Lasagne with Lamb and Eggplant
Cook Time 1 hour and 20 minutes
Servings 8
Ingredients
1 packet San Remo Instant Lasagne
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, peeled & finely diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 sprigs of thyme
1 tbsp garlic, crushed
750g lamb mince
2 medium eggplants, diced medium
2 bay leaves
½ cup red wine
2 x 410g can of Ardmona Chopped Tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Béchamel sauce
1L full cream milk
1 brown onion, peeled & cut in half
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns
200g butter
1 cup plain flour
1 cup grated pecorino
Method
To create the meat sauce, preheat oven to 180C. Heat olive oil in large frying pan on medium to high heat; add onion, garlic, celery, thyme and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, without colouring the garlic. Add mince, crushing any lumps with a spoon, cook until mince is browned. Next add eggplants and cook, for a further 3mins. Add the bay leaves, red wine and reduce heat to a simmer. Reduce wine by half, add tomatoes and stir through. Cook for 35 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
For the béchamel sauce, In a saucepan; place milk, onion, cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns and place on a low to medium heat, making sure milk slowly comes to the boil infusing all the flavours. In another saucepan, place butter and melt over a low heat. Once melted, add flour and stir together with a wooden spoon continue to cook for 5 minutes stirring continuously to avoid browning.
When milk has boiled, turn the off heat and strain into another pan. When straining into pan, make sure to continually stir to eliminate any lumps. Stir until the sauce thickens approx. 4-5 minutes. Finally stir cheese through sauce.
In a baking dish, ladle enough lamb sauce over the base. Cover with a layer of lasagna sheets.
Ladle more lamb sauce to cover pasta. Next ladle béchamel sauce just over lamb sauce to cover. Repeat with pasta, lamb and béchamel sauce until 4 layers are completed. Sprinkle some grated parmesan over the top. Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 mins or until lasagne is golden and cooked through.
