Gluten Free and low lactose courgette lasagne - could be adapted to be dairy free

Many thanks to Cath on the Facebook Group for sharing this recipe!

Ingredients: (to make 6 portions)

• 1kg of lean minced beef
• 3 medium-large onions
• 2 500g cartons of Passata (I use Cirio)
• 2 safe beef stock cubes (I recommend Telma kosher stock cubes if you can get them. Such a good taste. Otherwise whatever you can get hold of that works…)
• Brown sauce (I use Stokes because it’s GF)
• 3 large courgettes
• Olive oil
• Whatever cheese is best tolerated – lots of it, grated.
• TIP Redwood cheezly grates well if frozen first and there is a dairy and soya free version.
• Big pan
• Some oven dishes

Method: 

• In a giant pan, with plenty of olive oil, soften the onions very finely chopped. Do this until they are completely cooked – say 15 mins on a high heat at first, then gentler, covered.
• Add all the mince, breaking it up very small in the pan and cook through. (Ie stir, cover for a few mins, stir again, and repeat until all brown)
• Crumble the stock cubes into the onions and mince.
• Add several squirts of the brown sauce if you’ve got one you can use.
• Add the Passata, turn the heat up, and cover to bring up to a steady bubble.
• Uncover and turn right down for a nice long simmer – 15 mins, or so…
• Slice courgettes into slices about 1-2mm thick – nice and fine. Lay the slices on the bottom of all the oven dishes you’re using, one slice thick, with just a slight overlap – you’re not aiming for massive thick layers of courgette – it won’t soften properly if you do that.
• Once the bolognese is cooked, season well with black pepper or smoked cayenne and then alternate layers of sliced courgette with sauce in the dishes.
• Cover with grated cheese.
• Cover with a very tight layer of foil.

TIP 1 - I always dip the top layer of courgette in the sauce, so that there’s sauce on top of that top layer – otherwise it’s not so nicely cooked.

TIP 2 - This dish is a meat heavy but a pulse and vegetable mixture could make it entirely vegetarian.

TIP 3 - Please note if you have small people who are a bit concerned about the texture of courgette, it might be worth grating it and making the layers out of that, instead. Changes the bite of it a bit. You then only need to cook for 30-40mins uncovered.

To cook (must defrost first – this won’t do from frozen), put in the oven at 200C with the foil on for 25 mins, then take foil off and do 25mins more.