AnimeVision

"The favoured food of Garfield" is, of course, lasange - the food of the gods, sent from heaven to singlehandedly give me the gut of a true otaku. In this case, it's accompanied by an equally-unhealthy portion of garlic potatoes, which is something of a perfect (and perfectly cardiac-inducing) combination...

Ingredients (feeds 6)
800g extra lean steak mince
2 cloves garlic
2 large onions
1 carrot
8 (ish) loose mushrooms
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tube tomato puree
2 bay leaves
1 sachet bouquet garni (or basil, oregano & rosemary)
25g parmesan cheese
olive oil

egg lasagne sheets
1 jar white lasagne sauce
500g grated mozarella cheese

4 large potatoes
garlic butter

Method
Making the bolognaise sauce
Protip: since lasagne is based on a bolognaise sauce, you're also making the base for that other Italian masterpiece, spaghetti bolognaise (and also canelloni, if you're feeling adventurous). Double the ingredients above (if you have a big enough pot!), use half now for the lasagne and freeze the other half for future use. Move the sauce to the fridge from the freezer the night before you need it, then all you have to do is heat it & boil up some spaghetti for a quick dinner.

- Chop the onions & garlic and fry on a high heat in the bottom of the pot with a dash of olive oil.
- When the onions have browed, add the mince. Make sure to break it up as you put it into the pot, and keep mixing vigorously as the mince browns - this is to keep it from clumping together & makes sure you don't end up with a lumpy sauce.
- When the mince has browned, add the rest of the ingredients (the carrot & mushrooms should be chopped!). Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat to minimum and leave it to simmer, stirring occasionally.
- How long you leave it simmering is up to you - a half-hour or so is a minimum, but the longer you leave it, the more tender the mince gets and the more flavour the sauce will have. I usually aim for 90 minutes. If time is no object, then once the sauce has been cooked & is off the heat, put the lid back on the pot and leave it to mature overnight. My wife has health and safety nightmares everytime I do this, but it makes a real difference to the flavour and I've yet to keel over from food poisoning. :) Of course, I accept no responsiblity if you turn out to be the unlucky one...

Assembling the lasagne
This is the easy part. :)
- Spread a layer of bolognaise over the bottom of the lasagne dish.
- Add a layer of lasange pasta sheets.
- Sprinkle with a layer of mozarella, covering any gaps around the edges with some white sauce.
- Repeat (most lasagne dishes will let you do two complete layers before you run out of space).
- Cover the top of the lasagne with the remainder of the white sauce, making sure that no pasta is left uncovered (otherwise it'll go horribly crunchy in the oven).
- Cook in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celcius.
- If you like a browned crust on your lasagne, you can get this by sticking it under a high grill for a few minutes after it comes out of the oven.

The garlic potatoes
Protip: I cheat here - these should really be roasted in the oven, but I find that to be rather hit-and-miss as to how well the potatoes cook. It also takes a lot longer. Sooo...
- Peel and chop the potatoes into bite-sized cubes.
- Bring a pot of water to the boil, add a little salt and olive oil, and boil the cubes for around 5 minutes - they don't need to be cooked through, just softening on the outside.
- Using a deep-fat fryer, fry your half-boiled potatoes at full heat for another 5 minutes, or until nicely browned.
- Serve in their own bowl, with a good dollop of garlic butter on top (which can be melted with a minute or two under the grill if you're impatient).