Pasta Pie

PREP: 60 mins
Bake: 30 mins
Serves: 4

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 large onion, cut into cubes
1 stalk celery, cut into cubes
1 small carrot, cut into cubes
250 g lean minced beef, lamb or chicken
3 tomatoes, skinned, roughly chopped
100 g canned button mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsps sugar

White sauce
500 ml (hot) milk
30 g butter
40 g plain flour

200g dried pasta (penne, fusilli or marcoroni)
150 g brocoli, separated into florets
150 - 200 g coarsely-grated cheese (mixture of mozerella and cheddar is best)

Method
1. To make the meat sauce, heat 2 tbsps oil in a saucepan and soften garlic, onion, celery and carrot over a medium fire for 10 minutes. Add minced meat. Stir for 8 minutes until meat is crumbly.

2. Add tomatoes and cook until they soften. Add mushrooms, tomato paste and seasoning. If mixture looks dry, add 1/2 cup water. Simmer on low fire for 20 minutes. Set aside.

3. To make white sauce, heat milk to boiling point. In another pan, melt butter over a low fire and stir in flour to make apaste. Add milk and stir with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until smooth. Set aside.

4. Boil 2 litres of water in a pan. Add 1 tsp salt and cook pasta according to instructions. Before pasta cooks, add broccoli. Blanch for 2 minutes. Drained pasta and broccolli. Run tap water over.

5. Put pasta in a shallow ovenproof dish. Spread a thin layer of meat with some broccoli, sprinkle on grated cheese, add meat sause, white sauce, cheese andpasta - until ingredients are used up.

6. Bake in a preheated oven (200 c) for 30 minutes. Serve hot! YUMMY!!!!