With the bolognese (above), this creamy, parmesan-laced bechamel makes an impressive home-made beef lasagne and is also amazingly handy for a quick cauliflower cheese or those instant dinners that involve fussy children, several tins from the pantry and a blanket of white sauce. So, you take your Bolognese, you take your bechamel, you take a packet of lasagne sheets and a rectangular ovenproof dish (this will make a bigger lasagne than our foil trays - you'll need a dish of about 30X20cm or so). Start with a ladle full of meat sauce, then a layer of pasta, another of meat sauce, one of bechamel, back to the pasta, repeat with meat sauce and bechamel and finish with a layer of pasta topped with the parmesan-laced bechamel. The whole thing should take 10 minutes, tops. Bake in a 180 oven for 45 minutes and bring out when golden and bubbling to rapturous applause.  We make our bechamel in the traditional way, starting with a butter and flour roux which we cook out before gradually adding milk and stirring till thickened. A final addition of grated nutmeg and a load of grated grana padano and it's done. May be frozen. Defrost before using as above. Vegetarian. This will come in one size - about 750ml or enough for a large lasagne.

Butter, plain flour, milk, salt, nutmeg, grana padano.

• Individual:Serves one adult.
• Small:Serves two adults.
• Large:Serves 4-5 adults.
• Extra Large:Serves 6 adults.