Lasagne is one of those dishes that all the family loves, even when I’m being a bit sneaky and adding lots of veg to the beef mince. So many parents seem to have problems getting veg into their kids, and at times our two have been interesting. Although to be fair Alex and Fraser are really cool about their food and seem to enjoy Daddies nightly experiments.

The trick is to clear the veg drawer and panfry some onions, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, peppers and whatever else that you want, then add it to the mince that your cooking off with tomatoes. To give it a real depth of flavour spend some time on the white sauce or bechamel and then don’t spare the parmesan.

Béchamel Sauce:

100g butter

100g plain flour

1 small onion studded with whole cloves

1 bayleaf

1 litre milk

A little freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Firstly simmer the milk for a couple of minutes with the onion, cloves, bayleaf, nutmeg and seasoning, and leave to one side to infuse. Now melt butter for béchamel in a saucepan.  Whisk in flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then gradually whisk in the warm milk, having discarded the clove studded onion and bayleaf,  and continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly until thick and smooth.

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