Lasagne

I've always been a fan of lasagne since leaving home as it's a very easy and homely dish that's perfect on a cold day to warm you up. It also keeps well in the fridge for a few days and is rather pleasant served cold with a bit of salad. The first lasagne I cooked was based on a Delia Smith recipe, but I've made so many lasagne dishes now that I can't remember what was suggested as a filling- quite frankly, my fillings change each time I make this dish depending on what I have sitting around in the fridge.


Lasagne
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15mins
Cooking time: 35mins

Ingredients:
For the filling:
1 Red onion
1 Small head of broccoli
1/2 Large courgette
1 Red pepper
A handful of baby button mushrooms
230g Meat-free mince
400g Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
A glug of oil
3 tbsp Worcester sauce

For the white sauce:
1 pint (500ml) of Milk
400g Strong Cheddar Cheese or Matured Feta (see below)
2 tbsp of Plain Flour
A large knob of Butter
Pack of "Ready to Cook" Lasagne sheets

Method:
1. Switch the oven on 180oC
2. Dice the onion and begin to gently fry in a high-sided frying pan.
3. Add the mince and continue frying.
4. Slice the courgette, pepper and broccoli and add to the frying pan, along with the mushrooms.
5. Pour in the tomatoes and add the Worcester sauce. Bring to the boil, then simmer with the lid on for 10mins.
6. While the filling is cooking, grate the cheese.
7. melt the butter in a sauce pan and stir in the flour until you have a paste.
8. Pour the milk into the pan and heat gently, stirring until the paste begins to mix properly.
9. Add the grated cheese, a handful at a time, stirring continuously. The sauce should thicken a little.
10. In a large baking dish, layer the lasagne: Filling, Lasagne Sheets, Sauce, Filling, Lasagne Sheets, Sauce etc.
11. Place the baking dish in the oven for 35mins or until the top layer is beginning to brown.

Notes:
For a non-veggie option, just replace the meat free mince with real mince. Turkey mince is a very lean and good tasting alternative too.

I've also made lasagne using barbecue sauce when I was out of tomatoes which was surprisingly tasty, if a little sweeter in taste, and is well worth a go- just replace the tinned tomatoes with one of those cans of barbecue flavour casserole sauces.