Elbow lasagne

Can lasagne be made with more than just lasagne sheets? Adam Liaw says yes, with this macaroni pasta lasgane creative spin. This recipe also includes an ingenious method for sneaking extra vegetables onto fussy eater plates by adding hidden extra vegetables into the ragu bolgnese sauce.

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  3 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 500 g dried pasta elbows
• 3 cups grated mozzarella or tasty cheese
• ½ cup freshly grated parmesan

For the sauce (makes extra) 

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large brown onions, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 2 celery stalks, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 2 carrots, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 500 g finely chopped extra mixed vegetables offcuts (broccoli stems, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant etc.) (optional)
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 500 g beef mince
• 500 g pork mince
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.4 litres tomato passata
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
• 2 cups (500 ml water), plus extra, if required
• 1 tsp salt, plus extra to season

For the easy bechamel 

• 100 g butter
• ½ cup flour
• 1 litre milk
• salt, to season

Resting time: 15 minutes

Instructions

1. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the vegetables and garlic and fry for 10 minutes, or until fragrant and softened. Add the beef and pork mince and fry, until lightly browned. Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce and simmer on low heat for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally and adding an extra splash of water if the mixture is too dry. Season to taste with salt.

2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, checking it 2 minutes before the recommended cook time has elapsed. Slightly firm is preferable as the pasta will cook a second time in the oven.

3. Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the pasta water. Return the drained pasta to the pot and stir through as much of the ragu sauce as needed to coat the pasta well (about 2 cups) and 2 tbsp reserved pasta water. Set aside about 1 cup more of ragu, and then save any remainder for another purpose.

4. To make the bechamel sauce, heat the butter and flour in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes until it forms a light roux (do not allow it to brown). Gradually add the milk, stirring to a smooth white sauce and season with salt.

5. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (fan-forced). Lightly grease a large baking dish with a small drizzle of olive oil, then spread 1/3 of the bechamel sauce over the base. Spoon over the prepared pasta, then top with the extra cup of ragu sauce. Pour over the remaining bechamel. Sprinkle with the grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese and bake for 20 minutes, or until melted and bubbling. Grill the top if you like, to lightly brown the cheese. Allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Simply Delicious

Watch the full episode here

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Watch the full episode here

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