Saturday 11 January 2014

Quick Pork Lasagne

I made this quite some time ago and it was a pretty good success. Playful Tot adores pasta and mince so I was taking a fair guess that lasagne would be a hit. The only problem is the amount of time a truly great lasagne takes. Bechamel, sweated onions, ragu.... there's no avoiding it, Italians love indulgent food and this mama simply doesn't.have.time.





So I pondered things and thought through a few cheats. You can of course, do it old school and make the Bechamel from scratch and save time by making up the mince mix in batches to freeze so that you simply need to defrost and layer when the time comes. I'm all about time saving in the interest of a good hearty family meal so play with this as you will.



Here's my quick version of Pork Lasagne. As always, I've made this baby friendly so al the family can enjoy it. Feel free to season heartily.

Ingredients
For the mince:
500g Pork Mince
2-3 tbsp Olive Oil or cold pressed Rapeseed Oil
2 onions, chopped
2 tsps dried Rosemary
1 pepper, chopped
100g Baby Spinach
2 tbsp Tomato purée
1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)
400ml Low salt veg stock

For the white sauce:
400ml whole milk
2 tbsp Cornflour

Lasagne Pasta Sheets (I used half a pack of pre cooked pasta sheets, 375g per pack)
Handfuls of grated cheese

Method

1. Brown the pork mince in 1-2 tbsps of oil, then with a slotted spoon, remove from the pan onto a dish and place to one side for later.
2. Sweat the chopped onions until nicely translucent.
3. Add the rosemary, pepper and baby spinach and keep moving over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato purée before adding chopped tomatoes and stock.
5. Leave to simmer and in the meantime make up the white sauce: heating milk in a pan, keeping 2-3 tbsp in reserve. Mix the cornflour into the reserve milk first before whisking into the warmed milk until smooth and thick.
6. Brush a large oven proof dish with oil and layer up: pasta, mince mixture, white sauce twice over.
7. Cover the top in as much grated cheese as you can stand and bake for 30 minutes.




Enjoy!


No comments: