Recipe: Beef, Aubergine and Lasagne Bake

Ingredients  - serves 4



200g minced beef

1 red pepper, de-seeded and diced

1/2 onion, peeled and diced

1 small green onion, de-seeded and diced

1 packet Köz Patl?can Kebab? Sos mix or a Spaghetti Bolognese mix would do

1/4 cup red wine, or water

1 x 400g tin tomatoes

1 small aubergine, thinly sliced

1 packet white sauce, made up with 500ml milk

1 cup grated cheese, plus extra to sprinkle on top of bake

3 sheets lasagne, or enough to create two layers in the dish you are using (my dish uses 1 and 1/2 sheets per layer)



Method



In a frying pan, fry the mince, red pepper, onion and green pepper, until the mince is browned and the peppers and onions are softening.



Add the tomatoes, red wine or water and the Patl?can Sos Mix.  Stir well.  Allow to cook for a 10 mins, if the mixture is too dry add a little water.  You don't want the meat sauce to be too sloppy otherwise it will not stay in layers.



Make up the white sauce as instructed on the packet.  The mix I use, uses 750ml milk, but I reduce it down to 500ml so that the sauce is thick so that again it stays in layers.  When the sauce is ready, take off the heat and stir in the cup of grated cheese.



In an oven-proof dish coat the bottom with a thin layer of butter or marg, to stop the first layer of lasagne from sticking.  Then add a layer of lasagne, followed by half the meat sauce, followed by a layer of the sliced aubergine, followed by half the white sauce.  Repeat the above layers one more time, finishing off with a sprinkling of cheese.



Place in a pre-heated oven at 200c for 20 to 25 mins, until the sauce is bubbling and the top has browned.



If you are making this for two people, half can be eaten fresh and the other half, when cold can be cut into two portions and frozen.  When required defrost and either put in an oven-proof dish, cover with foil (this stops the bake from drying out to much and burning on top) and re-heat for 20 to 25 mins or microwave until hot in the centre.



In the picture I serves this with a salad made up of tomatoes, onion, cucumber, fresh basil leaves, olive oil and lemon juice.