Classic Beef Lasagne

Ingredients

• 400 g minced beef
• 2 cloves, minced
• 500 ml beef stock
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 celery, chopped,
• 400 g tomato, finely diced
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp currant
• 50 g plain flour
• salt and pepper
• 600 ml milk, warmed
• 50 g butter
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 100 g parmesan
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/Gas 3. Pat the mince dry and season it generously with salt and pepper — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Warm the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium-high heat and brown the mince in two batches, breaking it up as it colours. All at once and the pan crowds, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. You want a proper crust and dark stuck bits on the base of the pan — that's the flavour foundation. Lift onto a plate.
2. Drop the heat to medium and add the onion, celery and grated carrot to the same pan, scraping at the fond as the vegetables release their water. Cook for 8–10 minutes until everything is soft, sweet and starting to catch at the edges. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant — burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter, so watch it.
3. Return the mince to the pan and stir through the flour to coat. Add the tomato purée and let it cook against the hot pan for a minute until it darkens a shade — raw purée tastes tinny, cooked purée tastes deep. Tip in the red lentils and diced tomatoes, then pour in the beef stock and add the redcurrant jelly. The stock is doing real work here: it breaks the tomatoes down so they taste of fruit, not tin. Season well, bring to a gentle boil, cover and slide into the oven for 1 to 1½ hours, until the beef is tender and the sauce is thick and glossy. Stir once or twice along the way and loosen with a splash of water if it tightens up too much. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
4. While the ragù finishes, make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, scatter in the flour and cook for a minute, stirring, until it smells biscuity and looks pale gold — that's the raw-flour taste cooking out. Whisk in the warm milk a ladleful at a time, keeping it smooth, then simmer for 2–3 minutes until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and hold a line when you draw a finger through it. Off the heat, stir in the mustard and most of the parmesan, and season generously with salt and pepper.
5. Turn the oven up to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. Spread a third of the ragù in a 2.3 litre baking dish, cover with a layer of lasagne sheets (snap them to fit — no naked corners), then a third of the white sauce. Repeat twice more, finishing with white sauce on top. Shower over the remaining parmesan.
6. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is bubbling and burnished and a knife slides through the pasta with no resistance. Rest for 10 minutes before cutting — straight from the oven it'll slump; rested, it holds its layers in proper squares.
7. Cut into squares and lift onto warm plates. Scatter over the fresh parsley, add a squeeze of lemon to cut the richness of the cheese sauce, and serve with the peppery green salad alongside.