Low fat lasagne

On a cool night, there is nothing like lasagne to warm you inside and out. Although I am not afraid to eat the full fat version of lasagne, I am in favour of healthier eating, so the lasagne pictured above is a reduced-fat version made from a recipe in Eat Well Live Well with Diabetes. I am not a diabetic, but I purchased this book for its great low GI, low fat recipes.

I find making lasagne rather time consuming, so I do not make it often. This version contains a lot of vegetables which have to be chopped, making the preparation time longer than for other versions of lasagne that I have made. While this dish tasted fine, I like my tried and tested lasagne recipe, in which white sauce is layered with the meat and pasta, better, as it gives a moister result.

If you are interested in making this reduced fat lasagne, you will need:

2 teaspoons cooking oil
1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 chopped zucchinis
2 crushed garlic cloves
500g lean beef mince
800g tinned chopped tomatoes
125ml beef stock
2 tabslespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 packet instant lasagne sheets

Cheese Sauce

750ml skim milk
1/3 cup cornflour
100g low fat grated cheese

Cook the onion in the oil on the stovetop until the onion is soft. Add the celery, carrot and zucchini to the pan and cook until the vegetabkles are soft, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the mince to the pan and stir while cooking until the mince has browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, stock and oregano to the pan, season to taste with salt and pepper and combine well. Bring the meat sauce to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put a layer of lasagne sheets in the bottom of a well oiled lasagne dish, then top with a third of the meat sauce; cover with another layer of lasagne sheets, and a further third of the meat sauce; repeat once more. Top the final layer of meat sauce with another layer of lasagne sheets.

Make a cheese sauce by forming a smooth paste with the cornflour and some of the milk in a small saucepan over low heat, then gradually add the rest of the milk, stirring constantly, until the sauce boils and thickens. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir through the grated cheese while the sauce is still hot.

Spoon the sauce over the top of the lasagne, then place in the pre-heated oven and bake for one hour. Remove the lasagne from the oven and allow to sit for around 10 minutes before slicing and serving with salad or vegetables. Enjoy!