Simple Meaty Lasagne

We visited Rome and Milan during our honeymoon but the ironic thing is, we never really eat what the Italians eat except pizza! Yes, no kidding... we only had a few slices of pizzas as I was so sick with morning sickness that I don't have much appetite for any food well, except a few cones of gelato! What a shame! :P

Back then I was not so interested in Italian food and cheesy stuff don't appeal to me since I had lactose intolerance. My tummy will have a fit each time I eat cheese except mozzarella so I avoid them at much as I could.

However, when we moved to Melbourne, cheesy food seems to be everywhere! Well, one thing is that, cheese is so much cheaper here compared to Malaysia and the kids love to have cheesy stuff once in a while. Darrius is a fan of cheese and of all things he only ordered lasagne from his school canteen!

One day I saw a big lasagne dish on sale in one of the supermarket and decided to get one so I could cook my own lasagne. Checking the net and found a few recipes but most have béchamel sauce which I was reluctant to do as I don't have so much time to spare. So, I decided to go for the simplest where I used bottled bolognese sauce andwith added vegetables.

I can tell you the aroma from the browning cheese (mozzarella) filled the entire kitchen and it was oh so good! :lol:  The dish was rather huge so we have half of it as left over. I cut them into a few snack size portions and freeze them so I can have it whenever I have the cravings while having some bingo games when the kids are sleeping :D I know it is sinful but it was really satisfying!

Since I still have some left over lasagne sheets, I might be baking another dish soon when I finished the frozen batch.

Ingredients

• 1kg Mixed ground beef and pork (I used 50/50)


• 1 jar of Bolognese or pasta sauce of your choice


• 1 can of Tomato paste (optional)


• 1 Zucchini - cut into thin slices or diced


• 2 sticks Carrots - diced


• 1 cup Peas (I used frozen peas)


• 1 jar of Bolognese or pasta sauce of your choice


• 1 Onion - diced


• 3 pips Garlic - smashed


• 1 cup Water


• Olive oil for stir frying


• Salt and pepper to taste


• Lasagne sheets


• 1½ cup Cheddar cheese - grated


• 1½ cup Mozzarella cheese - grated

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Methods

1. Heat up frying pan with some olive oil and sauté the vegetables (garlic, onion, zucchini, carrot and peas), lift up and set aside then in the same pan stir fry the ground meat till 80% cook.


2. Add in pasta sauce, tomato paste and water to the cooked meat, stir till well combine, toss in the sautéed vegetables and stir till well mixed. Add in salt and pepper to taste.


3. In a sauce pan, boil water with some salt to slightly soften the lasagne sheets (if you are not using fresh lasagne sheets).


4. Fill the first layer of your lasagne dish with some of the bolognese/pasta sauce, line with lasagne sheet, sprinkle with some cheddar and mozzarella, pasta sauce, lasagne sheets and so on until all your pasta sauce is used up.


5. Topped the dish with lasagne sheets, a layer of cheddar and lastly the mozzarella to get the browning effects on the surface.


6. Bake in a preheated oven of 190ºC for 30 minutes and turn to 200ºC for another 10 minutes or till the surface is brown or slightly burn.