Ingredients

Beef

• 1 large Onion
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 700g Organic Ground Beef Mince
• 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• 1 tin Diced Tomatoes
• 2 tsp Basil
• 2 Tbsp Oregano
• A generous seasoning of Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 Beef Stock cube
• Pinch of sugar
• 1/2 a Fennel bulb (shredded)
• 4 Hard-boiled eggs (crumbled)

Bechamel Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 cups Blue Top Milk
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Pinch nutmeg

Cheese (for bechamel and topping)

• 2 cups Mascarpone
• 2 cups Mainland Parmesan
• 2 cups Mainland Tasty Cheddar

Method

Beef Mix Method

1. In a dry pan roast 2 Tbsp Shredded Fennel until golden, remove half and set aside.
2. Add your onion, ground beef, and oil. Fry until browned and cooked through.
3. Mix in your diced tomatoes and tomato paste (feel free to use a passata if more convenient). Use your tomato tin or passata bottle to measure a serve of water, and add that to the pan too. Cook for ten minutes.
4. Add 2 tsp cracked pepper and crumble your stock cube into the mix. Add more tomato puree if needed for taste.
5. Add sugar in small pinches at a time to taste, until the tartness of the tomato has been reduced (Around 1 tsp)
6. Close the lid and leave to simmer on a low heat for 40minutes.

                            Bechamel Sauce 

1. While your mince is simmering prepare your Bechamel over very low heat.
2. Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a saucepan, and then add 2 Tbsp flour and cook for a mite, constantly stirring gently, until a smooth paste forms. Slowly add in your milk and keep stirring away.
3. When the sauce is smooth, add a handful of cheddar and half the parmesan as well as a scoop of mascarpone, stir the mix until smooth and all the cheese has melted through.
4. Add a pinch of cracked pepper and a pinch of nutmeg, stir until everything is dissolved and take off the heat to rest.

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C Peel your eggs and chop them into 1/2cm chunks.
2. In your lasagne dish layer beef mix on the bottom, followed by overlapping lasagne sheets.
3. Add another layer of beef mix, then sprinkle some eggs on top, before adding another layer of lasagne sheets. Continue until the top of the dish (feel free to mix a little bechamel in amongst the lasagne sheets)
4. On the top layer of lasagne sheets spread the majority of the bechamel directly on top and sprinkle with cheddar and oregano. Cover with foil.
5. Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes before carefully removing the foil. 
6. Sprinkle with parmesan and a handful of oregano, before cooking for 10 more minutes.