Laze-agne

What is it about lasagne that's so darn good!? Personally, it's the fact that - when cooking for two - one dish means dinner's in the bag for a few nights to come. And everyone deserves the occasional evening in front of the TV with a ready-meal.

For the Filling

1x 250g box of g-free lasagne sheets (I used Casalare)

550g beef mince

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

2 tblsp g-free tomato paste

1 small bag of frozen chopped spinach

2 carrots peeled and sliced

2 celery sticks peeled and sliced

A glug of good olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

A small bunch of fresh oregano

A small bunch of fresh basil

Sautée the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent, then add the mince. Once this is browned, add the tomatoes, plus one tin of water, the carrots, celery and tomato paste. Season and leave to simmer for 40 minutes, adding the oregano leaves and some of the basil right at the end. In a separate pan sautée the spinach with a little salt and pepper, making sure you get rid of any excess water.

For the Sauce

50g flour (I use Dove's all-purpose flour. You can use a mix of rice flour and corn starch instead)

2½ tblsp olive oil (use butter if you can have dairy)

500ml milk (use soya or rice milk if you need to)

A dash of nutmeg

1 bay leaf

Heat the oil and add the flour, stirring it into a roux. Once the roux is glossy and pulls away from the pan take it off the heat. Warning: if you add the milk directly to this it will quickly cook into a doughy mess. Let it cool slightly, then add the milk, whisking continuously. Add the bay leaf and nutmeg and stir over a low heat until you have a glossy sauce that coats the back of a spoon. Remove the bay leaf.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Put a third of your mince mixture in the bottom of your lasagne dish. Cover with pasta sheets. Tip: Hold your hand over each sheet for about 10 seconds, as they tend to curl when they touch the hot sauce. Spoon a layer of spinach on top, then a third of the bechamel sauce. Repeat with the mince, pasta sheets, spinach and bechamel. With your last layer you won't put spinach on top of the pasts, just the bechamel sauce. Top with tomato slices and fresh basil leaves and bake covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 30 minutes until the top is golden. Dig in.