Mary Berry’s ‘classic’ lasagne recipe she has cooked for over 50 years is super simple

has shared hundreds of recipes throughout her career, including this delicious lasagne .

Whilst it may seem complicated, it’s actually super simple once you get the hang of it.

The notes say: “This is Mary’s classic lasagne which has been perfected over the years. For the best results leave the lasagne to stand for six hours before cooking.”

This serves eight to 10 people and is ready in around two hours.

Ingredients:

For the ragu:

Two tablespoons of olive oil

900g beef mince

Two onions, roughly chopped

Four sticks of celery, diced

Two garlic cloves, crushed

Two level tablespoons of plain flour

150ml of beef stock

One tablespoon of redcurrant jelly (you could also use sugar instead)

Two tablespoons of tomato puree

One tablespoon of chopped thyme

Two 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

For the white sauce:

50g butter

50g plain flour

750ml hot milk

Two teaspoons of Dijon mustard

50g Parmesan, finely grated

Salt and pepper

For the lasagne:

12 lasagne sheets

75g mature cheddar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C or 140C Fan and make the ragu by heating a large frying pan until hot and add the oil to a pan to heat up.

Cook the mince until browned all over then remove it from the heat and transfer it to a plate.

Add the onion, celery and garlic to a pan and cook until softened. Return the meat to the pan and stir in the flour before adding the stock and bringing it to a boil.

Add the jelly (or sugar), tomato puree and thyme before mixing it all well. Next, stir in the tinned tomatoes and bring it to a boil once again, simmering in the oven for one hour to one and a half hours.

For the white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, cooking it for one minute. Gradually whisk in the hot milk before adding in the mustard and parmesan along with salt and pepper.

For the lasagne, put one third of the meat sauce in the base of a 2.3 litre shallow ovenproof dish. Spoon one third of the white sauce on top and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange one layer of lasagne sheets on top and then spoon the remaining meat sauce on top and then half of the white sauce.

Put another layer of lasagne sheets on top, then the remaining meat sauce and white sauce, sprinkling over cheddar.

Leave for six hours before cooking so that the pasta can start to soften.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan and cook in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown on top, bubbling around the edges and the pasta is soft.