Chicken lasagne

If you are gluten free and don't eat red meat, it's difficult to find a lasagne that you can eat. We also eat lots of veg, so I decided it was time to get a decent lasagne dish, some gluten free lasagne sheets and bone and skinless chicken thighs. I made a large lasagne as the spare portions can either be frozen or taken to work for lunch.
This uses my "all-in-one" sauce method, so you will need a balloon whisk for this.
Ingredients (serves 6)
For the bolognese
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pack chicken thighs, skinless and boneless - minced in a food processor
1 carrot, finely chopped
1/4 nutmeg, freshly grated
1/4 pint milk
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 beef stock pot (trust me, it improves the flavour)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 tin water
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 large chestnut mushrooms, halved and finely sliced.
For the white sauce
1 oz lacto free butter
1 oz plain gluten free flour
1 pint lacto free milk
Salt and pepper
Additional ingredients
12 sheets gluten free lasagne
1 tsp salt
1 large courgette, finely sliced lengthways
1/2 bag baby spinach leaves  (washed)
1 oz freshly grated parmesan

Method 
Bolognese
In a large pan, sauté the onion and celery in the olive oil over a gentle heat until the onion is translucent. Increase the heat and add the minced chicken, fry until all chicken has gone white, stir regularly. Add the carrots, nutmeg, milk and salt and pepper, cook for 1 minute,  then add the tomato puree, continue cooking until the liquid has evaporated.  Add the stockpot, oregano, tomatoes and the water, stir well, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Sauce
Take one medium pan and put all the sauce ingredients in the pan together. Put the pan over a gently heat and then keep stirring using a balloon whisk until the sauce is smooth and has thickened. Season to taste.
Pasta (only if using gluten free lasagne sheets).
Fill a large pan with water, bring to the boil and add the salt. Pop in the lasagne sheets and cook until al-dente. (I've tried using the sheets without pre-cooking and it doesn't work for the gluten free as well). If using normal quick cook lasagne sheets, you can omit this stage.
Build the lasagne
Take a lasagne dish and rub a little olive oil over the surface to prevent sticking.
Take a couple of large spoonfuls of the mince and spread them over the bottom of the dish, then drizzle over some of the white sauce, then a layer of lasagne sheets, next a layer of mince, then a handful of spinach, followed by a layer of courgette, plus another drizzle of white sauce.
Keep building the layers. You want to end with some mince and white sauce over the final layer of pasta. If you think you are running out of the white sauce, you can always add some more milk and thin it down towards the end.
Sprinkle over the parmesan cheese and then pop into a moderately hot oven Gas 5 (Electric 190C) for 40 minutes. It should be bubbly and golden on the top.
Serve with salad.

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Bolognese sauce (ragu)

 Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces, or 1 pack of cubed pancetta/bacon lardons
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
500g/1lb minced beef
1 carrot, finely diced
1 tbsp tomato purée
100ml/ 1/4pt milk
1/4 nutmeg grated (use fresh, it's much nicer)
1 glass red wine (there won't be any alcohol left after cooking)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 oxo cube
Water
Salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan, add the onions and celery and gently fry until they are soft, add in the bacon and fry for about 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the garlic and minced beef, break up the mince as you fry it, it should start to crumble, fry until none of the mince is pink. Add in the carrot, tomato purée, nutmeg and milk, bubble until the milk has vanished. Now add the wine, again bubble until it has vanished. Sprinkle over the oxo cube add the tinned tomatoes and enough water to just cover the ingredients, season. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a very low simmer so that the odd bubble breaks the surface, cook for a good hour, stirring occasionally. At this stage you could pop this in a slow cooker and leave on low all day to cook.

Check seasoning and then serve.

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Ox-cheek in red wine

Well I love the Ox-cheek with mushroom ragout recipe is use, but suffering from a cold, feeling rough, and realising that I didn't have any mushrooms, I thought it was time for a change.

Ingredients
2 ox-cheeks cut into 1 inch cubes
2 onions cut into large chunks
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sticks celery cut into large chunks
2 carrots chopped into large chunks
plain flour
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 pint red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 pint beef stock
olive oil

Method
Preheat oven gas 3.
Fry off the onions, garlic, celery and carrots until the onions have slightly coloured, add to a large casserole dish. Toss ox-cheek in seasoned flour and brown on all sides in batches, adding to the casserole. Once all the meat is browned add the red wine to pan to bubble off the juices that are on the bottom of the pan, add the tomato puree and stir together. Add the stock, bring all the to boil and pour over the meat and veg. Put a bay leaf in and cover. Put in the oven and leave to cook for about 3 hours until tender.

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Lentil soup

Oh well, a little soup for the soul - so as I'm feeling really poorly, decided I'd pop on some soup for my lunch and daughter's afterschool snack. It's freezing today, so soup will certainly warm her up before her singing lesson.

Lentil Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion
4 carrots
1 stalk celery
4 oz red lentils
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint water
2 tblsp tomato puree
salt & pepper

Chop the onion, celery and carrots into small dice. Sweat them off in the pan in the olive oil until the onions are soft, then add the lentils, fry off for about 30 secs. Add the stock, water and tomato paste, simmer until all veg are tender and the lentils are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whizz using a hand blender until smooth. Add water if needed to get the right consistency.
Serve

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