Brown off 500g beef mince and 500g pork mince in a large saucepan over a high heat. Into this same pan add 1 peeled brown onion and 1 large carrot both grated. You won’t find me peeling most vegetables; I just give them a good scrub. Peeling just creates more waste to dispose of and besides which my mother convinced me that all the goodness was just below the skin and who am I to disagree with my mother.

Make a well in the centre of the ingredients as best you can and deglaze the base of the pan with 2 tablespoons of red wine or balsamic vinegar – not the fancy-pants stuff, just your everyday vinegar. Wine works too if you have some open or need an excuse to open a bottle. It’s all about adding a backbone to the ragu.

Now is the time to add your herbs and extra seasoning. I like dried oregano, garlic, and onion powder at a minimum. If I have plenty of fresh parsley/sage/thyme growing in the garden I’ll pick some and pop that in too. I also add minced anchovies and honestly no one has ever noticed they’re in there but you follow your heart here. A friend’s son lets his wild side go by adding soy sauce, miso, fish sauce and more. I’m here for all this kind of behaviour. Too many rules in cooking as it is.

This next bit might seem odd but go with me on this, add half a cup of milk. I read about this in a Marcella Hazan recipe. Apparently adding milk before adding the tomatoes tempers any undue acidity. I did it once when cooking a pork ragu and loved the result so now it is a standard play.

Add 170g tomato paste and half a 800g tin of chopped tomatoes. I’m sure you have a preferred brand; I do too. Alright, alright stop asking, it’s Mutti. An Italian chef I worked with was loyal to Mutti. I am now too.

Generally I’ll also sprinkle in a small handful of puy lentils at this stage to stretch out the protein because by the time it’s all cooked down, no one can tell the difference between the mince and the lentils.

Let the pan simmer away on a back hotplate for several hours. 4-5 hours would be ideal but if you’ve only got 2 hours then that’ll do too. If I’m organised enough, I’ll do the whole thing in a slow cooker and let it simmer away overnight.

Onto the bechamel. Starting with a simple roux, you melt a quantity of fat – in this case 50g butter – and stir an equal quantity (50g) of plain white flour into it. Cook it for a minute or two, stirring constantly over a medium heat so the starch cooks out. To incorporate the 4 cups of milk, start by adding a few spoonfuls at a time whisking so you don’t end up with lumps. Add a little more at a time, whisking all the while until it’s all incorporated. If you heat the milk up before adding it, you won’t risk it going lumpy but I hate dirtying extra dishes.

So much about cooking and tasting is figuring out where your platonic ideal lies. I find that I need to season my bechamel with salt, freshly ground white pepper and Dijon mustard, though white miso and vegetable stock powder work too. Otherwise, it tastes too sweet to me. Not actually sugar sweet but not the neutral base I want it to be.

I’ve already declared my dairy leanings so this is where I load up the bechamel with lots of freshly grated cheese; I recommend 2 cups in total. A combination of pecorino, some kind of cheddar style and a mozzarella is perfect. Turn down the heat on your sauce and gradually drop in the grated cheese, a handful at a time. Stir until delightfully smooth then turn off and put the pan to one side.

Generally, I’ll make the bechamel and the ragu ahead of time and assemble the whole thing whilst it’s cold. You choose what suits you. Chunking the workload is more achievable for me most days but if I’m in the mood, I can get it done in a day.

Confession time – I’ve never once boiled my dried pasta sheets before using. That extra step seems too much like hard work. Maybe one day, I’ll do it and change my mind but until then you’re let off the hook. I use 500g dried lasagne sheets for this quantity of ragu and bechamel.

Whether or not you end up with béchamel or ragu or even pasta sheets leftover will depend on the size of your dish and how thick you make your layers. It matters not as the dried pasta can go into the pantry and the ragu and béchamel can hang out in your freezer until you find another use for them. The ragu would make a tasty topping on baked potato or sweet potato or encased in pastry. The béchamel is a shortcut to cauliflower cheese, mac & cheese and so on. Both can work in a baked pasta (pasta al forno).