Not So Naughty Lasagne

I have a confession, don't hate me but...I've never been a massive lover of lasagne. It seems, well especially in my house, that those words are some sort of blasphemy. Don't get me wrong I'll eat it and will enjoy it, but it isn't one of my 'go to dishes' and I would never pick it on a restaurant menu. I think it stems from the days of school dinners, where a greasy looking brick of lasagne would be slopped on to the plate, overcooked with chewy edges which didn't go down very easily. 

So on Sunday evening I had a bit of a conundrum, I had a packet of beef mince which I had been meaning to use up for a while but really couldn't decide what to make with it, I didn't want to cook chilli (our house is like a chilli factory at the moment, if I find one more kidney bean stuck to the bottom of my sock I will scream!) and didn't fancy a spaghetti bolognese. I thought of making moussaka but it just wouldn't be the same without lamb mince so thought I would get a little creative and combine the two, if foods had family's I would like to think of moussaka as the exotic cousin of the lasagne, so what could go wrong? 

Luckily the dish came out just as I had imagined. I replaced the lasagne sheets with thin slices of courgette and made a slim-line version of the cheese sauce and ended up with a great tasting healthy take on the traditional lasagne. The meal also took half the time to cook in the oven as the courgette cooked more quickly than the pasta sheets would of, so it's a win/win situation, a healthy, quicker and in my opinion tastier alternative! The recipes below if you want to give it a go. 

Ingredients:

• 500g lean beef mince
• 2 small red onions
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic
• 2 peppers (any colour)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 beef stock cube
• 250g mushrooms
• 2 teaspoons of mixed herbs
• 2 medium sized courgettes
• 3 tables spoons of corn flour
• 400ml skimmed milk
• 40g grated reduced fat cheese
• salt & pepper to season

Method:

Dice the onions, peppers and mushrooms into small cubes. Cook the beef mince in a deep pan on a medium heat for around 5 minutes until it starts to brown and then remove the pan from the hob and carefully drain the excess fat from the pan. Remove the mince from the pan and set aside, whilst cooking the onions in the same pan for about 5 minutes. 

Once the onions start to soften, add the peppers and garlic to the mixture and give it a good stir. Let the veg sizzles for a couple of minutes before adding the mince, tomato puree , chopped tomatoes, stock, mushrooms and herbs. Mix all the ingredients together well and let the pan bubble away for a good 15 minutes. 

Whilst the sauce cooks, cut the ends off your courgettes and then cut them in half so you have four smaller courgettes. Stand the courgette upright and then carefully, with a very sharp knife, slice it into very thin wafers (think of how thick a lasagne sheet normally is). When the bolognese sauce has had its time, spoon a third of the mixture into a large oven proof dish, then cover with a layer of the sliced courgette. Repeat this process until you fill the dish. Pop this in the fridge whilst you make the white sauce. 

For the cheesey sauce pour the milk into a small pan and heat slowly for around 5 minutes until it starts to simmer, then immediately turn the heat down to 1. In a separate bowl, mix 3 tablespoons of milk with the corn flour and stir until it mixes (this can be quite tough so persist, you'll get there in the end!) Add the corn flour mix to the pan, with the grated cheese and stir constantly for around 5 minutes with a whisk, eventually it will thicken! Add black pepper and a few mixed herbs to the sauce and then smother on top of the lasagne. Pop the dish in the oven at around 200 degrees and cook for around 25 minutes, or when the sauce starts to brown on top!

This recipe serves 5 and goes really well with a side salad! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)