Cake Tin Lasagna

Cake Tin Lasagna

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Serves: 6 people

Sauce ingredients

• 1 large onion, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, diced

• 2 tablespoons oil

• 500g/1.1lbs extra lean beef mince

• 2 large carrots, diced

• 1 large zucchini, diced (no need to peel)

• 690g/24.4 fl oz. bottle tomato passata

• 140g/5oz tin tomato paste

• 1/2 cup red wine

• 3 bay leaves

• 1.5 tablespoons white sugar

• 3 teaspoons salt or more to taste

• ground black pepper to taste

• 1/2 cup milk

Cheesy Bechamel sauce

• 75g or 1/3 cup butter

• 1/3 cup/50g/1.7ozs plain all purpose flour

• 2 cups milk, hot

• fresh nutmeg

• salt and pepper

• 1 cup grated cheese

Ricotta filling and pasta

• 2 eggs

• 400g/14oz reduced fat ricotta cheese

• 1 box instant lasagne noodles (the ones that you don't have to boil in water ahead of time)

• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, sliced

• 1/2 cup reggiano cheese, grated

• non stick oil spray

Step 1 - Make the sauce. Saute the onion and garlic on medium heat in olive oil. Turn the heat to medium high heat and brown the mince, breaking it up.

Step 2 - Add the carrots and zucchini and tomato passata, tomato paste, red wine and bay leaves and simmer for about 15-20 minutes with the lid on until the flavour intensifies and the raw carrot taste has disappeared.

Step 3 - Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in milk.

Step 4 - Make the bechamel sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter and flour and cook while stirring with a flat bottomed wooden spoon or spatula until you get a smooth, golden mixture. Change to a whisk and then add the milk a little at a time, patience is key with bechamel and you just keep adding the milk and stirring until it is all added (I have found that in times of impatience, adding too much milk leads to lumpy bechamel). Add some freshly grated nutmeg and season with salt and pepper and add the cheese in and stir until it is incorporated.

Step 5 - Preheat oven to 190C/374F. Take your square springform cake tin and make sure that it is clipped together securely. Mix the eggs and ricotta together.

Step 6 - Layer the lasagna-I started with a bit of bechamel so that the pasta wouldn't stick to the bottom. Then layer with the pasta and then the meat. I then placed a single layer of the ricotta mixture and then another meat and then bechamel and cheese.

Step 7 - Spray a sheet of foil with non stick spray and cover the lasagne. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and then bake for a further 20-25 minutes until golden. Allow to rest in the cake tin for at least 60 minutes and then carefully remove the sides and slice into portions.