03 December 2023 , 15:36
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A layered creamy piping hot lasagne is the perfect pasta dish for the wintery temperatures and it's also Mary Berry approved.
Lasagne sheets smothered in a creamy béchamel, tomato, pasta, and minced meat are classic ingredients found in the traditional dish. However, Mary Berry has added her own twist with her favourite recipe packed with goodness.
The Mary Berry's approved lasagne recipe utilises the traditional ingredients and then red peppers, mushrooms, and leeks for a healthy, vegetable-filled dinner. She has shared her recipe in her book Mary Berry at Home which hosts her top 150 "favourite recipes". Mary Berry may be a fancy lady but the ingredients list in inexpensive and affordable for a batch cooked meal for the week or an evening dinner for the whole family.
For the simple yet classic dinner, the recipe can be found below.
Ingredients
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Eight lasagne sheets
Two tablespoons of olive oil
Two chopped leeks
Two red peppers, diced
Two large garlic cloves, crushed
40g plain flour
800g tinned chopped tomatoes
One tablespoon tomato purée
Two teaspoons of caster sugar
500g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
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A bunch of fresh basil, chopped
One tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
For the cheese sauce:
100 butter
75g plain flour
900ml hot milk
One tablespoon of wholegrain mustard
300g mature Cheddar, grated
How to make Mary Berry's lasagne:
To start with, you will need a three-litre deep ovenproof dish to hold the lasagne in and preheat the oven to 220C/ 200C fan/ gas mark seven. To make the sauce, first you need to chop all of the ingredients and then heat some oil in a frying pan.
Once hot, add the leeks and fry for three minutes before chucking in the peppers which should cook for five minutes until soft. The garlic, salt, and pepper should be added after this, at which point it can be left to sit on a very low heat.
While that's cooking, measure flour in a bowl and mix with half a tin of chopped tomatoes (200g), then stir until smooth. Add the remaining tomatoes (600g) to the vegetables in the pan, followed by the purée, sugar, and finally, the prepared flour mixture. Leave it to cook until everything has come to a boil and thickened then add the mushrooms to cook for a few minutes while continually stirring. Add the basil vinegar and taste to adjust the seasoning.
To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour and whisk over the heat for a minute. Pouring only a little at a time blend in the milk and whisk until bubbling and smooth. Stir in the mustard, and three-quarters of the cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Portion out one-third of the vegetable sauce into the base of the dish. Spoon over a third of the cheese sauce and sprinkle with a third of the remaining cheese.
Place three sheets of lasagne on top (you can break the sheets apart to avoid overlapping), and top with the remaining layers in the same order to give two layers of pasta, three layers of sauce, and top with the remaining cheese on top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes until piping hot and golden brown and enjoy!
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