Christmas express lasagne

I am doing a lot of cooking right now. In the run up to Christmas I prep the sides for the big day and pop them in the freezer, plus I’m coming up with Christmas recipes for the blog, delivering sponsored posts and recipe devs… I love it, though, it’s what makes me happy. Radio on, cup of tea, it’s my busiest time of year. Still, I gotta get dinner on the table amidst all the madness. I’ve been turning to a few old favourite quickie dinners. And coming up with a few new ones…

So in my latest Ocado shop, I bought some packets of ready made sage and onion sausage meat to try as a quick shortcut and save some of my workload. As stuffing, I will add more sage and maybe a few other Christmas flavours, roll up into little balls and freeze, ready to defrost then pop in the oven come Christmas Day. But I have another use for them – they make a brilliant base for a super quick and Christmassy lasagne. You could use any festive flavoured sausages here, it doesn’t have to be sausagemeat stuffing…

It was another very busy day yesterday, and this was the perfect thing to chuck together in the morning and then wang in the oven when I got back from my hairdresser’s appointment (which I had cancelled 3 times in the past few weeks).

Get this as well: there is no bechamel! There is an ultra-quick tomato sauce! And everyone – everyone – liked it. Double up and freeze one or make a big one for parties. It’ll go down a treat.

Here’s what you do…

Makes: enough for 4

Takes: 15 minutes + 30 minutes to cook = 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 400g flavoured sausage meat stuffing (I used sage and onion) or you could use any flavour sausages
• 1 can of plum tomatoes (or passata or chopped tomatoes)
• About 9-12 lasagne sheets
• About 150g creme fraiche
• 150g mozzarella (either pearls or 1 x ball, torn into pieces)
• About 75g Parmesan, grated
• Drizzle extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C if making straight away.
2. Heat some oil and fry sausage meat off. Let it brown and break it into mince like pieces.
3. Tip in tomatoes. Break up and create a ragu, simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Layer ragu, then a few tablespoons of creme fraiche (spread them about), then mozzarella, then Parmesan. Then pasta. Repeat a few times.
5. Put extra amounts of Parmesan on the top and drizzle with oil. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Serve with a salad and garlic bread.