Chorizo, Pork and Kale Lasagne

Lasagne was not one of my favourite meals growing up, I avoided it fairly successfully till probably my early twenties and had dated someone who loved, it so eventually I learned to make a fairly decent one and liked it enough to eat on special occasions... though the lure of red wine going into it possibly helped too at the time, and over the last few years it didn't really cross my mind to cook it until I decided to go experimental and I cooked an awesome one last year with fennel salami in it last year...(though it was actually 18 months ago on checking! I swear it was last year!) 

So last Saturday, whilst deciding what to make for supper and rummaging through the cupboards muttering under my breath the words de-cluttering after decanting half the stuff on to my toes, I stumbled across a couple of boxes of lasagne sheets and decided it was to be lasagne. Except I had pretty much everything bar a pack of beef mince. So experimental lasagne it became again!

We are a fully signed up club chorizo lovers and I decided to base it around that flavour wise, then pretty much make it up as I went along for the rest! Overall I have declared it as the best lasagne I have ever had, it tasted just so, so good! Meaty, a little spicy, rich and packed with flavour, what more can you want? Oh and for the lasagne purists out there this is not Italian or meant to be in anyway. Its just darn delicious!

As always with my meals I love a bit of yellow sticker hunting and managed to sneak a few bargains into the lasagne! We love kale and after getting a bag for a mere 7p it seemed idea to add, the iron-ey rich greens really do add an extra layer of flavour and my cheese was a steal too at 25p! I bought about 6 packets a few weeks back and froze them, they are no use for the cheeseboard but perfect for any baked dishes! I also used a basic mozzarella to keep it more cost effective too, and the mince was on special! Oh and my thyme plant was only 13p too!

   

Time: About 2 hours including cooking

Ingredients:

Serves 6-8

165g Spanish chorizo
1 yellow pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
250g ripe vine tomatoes, chopped
400g pork mince
1/2 red onion sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 ball mozzarella
75g grated cheddar, mature
100g kale, woody stalks removed
400ml milk
1 tsp cornflour

2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
12 sheets dried lasagne
Sea salt and pepper

You will need a large roasting pan- mine is 26x30cm (AKA trusty traybake tine).

1) Heat a glug of olive oil in a large saute pan, gently fry the onion for about 4 minutes stir in the peppers, chorizo and garlic, fry until the chorizo starts to leak its lovely orange oil, add the pork mince and break up with a wooden spatula or similar item until browned.

2) Add the fresh tomatoes and tinned tomatoes, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stir through the thyme leaves.

3) Meanwhile boil the kale in a saucepan for two minutes, drain keeping back 400ml of the cooking liquid. Soak the lasagne sheets in water for 15 minutes.

4) Add 200ml of the milk and 200ml of the kale water to the chorizo pan and season with salt and pepper and simmer over a moderate heat for a further 10 minutes. You need a relatively sloppy mixture.

5) Pre-heat oven to 190o.

6) Place  two scoops of the mince mixture in the bottom of the roasting dish, cover with prepared lasagne sheets, followed by half the remaining mince mixture and a little of the mozzarella. Scatter over the kale to form a layer. Top with 4 lasagne sheets, then remaining mince mix, and final layer of lasagne sheets.

7) In the now empty pan, add the remaining milk and kale water, bring to the boil scraping down any of the remaining pan juices, slacken the cornflour with a little water then whisk in until thickened, simmer for a minute then remove from the heat. Spread over the lasagne, sprinkle over the last of the mozzarella and cheese and a couple of thyme leaves.

8) Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden, lovely and bubbling.

I could pretend I served a nice green salad, which would be lovely but we had garlic bread instead!