A low carb lasagne, replacing the stodgy sheets of lasagne with red cabbage strips, topped with a creamy sauce and crispy cheese. With thanks to Denise for the inspired suggestion of red cabbage instead of lasagne.
• 1tbs Olive oil (120 cal)
• 2 small diced onions (40 cal)
• 450g or 500g Minced beef pack (1,000 cal)
• 1 garlic clove diced (5 cal)
• 1 heaped dsp of dried oregano
• Carrot grated (40 cal)
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (50 cal)
• 1 stock cube (or 1 dsp Worcestershire Sauce)
• Chilli flakes ½ tsp or to taste
• 3-4 bay leaves
• From a large red cabbage remove about 100g of leaves as intact as possible for the red lasagne (30 cal). You could substitute with green cabbage if necessary.
• Crème Fraiche 250g (965 cal)
• Ricotta cheese 250g (575 cal)
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• Ground black pepper
• 100 Grated cheddar cheese, mix in some parmesan if available (400 cal )
Sweat the diced onions in the olive oil, whilst grating the carrot and chopping the clove of garlic.
Add the mince to the onions along with the oregano. Stir till lightly browned.
Then add the tinned tomatoes, the stock (or Worcester Sauce) and bay leaves.
Put the grated carrots in a bowl and almost cover with hot water, cover the bowl and cook/steam for 5-6 minutes in a microwave. If you prefer the texture you can mash the carrots when soft before adding them add along with the cooking water.
Cover the Bolognese sauce and simmer gently for an hour if time permits.
Pre heat oven to 150C
Remove about ¼ of the Bolognese sauce to have another day (enough for 2) add the rest to an ovenproof dish.
Cut each cabbage leaf in half whilst removing the central stalk from the leaf (too tough), keeping the leaf intact if possible. Use about 100g of the cabbage – enough to keep the Bolognese separate from the creamy sauce. This may require a couple of leaves on top/overlapping each other.
Mix the ricotta cheese and the crème fraiche in a bowl, add the nutmeg and some ground black pepper then dollop it onto the layer of red cabbage.
Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and put in a hot oven for about 40 mins.
My non-dieting friends had no idea they had just eaten a BSD meal and all of them raved about it.
The only thing I would advise is to zap/microwave the red cabbage before putting it between the mince layers as it is pretty tough. The second time I made this I did exactly that and it made all the difference!
Thanks for this great recipe. We substituted ricotta with philly cheese and added some parsley. Our son said while it was cooking “Oh Yum, it smells like lasagne”! Have already shared the recipe with people at work.
My husband has been worried that this diet will be tasteless and boring so started him off with this today and he loved it. Thank you. Substituted red for white cabbage as suggested.
Another great substitute for lasagne sheets are leeks. Get half decent size, split lengthways, wash then use as you would regular lasagne sheets. Plus no extra cooking needed
Perhaps you could use eggplant instead of red cabbage?
How did you find the recipe?