Judith's favourite lasagne recipe

I am a such a lover of Italian cuisine, more especially my mum’s super delectable and famous lasagne. It is oh so divine that people actually request she make it!

So, against her will, I’ve decided to spill the beans on what secret ingredients she uses for the dish so you can enjoy it at home too.

You’ll first need to get started on the mince mixture...

Ingredients:

250g of chopped streaky bacon

500g of beef mince

1 chopped onion

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of ground garlic

3 tablespoons of chopped celery

1 grated carrot

Tinned chopped tomatoes

Tomato paste

½ tin of tomato puree    

2 teaspoons of ground black pepper

1 ½ teaspoons of salt

Oreganum

2 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of oil

1 beef stock cube dissolved in a cup of boiling water

Get things started by frying the bacon until it’s crispy. Once you’ve removed it from the pan, brown the onion and bay leaves on a medium heat in the same oil to soak up the flavour. Add the mince and break into smaller pieces to speed up the cooking. You can add the ground garlic when you notice the mince is cooked through.  After +/- 5 minutes, throw in your celery and carrots and let it simmer for a while. Now you can add that zesty tinned chopped tomato, paste and puree as well as the beef stock, ground black pepper, salt, sugar and oreganum. By now, your kitchen’s bound to be invaded with an aroma that’ll have your tastebuds tingling! While that’s thickening, you can get going with the white sauce.

You’ll need:        

5 cups of milk

1 cup of fresh cream

125g of butter

½ cup of flour

½ cup of cheese

Nutmeg

Salt

White pepper

Paprika

Now, be warned – this part is a bit tricky so you’ll need to concentrate to make sure you don’t end up with a lumpy, frump looking attempt. Microwave your milk and fresh cream in a bowl until it’s quite warm. Again, this will help speed things up. Melt your butter over a low/medium heat. Add your flour, making sure to mix it all the way through the butter until it becomes a paste. Slowly – I repeat, SLOWLY – add small quantities of the milk mixture to the paste, each time ensuring the paste dissolves completely before adding the rest of the milk. Keep stirring until mixture thickens. You can then go ahead and grate some nutmeg, add salt and white pepper and a bit of cheese.     

The end is, of course, the most fun - layering your lasagne! Start with a layer of white sauce, next place your lasagne sheets and then meat mixture. Repeat the process until you finish the white sauce, lasagne and meat mixture. Make sure your last layer is white sauce. Sprinkle a generous helping of cheese, oreganum and paprika before popping it in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes.

Let it rest for another 30 minutes before serving with a fresh Greek salad. Bon Appetite!   

(Serves six)

- Judith