Broken lasagne bake
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Broken lasagne bake
Don’t waste those broken bits of lasagne rattling around in the bottom of the box - use them as you would any pasta in this crowd-pleasing bake. Perfect for piling into bowls on a frosty evening
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
703Kcal
Fat
29gr
Saturates
15gr
Carbs
55gr
Sugars
21gr
Fibre
7gr
Protein
51gr
Salt
1.1gr
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 500g 5% fat British beef mince
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 stick celery, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp Inspired To Cook porcini paste
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp clear honey
- 150g broken lasagne bits
For the béchamel
- 30g butter
- 30g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 125g ricotta
- 75g Parmesan, grated
Step by step
Waste not
For breakfast, spread leftover porcini paste onto toast before topping with scrambled eggs. Alternatively, add a spoonful of the paste to mushroom soup or when making a beef stew or pasta sauce.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the beef mince, breaking it up so it browns evenly. Once browned all over, remove to a plate. Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan, and gently fry for 8-10 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and thyme and continue to cook for a couple of minutes before adding the mushrooms. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes, until soft, and then return the meat to the pan along with the porcini paste. Add the chopped tomatoes, bay leaves, balsamic vinegar and honey. Half-fill one of the tomato tins with water, swirl around both tins to rinse them out and add this to the pan. Season, cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
- For the béchamel, melt the butter in a saucepan until foaming. Add the flour and beat to a smooth paste off the heat. Return to the heat and cook the flour out for about a minute, stirring continuously. Slowly add the milk, stirring continuously to avoid any lumps forming, then continue to simmer for around 10 minutes, or until thickened. Add the nutmeg, ricotta and two-thirds of the Parmesan.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Put some of the ragù sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, then scatter over some of the broken lasagne bits. Repeat until you have used all the sauce and pasta. Pour over the béchamel and scatter over the remaining Parmesan. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden and bubbling. You can also bake this in an air fryer, if your dish will fit; cook at 180°C for about 30 minutes. The uncooked lasagne bake can be frozen, well wrapped. Defrost before baking and cook for an extra 15 minutes or so, until piping hot.
