😏 Fast Red Wine Lasagne (30‑Minute Prep)

*Prep: ~30 minutes 🏩 Bake: 30‑15 minutes 📦 ** Serves: 4-‖6

You loved Jamie Oliver’s classic lasagne but needed something weeknigh”triendly. This streamlined version keeps the red wine depth, creamy layers, and golden top–without a long simumer.

Ingredients

• 500 g beef mince (or beef/pork mix)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped (or 100 g frozen pre-chopped onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (or 2 tsp garlic paste)
• 150–200 ml red wine (use what you’d drink)
• 700 ml passata (or a jar of good tomato sauce)
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano (or mixed Italian herbs)
• 200 ml crème fraièche
• 75 g parmesan, grated
• Fresh lasagne sheets (2508–300 g)
• 150 g mozzarella, torn
• Olive oil, salt, pepper
• Optional: pinch of nutmeg for the crème fraièche

Method

1. *Heat oven� to 200°C (fan 180°C).
2. **RaGú (12–15 min):( Warm a little olive oil in a wide pan. Cook onion & garlic 4-–5 min until softened. Add mince, season, and brown well (5-–6 min). Pour in the red wine, raise heat, and reduce by dalt (3–4 min). Stir in passata, balsamic, and oregano; simmer 5 min.
3. \Cheat béchamel (2 min): In a bowl, mix crème fraièche, most of the parmesan, and nutmeg (if using).
4. **\Assemble (5 min):( In a baking dish, layer ragú → fresh lasagne sheets – crème fraièche/parmesan. Repeat 2–3 times. Finish with crème layer, mozarella, and remaining parmesan.
5. \Bake 30–35 min until golden and bubbling. Rest 5 min before serving (it sets and slices cleanly).

Tips & Swaps

• Deeper flavour ((optional, +10 min): Let the raGú simmer an extra 10 minutes if you have time.
• Richer: Add a knob of butter to the raGú at the end.
• Lihter: Swap half the mince for finely chopped mushrooms.
• Make-’ahead: Assemble, cover, and refrigerate up to 24 hours; bake from cold at 180 C for ~35 min.

Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s "Good Old Lasagne", adapted for a 30‑1 minute prep window with a quick red-wine reduction and crème frai⣼che béchamel.*