Reinventing Leftovers

I always make large amounts of bolognaise sauce, beef stews and casseroles. I normally like to freeze the leftovers. This time, I did as my mother did before me and created a new dish from old leftovers. Not that old, only a few days!

My bolognaise sauce was made with Mediterranean vegetables of eggplant, zucchini & mushrooms. By the time I added everything, I had an enormous pot of sauce! The basic passata is made with a reduction of sautéed celery, garlic, onion and carrot in the Thermomix. Add to this canned tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and seasonings. This is then added to the sautéed mince and chopped vegetables and cooked slowly for a couple of hours on the stove top. The day I made this, we ran out of gas, so it was cooked in the oven in a large Bessemer pan with a lid.

After eating it for a couple of days, there was still a fair bit left, so tonight I made it into a casserole.

Bolognaise Casserole
Leftover bolognaise sauce
Cooked pasta - I used macaroni
1 egg

Cheese Sauce (Thermomix)
500g milk
50g plain flour
100g cheese - mix of parmesan and tasty
2 eggs
salt and pepper
pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Place bolognaise sauce into a casserole dish and mix in cooked pasta and beaten egg.
To make cheese sauce, grate cheeses in Thermomix first on speed 7 - 8 for a few seconds and set 50g aside.
Add remaining ingredients to the other 50g of cheese in the TM bowl and cook on 90 degrees for 8 minutes on speed 4.

Add about 1/4 cup of the cheese sauce to the bolognaise in the dish and mix. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with remaining 50g grated cheeses. Bake for about 40 minutes or so.