My Beef Lasagne

It always used to blow my mind when I had clients ask me to write them a straight up weekly meal plan. I decided what they should have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, every single day. They would follow it, Monday through to Sunday, and then repeat the whole plan again. Until I saw them next. Which could have been up to twelve weeks time. I would email them at some point during the time between our initial consultation and follow up and say 'are you deathly sick of the meal plan yet?' 

It was always 50/50. Some were perfectly happy with eating the same thing day in and day out, others begged me to give them some variety. Personally, my favourite way to write meal plans - how I would like a meal plan written for me - is portion sizes of each food group (carbohydrates, protein, vegetables), and then suggestions of what kinds of meals fit into the suggested portions. It means you can eat whatever you want. Don't like rice? Cool, replace it with X amount of potato. Going to a friend's place for a barbecue this weekend? No worries - follow the portions and you'll be right. The biggest pro for me - it means variety. I love variety.

I experience a phenomenon that I call food fatigue. Basically, I can't eat the same thing too many times otherwise I get incredibly sick of it. When I was younger, my sister and I would go straight from school to our dance school every Tuesday until 9pm. So every Tuesday, we were allowed takeaway for dinner, and our choice was a Subway sandwich. I had the sweet onion chicken teriyaki. Every single Tuesday. It took eight weeks before I resented Subway. A pretty solid effort for me. After those eight weeks, I didn't eat Subway for years. Hence, food fatigue.

So that long winded story, brings me to this: the only meal I don't experience food fatigue with is lasagne. Serve it to me for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I'd be happy. Lasagne is good for the soul guys. While this recipe is far from authentic, this is how I make it at home.

Beef Lasagne

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While not traditional, this is the way I make lasagne at home. While it takes a bit of time to prepare, it is fairly simple and undeniably moreish - the one meal I can eat back to back. 

• Author: Andrea Love
• Prep Time: 60 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 80 minutes
• Yield: 6 serves 1x
• Category: Main Course

Ingredients

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• ½ tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion (, finely diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (, minced)
• 1 large carrot (, finely diced)
• 1 stick celery (, finely diced)
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 rashers middle bacon (, finely diced)
• 1 kg beef mince
• 2x 400g jars Barilla bolognese sauce
• ½ cup red wine
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups shredded tasty cheese
• 1 box Barilla lasagne sheets

Béchamel

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 3 cups milk
• Salt (, to taste)
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium to high heat. Add onion, garlic, carrot, celery, dried oregano and bacon. Sauté until onion is translucent.
2. Add beef mince, and brown off. Add tomato sauce, red wine, milk, tomato paste and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, before reducing to a simmer. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until liquid has reduced. 
3. To make the béchamel: heat butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted, add flour and whisk, creating a roux. Reduce heat to low, add milk, one cup at a time, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Add salt and nutmeg. Remove from heat. 
4. In a large baking dish, begin assembling your lasagne by scooping a little bolognese sauce into the bottom. Top with lasagne sheets. Ladle béchamel sauce on top of pasta, followed by bolognese sauce, a sprinkle of cheese and more lasagne sheets. Repeat this layering until all ingredients have been used up; top your lasagne with a layer of cheese.
5. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until lasagne sheets are cooked through. Remove from oven and let stand for 10-20 minutes, before cutting and serving alongside a fresh salad. 

Notes

• Rather just using just beef mince, you can substitute for 500g beef mince and 500g pork mince.
• Wine is optional. Feel free to omit. 

Let me see all of your food creations and delicious snaps by using the hashtag #eatnik on your photos! 

Recipe developed in collaboration with Barilla.