Not quite lasagne

I had been looking forward to lasagne all day today. It's cold and wet and I wanted some comfort food. When I got home from work, I got stuff out to make it and realised I had no lasagne sheets! Now I could have gone to the shops and got some but as I mentioned it was wet and I just did not want to go back out. What I did have was penne pasta, so I decided to use it instead and make a lasagne/pasta bake.

I will be doing this again, although with more pasta in it, it is way more filling.

Ingredients

  • 500g mince beef (I use lean)

  • 1 onion

  • 4 or 5 mushrooms

  • 500g carton tomato passata

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • Handful fresh basil

  • 300g penne pasta (or fusilli or whatever you like)

  • Bechamel/white sauce

  • 20g soft goats cheese

  • 50g grated cheese

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Method

Preheat oven to 180oC (fan)

  1. Brown mince in a pan, add onions and garlic, season with some salt and pepper and cook until soft

  2. While onions are softening make your bechamel/white sauce, you will need around 200ml and cook pasta

  3. Add mushrooms to mince and onions and cook for 2-3 mins then add in passata and simmer for at least 20mins, add basil at the end

  4. Drain pasta and toss in bechamel sauce

  5. Layer pasta on bottom of an oven proof dish and add mince on top, repeat. 

  6. Top with cheeses

  7. Bake for around 15 minutes until cheese is melted and golden.