost supermarket pre-cooked pasta sheets. The recipe is fairly flexible and inexpensive. This serves 4 to 6 people. It’s worth investing in a rectangular lasagne dish if you cook this often.

Ingredients

  • 500g beef mince.
  • 1 tin (400g) peeled plum tomatoes, blitz into a puree (or use a carton of passata).
  • 100g button mushrooms, chopped.
  • A box of pre-cooked dried lasagne sheets – you’ll probably need about 10-12 sheets. The sheets are hard but do not need cooking or soaking.
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed.
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp dried Italian (or mixed) herbs.
  • About 50g cheese – Parmesan or mature cheddar, or your favourite good quality cheese, or a mixture. You can make it as cheesy as you like.
  • Salt, pepper and olive oil from your pantry.
  • For the Cheese Sauce:
    • 250ml milk
    • 25g butter (or margarine)
    • 25g plain flour
    • 80g mature cheddar cheese

Method

  • Heat about 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan and fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes until softened.
  • Add the minced beef, turn up the heat and fry until browned. Break up the mince using a wooded spatula. If lots of fat comes out of the beef you can drain it off it you prefer.
  • Add the mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Bring to the boil then cover with a lid and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Give the occasional stir and check the seasoning.
  • About 5 minutes before the beef sauce is ready, make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter or margarine, add the flour and cook for a few minutes (making a roux). Then remove from the heat and slowly stir in the milk a little at a time, stirring continuously to prevent lumps. Then return to a medium heat and stir until it boils/thickens. Add the 80g of cheese, stir and then remove from the heat.
  • Now we build the lasagne in a large rectangular ovenproof dish, about 32cm x 22cm and 8cm deep or larger.
    • Start with just a little of the meat mixture in the base to prevent the sheets from sticking to the dish.
    • Add a layer of lasagne sheets. Actually, I find 3 sheets here is enough. The lower layers do not have to overlap. I like to spread a tbsp of cheese sauce over each lasagne sheet.
    • Add half of the beef mix as a thin layer covering the entire dish. Sprinkle some of the Parmesan over the beef.
    • Cover with 3 or more lasagne sheets as before and build another layer. Add the rest of the beef mixture and sprinkle over some Parmesan.
    • Finally, cover the entire dish with lasagne sheets, overlapping or break the lasagne (carefully as it splinters and flies all over the place!) to fit. Pour the rest of the cheese sauce over the sheets and sprinkle any cheese you have left over the top.
    • Bake in a pre-heated oven Gas Mark 4/180C/350F for about 35 minutes until the top is a golden with dark brown spots forming on it.

Serve immediately. It is soft enough to eat with just a spoon. I often serve with a salad or cup of peas with it, maybe a few french fries. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge overnight and reheated in a microwave.