This month I am going to share a few of my favourite worldy recipes with you. Today we are heading to Italy.

This recipe is a favourite in our house (if you exclude the fussy one). It’s something that I often cook if we have a houseful and is ideal for things like Halloween parties. So many friends have asked for the recipe, so here it is. It’s something I’ve thrown together myself so there are no exact measurements. This is for a family of 4 and is cooked in my crockpot.

Start with a pack of pack of beef mince (gound beef) We buy ours in packs of 250g from the local butchers. My crock pot can be placed on the stove, so I can brown off my meat first and add a medium sized onion chopped and 3 good sized cloves of garlic, also chopped.

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes. I also add water to the empty tin and, swirl it around and add to the meat and mix well.

If I’ve got anything else that needs using up at this stage I also add that too. Fresh tomatoes, peppers, celery, carrots etc. Chop it all up and throw it in. I also add a good squirt of ketchup and a little brown sauce. You could also add a dash of Worcester sauce if you wanted and herbs too.

Next up is the cheese sauce. I’m all about the cheese me. I do my Roux sauce the cheats way. A little plain flour in a separate saucepan and some marg or butter. It’s about 4oz of each. Then add a little milk. I use Semi Skimmed. The important bit with this is to keep whisking. If it gets thick on the bottom of the pan you will start to get lumps. As it thickens and you carry on whisking, add more milk and keep doing this until you are happy with the thickness of your sauce.

Now the cheese needs to be grated. I use a really strong cheddar.  Like I said, I’m all about the cheese.

Add it in stages to the sauce and keep whisking. I add to taste. I like mine very cheesey.

Season well with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg. I can’t make a cheese sauce without nutmeg. It’s the secret ingredient. Once you are happy with the flavour of your cheese sauce you can add it to the meat sauce.

Pour it all in and mix together.

It doesn’t look the prettiest, but it will taste good.

Take some lasagna sheets and break them up in to pieces. I used 8 sheets. I also add a little more grated cheese before popping on the lid and on the crockpot stand for about 4 hrs.

Don’t worry about tasting until nearer the end. I often end up adding more seasoning.

It really is yummy and the perfect comfort food. We like it best with a bowl of salad and fresh crusty bread.

In case you were wondering what the fussy one eats when we have this….plain penne pasta and plain tin tomatoes. Just don’t ask!!!!

 If you are veggie there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy this too. Either use vege mince or lots of veggies instead. The tomato and cheese sauce together is just so good.

Enjoy xxx