Slow-Cooked Ragu Lasagne with Creamy Mornay Sauce

Start by making the ragu sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or casserole and add the onion, chopped celery and grated carrot and cook until softened.

Add the pancetta and fry for a few minutes until nicely browned, then add the beef and pork mince and mix everything together, stirring continuously to brown the mince.

Once browned, add the red wine and cook for a 3-4 minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate, then add the tomatoes (or passata) along with 300ml (1 1/4 cups) of chicken stock.

Stir everything together, turn down the heat to the lowest setting and cooke for at least 3 hours. Stir occasionally and top up with ore water if it becomes too dry.

Once finished, mix through the basil leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. It will need a good amount of seasoning to bring out the flavour, so add a little salt and pepper at a time and taste until it's perfect. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Now for the mornay. Melt the butter in a saucepan and with a wooden spoon gradually stir in the flour to make the roux, let it cook for a minute while still stirring, then gradually add in the milk, stirring it into the roux until it becomes a smooth sauce.

Tip: After the first pint (1/2 litre) of milk you can switch to stirring with a whisk to keep the sauce nice and smooth

Continue to stir the sauce with a whisk for around 10 minutes until it thickens. You can check if it's done by pulling the whisk out the sauce, if it drips and forms ribbons which stay on the surface for 1 second its done.

Important: Never stop stirring, otherwise the sauce will burn to the bottom of your pan

Once done, mix in 50g (2 oz) of grated parmesan and grate over a little nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Tip: You can use white pepper if you don't like the look of black flecks in your sauce, although as we'll be using this with the ragu, I personally don't think it matters here.

Heat the oven to 200C/390F (180C fan/350F), now we can start constructing our lasagne. Start by adding a thin layer of the mornay sauce to a large oven dish (around 32cm x 21cm or 12" by 9"), just to coat the bottom, then add 4 lasagne sheets on top.

Tip: If you're using dry pasta sheets you can soften them by placing them in hot water for a few minutes, then allow to cool so you can handle them

Take half the meat sauce and layer it over the top of the lasagne sheets, then add another thin layer of the mornay on top of the meat sauce, just thick enough to spread completley over the top of the meat sauce, then add another 4 lasagne sheets.

Now add the remaining meat sauce, spread it over the lasagne and add half of the remaining mornay on top of the meat and place the remaining 4 pasta sheets on top.

Finally, add the remaining mornay on top of the pasta sheets, ensuring to cover them completely at the edges, then sprinkle over the parmesan cheese. Dot over a few small squares of butter, and drizzle over some olive oil. Grind over some black pepper and place in the center of the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn the oven up to 220C/430F (200C/390F fan) to help brown off the top - You can turn the lasagne if its browning more on one side than the other - and cook for a further 20 minutes until its browned up to your liking. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving with garlic ciabatta or a simple side salad.