Lasagne

This is unhealthy and delicious. Comfort food at its best for the miserable winter evenings: a warm rich meat sauce, creamy cheesy layers and a sliver of pasta between. This is probably my boyfriend’s favourite pasta dish and he gets extremely happy when it is served up.

Don’t be daunted by making the white sauce, it’s so much more flavourful when you make it yourself, and bonus: you can add as much cheese as you want! That's what sold it to me.

Adapted from a Nigella recipe.

Makes a massive lasagne which can easily serve 4

Ingredients for the meat sauce

• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 red onion, chopped thinly
• 1 pepper, chopped thinly
• 1 carrot, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 leek, sliced (optional)
• 6 slices of salami or 3 rashers of bacon, diced small
• 500g minced beef
• 125 ml red wine
• 400ml passata
• 1 tsp oregano
• Salt and pepper

Ingredients for the white sauce

• 30g butter
• 30g flour
• 600ml semi skimmed milk
• A handful of grated cheese

To serve

• A few handfuls of grated cheese

Method

Begin by chopping the vegetables for the sauce. Heat the oil and butter and gently fry the veggies and meat (salami or bacon) until softened.

Add in the mince and fork through until browned.

Add in the red wine, passata and herbs and bring to the boil. Let simmer gently for 25 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Dem bubbles

Meanwhile, make a start on the white sauce. Gently melt the butter and stir in the flour.

Remove from heat and whisk in the milk. Put back on the heat and bring to a gentle boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. 

At this point stir through the cheese, season and remove from the heat.

To assemble the lasagne, like some reverse meat Jenga:

Begin with meat sauce, adding to the lasagne dish and spreading out.

It doesn't have to be pretty

..then top with a small amount of white sauce

..and then pasta sheets to cover. 

Repeat 2 more times, then top with the remaining meat sauce and white sauce, and sprinkle over the rest of the cheese.

So much dairy in one photo

Bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes until bubbling and the cheese is golden.

Leave for about 5 minutes out of the oven before slicing, trust me, it will make all the difference for the layers staying intact.

Mmmm. Artery-clogging Italian dream.