This dish is a legend! Creamy, juicy and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:
1.5 Lb of Irish grass fed round steak minced
1 jar of Bunalun Organic Passata*contains no added sugar
1 full head of garlic crushed
10 mushrooms diced
1 onion diced
1 red pepper diced
1 green pepper diced
1 red chilli finely diced
1 green chilli finely diced
1 teasp paprika
1/2 teasp cumin
1 teasp turmeric
1 teasp chilli powder
1/2 teasp of mixed herbs
1 handful of fresh parsley chopped
crushed black pepper to taste
1 tube of Organic Bunalun Tomato Paste*contains no added sugar
1 Knorr Beef Stockpot

Ingredients for the cheese sauce:
250ml full-fat Avonmore double cream
1 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 chicken stock pot
1 cup grated Arla lactose-free mild cheddar cheese

Layers:
Fresh aubergine x 2 sliced about 8cm thick

To Prepare the meat sauce:
Brown the steak mince in a large pot. Add the chopped veg,  onion, garlic and chilli first then stir for 1 minute before adding the remaining veg until they are partly cooked. Stir in the spices and then add the tomato passata and herbs. Simmer on a low heat for about 30-40 minutes with the lid on. Then add the full tube of tomato paste.

To make the cheese sauce:
Warm the cream slowly and then add the grated parmesan and 1/2 a chicken stock pot (no water) simmer until the sauce thickens and reduces to a thicker consistency. Add a small bit of the cheddar if you like it or a knob of butter if you like it less cheesy.

Prepare the aubergine:
Some people call it ‘eggplant’ but we will stick with aubergine since we are in Ireland and we grow shamrocks and other cool stuff like that!  So this is something that my friend graciously unearthed to me and I have never forgotten… by slicing your aubergine into 8cm thick slices and laying them onto a plate with 2 layers of kitchen paper and dusting with salt and covering with another 2 layers of kitchen paper. You will absorb all the moisture from the aubergine within about 5 minutes and they will be ready to dry fry.  We do this on a skillet for a couple of minutes on each side until them are golden, this will prevent it from going soggy and they will taste unreal.  If you have some rapeseed oil that you would like to lightly spray the pan with before you fry that is also acceptable and will help to brown them better. *(do not douce them in oil it makes them taste gross)

Assemble:
In a large oven proof dish start to layer, meat, then aubergine, then cheese sauce and repeat. Then top with the remaining cheddar cheese and cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at 200C or until the top is golden.

To Serve:
Accompany with home-made chips by cutting a few potatoes into chips and then coating in 1 tablespoon of rapeseed oil, salt and a dusting of paprika and cook for about 25 minutes in a really hot oven 225C until crispy.

Make it Keto:
It’s already gluten-free & keto so all you have to do is serve it with cauliflower & green veg for a really satisfying keto-friendly dish!

It gave me about 8 portions once its cooled down it was perfect to store in the fridge until the next day and also to freeze for up to 3 months.  For all you meal preppers out there.. I find it defrosts and reheats really well in the microwave.