I have always loved lasagne, and made my very first one when I was 13 for my Dad and brother as my Mum was in hospital at the time. I had often watched her make one so thought I would give it a go, and I made it all from scratch including the cheese sauce. I have never looked back really.
Over the years I have made variations on a beef lasagne and made vegetable ones, seafood ones, chicken and bacon ones, bacon and cauliflower cheese ones and turkey lasagne. It is a a turkey lasagne which I am going to post. Although beef is my favourite (and certainly it is my OH’s who moans whenever I sway from the beef mince lasagne path!), I think turkey makes a nice change and it is cheap and lean and in using turkey mince, you are giving your family a superfood too!
You will need:
For the ragu:
500g turkey mince (I use thigh)
100g smoked pancetta cubed (or you could use smoked bacon)
1 large onion, chopped finely
2 large carrots, grated
1 large courgette, grated
2 peppers, chopped
Olive oil
Garlic – 1tsp (I use the Lazy already chopped up garlic in a jar)
500g passatta ( I use the one with added italian herbs)
1 knorr chicken stock pot gel
Dash of black pepper for seasoning
For the cheese sauce:
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
500ml milk
A dash of english mustard
250g grated strong cheddar ( I used the half fat version to be a bit virtuous!)
Lasagne sheets
Method
For the ragu:
Add a glug of olive oil to a deep saucepan and fry the turkey mince until it changes from pink to a grey/brown colour (about 5 minutes)
Remove from the heat and drain off the fat and place into the slow cooker
Then return the saucepan to the heat and add some more olive oil and the garlic.
Fry off the pancetta on a high heat for about 3 minutes until it starts to change colour, then add the onion and reduce the heat a little.
After about another 3-4 minutes add the carrot, courgette and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat.
Remove from the heat and drain off any excess fat then add to the turkey in the slow cooker
Add the passatta and the chicken stock pot gel, and mix well.
Turn slow cooker to the lowest setting and allow to cook for about 7 hours or overnight
Once cooked, taste and season with black pepper as required.
For the cheese sauce:
Add the butter to a medium sized saucepan and when it is stating to melt add the flour and stir well until combined. Keep stirring and very soon the mixture will come away from the sides, once this happens the mixture must be cooked for 1 minute and it must be continually stirred.
Once this has happened remove from the heat and add a few glugs of milk to start with, and stir the pan so that the flour mixture and the milk combine. You may find that using a whisk helps here. The idea is to get rid of the lumps before you return the pan to the heat.
Once the lumps have gone, return the pan to the heat and while stirring all the time, allow the milk to heat up. Add the rest of the milk and after a couple of minutes you should feel the sauce thicken. Now add your cheese, probably in three parts, and again keep stirring.
Once the sauce comes to the boil, keep stirring and allow it to cook for 1 minute.
Remove from the heat and add the mustard and stir well. The cheese sauce should be lovely and thick now.
Once both sauces are ready, get a large square/rectangular oven proof dish and lightly grease the bottom of it
Line the bottom of it with the ragu sauce
Add a layer of lasagne sheets
Add a layer of cheese sauce
Repeat layers, making sure the final one has cheese sauce on the top
Cook in a Pre- heated oven of 180oC/160oC (fan) for about 45 minutes – until the top browns.
Serve with a side salad and jacket wedges to make the lasagne go around further
(This recipe easily feeds 4-8 people, depending on portion size!)
I am posting this recipe as part of the Britmums Lean On Turkey Competition
sponsored by www.leanonturkey.co.uk
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Thank you xx
Thank you xx
this looks delicious Jenny, I could eat it with those Jacket wedges right now! x
You do lots of different things with your slow cooker- I need to get more inventive! Or use it at all. 😉 x
Looks very yummy, will definitely try this recipe out 😉
That looks fab! I love lasagne! xx
I never thought to do Lasagne in the slow cooker! Fab!
Great idea to use Turkey and the colours in your photos look amazing!
I love making the filling for my lasagne in the slow cooker, tastes so much nicer.
Thanks for linking up
Hey great slow cooker dish! This week’s
Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter is all about collecting up slow
cooker/crockpot recipes. It would be
great if you linked this in. This is
the
link . I am following you now. Please drop by to Carole’s Chatter and check
it out. If you like my blog it would be great if you
followed me back. Have a good week.
thanks for linking in. I have put the recipe title in for you. Cheers
A follow back would be super!
The Perfect Lasagne Recipe - mummy mishaps
[…] over the coming years: a vegetarian one, a bacon one, a chicken and bacon one, a tuna one, a turkey mince one and a prawn and spinach one. I have even made a Slimming World version, which is ok but not the […]