Madhouse recipe : Cheesy Toast Topped Bolognese

This dish looks really pretty so you'd never guess it takes less than half an hour to throw together and uses nothing but store cupboard basics. It started off on my menu plan as sloppy joes, but I decided to play around with the recipe.

In the freezer, I had a pack of pre-cut crusty bread filled with bacon and comté cheese which I wanted to use up, but garlic bread (homemade or shop bought) would work just as well. As we're on the subject of cooking shortcuts, I also added a jar of shop bought bolognese sauce to the dish, but you could just add tinned tomatoes and a few herbs and let it simmer for longer for the flavours to develop.

 Cheesy Toast Topped Bolognese 

ingredients :

drizzle of olive oil

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1/2 green pepper

3 mushrooms

1 pack beef mince

a jar of bolognese sauce or a tin of chopped tomatoes

salt, pepper, oregano

a pack of shop-bought garlic bread or cheese/bacon filled bread or slices of stale baguette

a mini babybel (just to finish off the decoration - optional)

Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic.

Add the mushrooms and peppers.

Put in the minced beef and chop it up with a wooden spoon as you cook it. Once the mince is totally browned, drain off the excess fat.

Add a jar of bolognese sauce for a quick option. Alternatively, add a tin of tomatoes and some herbs and spices and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Transfer to an ovenproof dish (my frying pan has a removable handle so it can go straight to the oven) and flatten the sauce.

Time to bring out the frozen bread.

Dispose the slices in a pretty design on top of the bolognese sauce. I used a mini Babybel cheese to fill in the gap in the middle but you could use a slice of goat's cheese or half a tomato if you prefer.

Pop under the grill for ten minutes until the bread is nicely toasted. Serve immediately.

I had plans to use up the leftover bolognese sauce in murtabak, Indonesian savoury pancakes stuffed with mince, for the evening meal, but the whole lot was polished off for lunch with the kids pretty much licking their plates clean ! This would be a fabulous way of using up stale baguette or crusty bread and it's so quick and simple to make - definitely something we'll be having again.

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky because it used up a pack of frozen filled bread that was lurking in the freezer.