Lasagne

Lasagne

 

 (pictured before cooking)

 

 

This is a pretty classic lasagne recipe, and it's the recipe I have used for years and it's always a very big hit for whoever i cook it for! My husband requests it for his birthday every year! This is NOT a quick weeknight meal- but as it's christmas I have been doing a lot of my more 'special' dishes to bring to parties. It's not quick- it is however quite easy. I find a lot of people are afraid of lasagne, this recipe will help to de-mystify it (you don't even use fresh lasagne sheets!). The picture above is before cooking, cause I made it up today and will cook it tommorrow before the party so it's cooked fresh (although it's still very good reheated for leftovers the next day!). Also, a note about the healthy-ness- it's not. And I have tried cooking this one with skim milk, nuttelex instead of butter etc and it just doesn't work as well so this is one where you just have to go with it! (it is christmas after all- and this one takes too long not to be a 'sometimes' food anyway!).

 

Time Taken: Preparation, cooking of the sauces and assembly of the pasta takes about 1 hour. Cooking time in the oven is 30- 40 mins.

 

2 year old friendly?: Yes definately! He LOVES lasagne (like garfield!)

 

INGREDIENTS

Meat sauce

3 tbs olive oil

1 large onion, thinly diced

500g minced beef or pork- OR a mixture of pork and veal (NOTE- it's traditional to use pork and veal, but I usually use beef cause I like the flavour. For this one in particular I used JUST pork as some of the people I am cooking for don't eat beef).

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 410g cans of tomato puree

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup water

A handful each of fresh basil and parsely, chopped finely (can use oregano instead of parsely)

Salt and pepper for seasoning

White (bechamel) sauce

2 cups milk (full cream)

2 tbs butter

2 tbs plain flour

For the lasagne construction

1 cup grated parmesen cheese (note- I cheat and use the packet one!)

1 packet of large instant lasange sheets (dry)

1-2 packets of mozerlla cheese, shredded (I buy 2 packets and usually need to use a little bit of the second one- but you could make 1 packet stretch if you want to)

 

METHOD

Meat sauce

Head the oil and saute the onions and garlic in a medium-large pot.

Add meat and cook until brown, stirring to break up meat, on medium heat. Add tomato puree, tomato paste, water, fresh herbs and salt and pepper.

Bring to boil on high. Cover and simmer for about 30 mins, stirring occasionally.

White sauce

While the meat sauce is cooking, melt butter on low heat in a medium saucepan. Remove form heat.

Add flour and stir well till creamy. Put back on heat, turning up to medium, and add milk a bit at a time, stirring until it boils and thickens. Sauce is done when it coats the spoon (note, it will thicken more once it cools).

To construct lasagne

Add some meat sauce to a large baking dish to coat the bottom in a thin layer. Cover with a layer of the pasta sheets (you can break them to get the right coverage). Add another layer of sauce over the pasta sheet and then spoon on some bechamel sauce and sprinke over an even covering of mozerella cheese and parmesen cheese.

Repeat layers (pasta sheets, meat sauce, white sauce and cheese) twice, but on top layer leave off the bechamel sauce and use slightly more cheese for a nice golden cheesy finish (you end up with 3 layers of pasta sheets).

Cook lasagne in a 180 degree oven for 30- 40 mins.

Can be frozen before or after cooking (as long as the meat was not frozen before cooking).