Lazy (Freeform) Lasagne
A quick sausage sauce, an erratic squelch of pasta sheets and a viscous slick of cheese sauce, all bubbling together as one. Do I mention the thirst trap of it all? Don't need to I guess.
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS
500g pork and fennel sausages, skin removed
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
250g frozen spinach
1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed
700g passata (1 x 400g tin cherry tomatoes and 1 x 400g passata - rinse the tin out with 1/2 cup water and add)
375g fresh lasagne sheets, torn into 6cm wide ribbons
1 cup mozzarella
1/2 cup finely grated pecorino
1 bay leaf
For the béchamel
50g butter
2 tbsp flour
500ml milk
250g mozzarella, sliced
1 cup grated parmesan (or cheddar)
METHOD
Using a large, 7cm deep ovenproof frying pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over high heat. Add the onion and fry for 2 minutes.
While that's happening, deskin the sausages - either cut the skin off and break the meat into chunks, or squeeze the sausage meat directly into the pan in small meatball-sized chunks. Brown for a further 2 minutes, then add the garlic and reduce to medium. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the tinned cherry tomatoes and passata. Fill the tomato tin with 1/2 cup of water, swish to rinse clean, and tip this into the pan as well. Stir to combine.
Add the frozen spinach and cook until defrosted, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the béchamel. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until it begins to foam. Add the flour and stir constantly until it begins to softly brown - just nutty - which means the flour is fully toasted and you'll avoid a floury sauce.
Add the milk gradually, whisking, then add the cheese and whisk until smooth and stretchy. Set aside and keep warm. If you prefer a wetter lasagne, loosen with extra milk a 1/4 cup at a time.
Back to the sausage pan: remove from the heat, then scrunch, fold, twist and rosette the fresh lasagne sheets into and around the sauce.
Top with the béchamel, filling the gaps and pockets between the lasagne sheets - it's fine to leave some sheets poking out, as they'll crisp up beautifully in the oven.
Bake for 20 minutes at 175°C.
HINTS
The "just nutty" smell when toasting the flour for the béchamel is the cue to add the milk - go too far and it turns bitter, not far enough and the sauce tastes floury.
Don't worry about a neat, even scrunch of lasagne sheets - the rough, freeform texture is what gives this dish its crispy, craggy top once baked.
This is genuinely a great way to use up sausages that need using - swap pork and fennel for any sausage you've got on hand without changing anything else in the method.
NUTRITION (per recipe total, serves 6-8 - guide only):
Energy: 23,000 kJ (5500 cal)
Protein: 260 g
Fat: 330 g
Saturated fat: 170 g
Carbohydrate: 260 g
Sugars: 45 g
Fibre: 20 g
Sodium: 7500 mg
This nutrition information is a guide only and may vary depending on brands, exact quantities, and ingredient substitutions used.