Lasagna

I pulled this recipe out of thin air in the early days of our marriage - Hanno was already making an amazing bolognese and I wanted the lasagna to have a different taste profile, so one evening I just messed around with beef mince until I found something I liked, and wrote it up the next day. Probably extremely non-traditional, but we like it!

Ingredients:

900 g beef mince

2 large onions, chopped finely

1 green pepper, chopped

1-2 t garlic (around 3 cloves)

Thyme and Italian herbs

1 regular tin (410g) chopped tomatoes

1 T tomato paste

1 c white wine

1 c chutney

500 g pasta (any type although sheets are of course typical)

2 cups cheese sauce (flour, butter, milk, cheese)

Mozzarella cheese

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Optional variations to add: 250 g bacon, chopped (fry with onions); 1 mini tin (200g) corn kernels (add at end); replace tomato paste with 1 c passata; replace Italian herbs with fresh basil and oregano; add grated zucchini and/or carrot to the meat mixture to stretch it and add veggies

Fry the onions, garlic, green pepper in oil. Brown meat and add to onion mixture, fry until loose and mostly cooked. Add 1 t thyme, 2 t italian hearbs, wine, tomatoes, tomato paste (and optional veggies, if using) and allow to simmer for 20 minutes until the flavours are well developed. 

Cook pasta and make cheese sauce. Layer (start with meat, then pasta sheet / meat / cheese sauce repeated, end with cheese sauce). Bake for 20 minutes, add mozzarella over top, bake until cheese is melted.

Serve with garlic bread and green salad.