Lasagne

Lasagne recipes always daunt me a bit...maybe it's the different elements that you need to get going and then bring them all together at the end!  Whatever it is, I've never been very successful and the few lasagnes I have attempted have not been great.  Saturday's version was great though...not too dry, which is usually my problem, and very tasty!  I think I've finally cracked it ;)

Ingredients
No-precook lasagne sheets
30g grated Parmesan
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled & diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
500g minced beef
250ml beef stock
Tin tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp fresh parsley
40g butter
40g plain flour
450ml milk
Pinch of ground all-spice
60g grated Gruyere cheese

Method
Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for 3-4 mins.  Add the garlic and minced beef, and cook until browned.  Leave to cool for a minute then put the mixture through a food processor for just a minute to get a smoother consistency.

Return the mixture to the pan, add the stock and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 3-4 mins, and stir in the tin tomatoes, puree, thyme, bay leaves and chopped parsley.  Bring up to the boil again and simmer for 20 mins.

Meanwhile...melt the butter in a separate pan and stir in the flour.  Cook for 1 min, stirring all the time, then whisk in the milk.  Bring to the boil, add the all-spice and simmer for 2 mins.  Remove from the heat and stir in the Gruyere until melted.

When ready, remove the bay leaves from the meat sauce and spoon a couple of spoonfuls of it into the base of your dish.  Add a few spoonfuls of the white sauce on top, then cover with lasagne sheets.  Repeat until your dish is nearly full - meat sauce, white sauce then lasagne sheets.  Keep enough white sauce to cover the final lasagne sheet on top then sprinkle with the grated Parmesan.  

Cook at 180 for 25-30 mins.  Remove from the oven and (this part is really important), let it rest for 5-10 mins before cutting - it will hold in place much better then if you cut it straight from the oven!

Serve with salad and garlic bread ;)