This Pork, Spinach and Mushroom Lasagne is packed full of flavour and a huge family favourite at my house. The Cheese sauce melding its way through the layers of pasta, punchy tomato sauce and mushrooms lifts this dish to an incredible level.
I am compelled to attempt to please all the tastes and appetites of my family on a daily basis. I do want them to tell all who will listen that I am a fabulous and amazing cook so that my reputation shall travel far and wide and I will be headhunted for a little slot on This Morning.
However this pipe dream of mine is looking decidedly and most definitely improbable. My children hate my cooking unless it is sausage and chips, pizza and chips or spaghetti bl..dy bolognese.
There is so much fake retching most of the time that I fully expect to find a tonsil on top of an untouched fish pie or suchlike one day.
They should win a BAFTA the little but lovely brats.
I hide vegetables where I can but my son just knows. All he has to do is look at it. "What's that ?" he hisses with a face to rival Monica Galetti from Master Chef.
I just have to keep my head down in these many moments, breathe slowly, open the wine, ignore the tears (my own) and revert to the" No pudding rule" if they don't eat at least half of their lovingly prepared meals with sneaky veg, in the hope that it is enough to facilitate correct bone development and prevent open sores.
To hell with it I thought....let them eat beans on toast all week and I shall feast on this delicious Lasagne filled with meat (not sausages), two lots of vegetables (retch loudly and throw myself on the floor), herbs ("Oh my god what's that green thing!") and cheese (only on pizza and in no circumstances in a sandwich you crazy woman)
............and it feels so, so good. I think I'm going to pretend I've made it them for tea whilst pointing at the spinach layer.........how I will laugh.......
Pork Lasagne Recipe
I'm not going to lie to you. This is not a whip it up dish with only a few ingredients.
But you can make it ahead either before oven baking or after. It is great as leftovers reheated in the microwave in individual portions.
The earthy flavours just marry together so amazingly well that it will be something that you can't help but make again. In fact I need my fix of this at least once a month.
Pork, Mushroom and Spinach Lasagne.
Ingredients
Pork Ragu
- 500 gram pork mince
- 500 ml passata
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
- 2 tbsp plain flour
Garlic Mushrooms
- 200 grams chestnut mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic
- 30 grams butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Spinach
- 200 grams spinach
Cheese Sauce
- 60 grams butter
- 60 grams plain flour
- 600 ml milk
- 200 grams mature cheddar
- 6 sheets wholewheat lasagne sheets pre cooked
Instructions
- Fry the garlic gently in olive oil for a couple of minutes before frying off the pork mince. When the pork starts to give off some moisture then sprinkle over a couple of spoonfuls of plain flour and mix well.
- Pour over the passata and add the chopped herbs and ketchup. Simmer for 15 mins and season to taste.
- Chop the mushrooms finely and fry gently in a saucepan with the garlic, oil and butter until soft.
- Melt the butter for the cheese sauce in a large saucepan and add the flour and mix until it comes together.Add half the milk and whisk as it starts to bubble and thicken. At this point fear not as lumps will form with gay abandon, just keep whisking hard and they will disappear. Add the rest of the milk and whisk until its bubbling and not thickening anymore.
- Add the cheese and stir well as it melts and simmer gently for 10 mins. Season to taste.
- Wilt the spinach in a large saucepan with a knob of butter. If you haven't wilted spinach before then don't panic it will reduce significantly as it cooks. It only takes a couple of mins. Set aside. I use nuggets of frozen spinach which I thaw out and then squeeze the water from. I use 5 nuggets.
- Start to layer the lasagne by putting the mushroom mixture on the bottom of a suitable lasagne dish.I use one 24 cm by 15 cm. Cover with lasagne sheets.I break 3 sheets up to fit my dish.I do have some left over which I throw away.Put a layer of ragu followed by cheese sauce and all the spinach. Top with the lasagne sheets and then ragu followed by a final layer of the cheese sauce.
- Bake at 180C for about 45 minutes until brown in patches and bubbling on top.
- Apply to Liberated Adult Face.
Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is approximate and intended only as a guide.
If you like this Lasagne then you may like these
Easy Vegetable Lasagne.
Jacqui Bellefontaine
If your kids don't want it I'll eat theirs!It sounds delicious. My boys while not that fussy insist of not liking different things so I can seldom please them both. They also always complain there is NEVER any food in the house yeah right apart from.......
Thank you for making me a smile again and for sharing on #CookBlogShare
joskitchenlarder
Oh I so hear you! No crudités or lovely cherry tomatoes here either but I've made my peace with it now. Sneaking in veg in whatever I can works most of the time and that will do me 🙂 Love spinach in lasagne. and the garlic mushroom layer is right up my street too. Husband is mushroom averse though so the closest I get to eating them these days is on toast! 🙁 Delicious! x
applytofaceblog
Thanks Jo!Isn't it a pain in the butt! I give mine vitamins too so I can sleep at night a little better! xx
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
Ooh how I love home made lasagne! Serious yum, and just like Jo I love spinach in it too.
A wk or 2 ago I travelled with my parents down to Eseex to visit my brother and his girlfriend to meet their new little baby (he's a bobby dazzler!). Anyway we were having dinner from the fish and chip shop on the last evening and they decided to get big sister (9yr old) a fish cake (I think she's not keen on fish) so when she asked her mum 'does it have fish in it mummy', the reply was 'no darling, just potato. There's no fish in fishcakes'. She then went ahead and cleared her plate.
You've got to love them and what parents have to do and say to get the little ones to eat something proper !
Angela x
applytofaceblog
Exactly! So much of it is nonsense and changes almost daily.
Daisy has fish every Friday at school and makes it widely known that this is her favourite school meal.I cooked her some lovely M & S breaded haddock for tea and she sat down, looked at it and exclaimed "Mummy! You know I don't like eating animals, why have you given this to me?" That was the first I'd heard of it! xx