Corned beef lasagne is a twist on the usual recipe.  The original recipe was adapted by us and the results are a family favourite. The corned beef I’m referring to here appears to be a UK speciality. It comes in tins or from the deli counter and has a unique flavour that you either love or hate. This lasagne recipe also contains savoy cabbage which is another unusual ingredient, but don’t let it put you off. Our lasagnes have to have at least 3 layers of pasta, it just isn’t right unless it is good and deep so don’t scrimp on the pasta and get an extra deep lasagne dish. The lasagne can easily be made ahead then heated through when needed.

Link to measurement conversion chart

Serves 8.

Ingredients

• ½ a savoy cabbage, de-cored, chopped and steamed for 5 mins
• 250 -400g lasagne sheets depending upon the number of layers you want
• 1 ball of mozzarella chopped into 1 cm chunks
• Grated parmesan
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the meat sauce

• Olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 x tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 340g tin of corned beef chopped into 1cm cubes
• ½ tsp dried thyme

For the cheese sauce

• 2tbsp flour
• 50g butter
• 500ml Milk
• 250g Ricotta

You will also need

• 1 x deep lasagne dish, ours is 18 x 26 x 6 cm
• 1 saucepan for the cheese sauce preparation
• 1 saucepan for the meat sauce preparation

Method

1. Make the meat sauce
   1. Heat the oil in pan add the onion and fry until softened,
   2. add the garlic herbs and tomatoes then bring to a boil
   3. reduce the heat slightly, add the corned beef and cook for 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until the meat has no lumps
2. Make the cheese sauce
   1. Melt the butter in a pan
   2. Add the flour and fry off for a minute
   3. Remove the pan from the heat then add the milk, stirring. If you get a few lumps whisk them in
   4. Put the pan back on the heat and bring to the boil
   5. Add the ricotta and allow it to combine with the sauce
   6. Season to taste
3. Assemble the lasagne Note – if you plan to eat within an hour of assembling preheat the oven to 190C at this point.
   1. Work towards a 4 layer lasagne by putting 1/3 mozzarella and ¼ of the other ingredients in each layer.
   2. Layer the ingredients as follows;
      Meat
      Cabbage
      Lasagne sheets
      Cheese sauce
      Mozzarella, evenly dotted
   3. Finish with a layer of cheese sauce and instead of mozzarella sprinkle the top with grated parmesan.
   4. Bake in the oven at 190c for 45 – 55 mins

Serving suggestions and variations

• Lasagne is great served with a side salad and some garlic bread, have a go at our easy garlic bread and you'll never buy the shop ready version again
• If you love chips with your lasagne cook up some potato wedges while the oven is on instead
• Substitute savoy cabbage for curly kale, spinach (uncooked) or chopped Brussel sprouts
• Try ricotta with herbs for a more flavoursome cheese sauce
• The original recipe added 100g pecorino to the cheese sauce, you could also try grated hard goats cheese.

Acknowledgements
The original recipe concept comes from the “Good Cooks Library – Pasta cookbook”. It is called “Lasagne with savoy cabbage”. It uses ground beef but doesn’t make a meat sauce and the method confused us. So we adapted and came up with our own version, which is actually nothing like the original. We always loved the idea of having savoy cabbage in a lasagne and we have always used corned beef.

You might also like to try one of these recipes from our collection;

• For some gluten free pasta try runner bean spaghetti with the meat sauce,
• Potato wedges make a great alternative to chips with a lasagne,
• want another classic Italian for pud the try our Tiramisu.

Happy eating!