Name: 5 Ingredient Lasagna
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 500 g beef mince; 700 g jarred tomato pasta sauce; 250 g dried no-boil lasagna sheets; 250 g ricotta; 250 g mozzarella, grated; 1 tbsp olive oil; ½ tsp salt

5 Ingredient Lasagna

Dry lasagna sheets, beef mince, jarred tomato sauce, ricotta and mozzarella layered and baked for 40 minutes, with five ingredients.

55 min total Serves 6 servings Easy

Mince, pasta, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella: the five that make a lasagna, and the only other things in the dish are a little salt and oil. No white sauce, no long simmer, no fuss. A jar of good tomato sauce stands in for hours of cooking, and the ricotta replaces the béchamel.

Brown the mince in a hot pan until it loses its pink and starts to crisp at the edges, which takes about 8 minutes. Drain off any fat, then stir the mince into the jarred sauce. A decent jar already contains onion, garlic and herbs, so there is no need to add more. Check it for salt before you build the layers.

Use no-boil lasagna sheets, and make the sauce loose. The pasta takes its water from the sauce, so if the layers look dry going in, they will be dry coming out. Add a quarter of a jar of water to the sauce and stir. The sauce should flow easily.

Layer the sauce, pasta, ricotta and mozzarella three times, starting and finishing with sauce. Cover with foil for 30 minutes and uncover for the last 10 to brown the cheese. Rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

The Method for 5 Ingredient Lasagna

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Heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the mince with the salt for 8 minutes. Drain off the fat.
Stir the mince into the pasta sauce with 100 ml of water.
Spread a thin layer of sauce in a baking dish. Add a layer of lasagna sheets, then a third of the remaining sauce, ricotta and mozzarella. Repeat twice, finishing with sauce and mozzarella.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more until golden. Rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

A Few Pointers

Thin the sauce slightly for the pasta to absorb.
Brown the mince thoroughly.
Rest the lasagna before cutting.

What to Serve With It

Green salad · Garlic bread · Roasted vegetables · Red wine

Keeping and Reheating

Keeps for 4 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer.