A Cosy Sleuth's Favourite Food That Will Warm Your Heart: Lasagne

FRANSIE'S LASAGNE RECIPE

(I know the pic has mushrooms and thyme, but the recipe does not. It's all I could find! Honestly, I tend to eat the lasagne before we can take a pic. It's like a race against time - lasagne vs me, and spoiler alert: I always win. That lasagne never stood a chance. Much like the bullies and abusers I come across.)

I, Catherine Joubert, a cosy mystery sleuth, have a favourite food. Fransie's lasagna recipe gets me through the good and the bad days. I'm not always sleuthing and solving mysteries, but when I am, this lasagna is a welcome respite from the crazy world out there.

INGREDIENTS:

500 g ground beef

1 large onion

1 small carrot

1 small celery stalk

oilve oil

1 x tin of tomatoes (Fransie squishes them to break them up.)

2-3 pinches of dried Oregano (I honestly think she uses more.)

pasta sheets

40 g butter (salted)

500g milk

40 g plain flour

1-2 pinch nutmeg

2 pinches of mustard powder

1 handful Mozzarella

1 cup Panko (Dried white bread crumbs)

Parmesan, as much as you deem necessary.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 200'c

1. Heat oil in a pan and add ground/minced beef, Oregano, salt and pepper.

2. Chop onion, celery and carrot finely. If you can bear it, grate it all. (Fransie wears her sunglasses for this.)

3. Once the beef is brown, add the grated veg and turn down the heat. Put a lid on the pan.

4. In a heavy-duty pot/saucepan, melt the butter. Add mustard, nutmeg, salt and black pepper and stir. Fransie waits until the butter almost browns. (She says it makes the sauce a little more nutty in taste.)

5. Add the flour and turn down the heat. Fransie uses a wooden spoon for this part. Mix the flour and butter until a roux is formed.

6. Now add some milk and stir. Yes, this part can be tedious, but it's all about having patience. Once the mixture thickens, add more milk.

7. Take the roux mixture off the burner while you check on the meat and veg. If the onions are glassy and the carrots are almost gone, add the tin of smooshed tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir and put the lid back on. You may turn up the heat a little.

8. Quick, check on your Béchamel sauce. Place it back on the burner.

9. Add more milk, and you can switch to a whisk.

10. Your roux is ready when all the milk has been used. Take off the burner and set aside.

11. Check on your beef mixture. Does it need a little water? Fransie likes hers watery and has been known to add a little water or beef stock if it's too thick.

12. Spoon the meat mixture into the base of a rectangular ovenproof dish.

13. Lay raw pasta sheets over the meat. Try not to overlap them.

14. Add spoonfuls of the Béchamel, so that it covers the pasta sheets.

15. Add a meat layer.

16. Keep going until you finish with a Bechamel layer.

17. Sprinkle mozzarella, parmesan and panko.

18. Cover loosely with foil.

19. Place in the oven for 40 minutes.

20. Remove foil and grill until cheese is melted and panko is golden.