Hold on. I'm going to tell you about lasagne in a minute. Thinking about lasagne just reminded me there's still some in the fridge from last night and even though we had such a good lunch and LOTS of dessert this afternoon, I just have to have a small bite. Drool over the picture while you wait... Watch out, don't get any on your keyboard!
Mmm... that was good. Do you see the croutons in the salad? I've always wanted to make my own croutons. Last night there wasn't anything else to add to the salad so I made croutons for the first time! Turned out good.
Ok, back to the lasagne. I hope you can make lasagne. If you've never tried then today is the day to start. It's really not difficult. I don't know why some people think or say it is. It's actually very simple. And if it's the béchamel sauce (white sauce) you're worried about - which is also not hard to do- I do have an easy way out for you.
I looked up the spelling of lasagne because my spell check is telling me it should be with an a at the end. According to Wikipedia lasagna is singular for the pasta sheets used and lasagne is plural and also the way it's spelled in Italy. You need more than one sheet to make lasagne.
Lasagne has always been my favourite dish and when I became interested in cooking and wanted to learn to cook I didn't want to start with boiling an egg as my mom tried to convince me. I wanted to make lasagne. So as far as I can remember that's the first thing I learnt to cook and still my favourite. I do it without a recipe now.
Whenever I make a mince dish I cook extra mince, like double or three times what I need and freeze it in smaller containers. Ready to be converted into a quick lasagne, cottage pie, spaghetti Bolognese or whatever.
Ok, I'm going to give you my recipe which I've been making for years and years. I wish I can remember how old I was. This is so good, I never order lasagne in a restaurant because it's never as good as this one. Along the way I'll give you some optional extras which I add depending what I have in the fridge.
Oh I just noticed my recipe is in Afrikaans! I will translate.
Lasagne (This makes quite a big dish, could probably serve 6)
5 ml olive oil
500 g mince
1 packet minestrone soup powder (or a few teaspoons vegetable stock powder - Ina Paarman if you're in SA)
1 tin tomatoes
30 ml red wine or water
lasagne sheets (I like the green spinach ones)
50 g (60 ml) margarine
50 g (100 ml) sifted flour - I never sift it
570 ml milk
5 ml salt
pepper
100 g grated cheese of your choice
Cook the mince.
Add the soup powder (or veg stock), tomatoes and wine/ water.
Melt the margarine in a separate pot.
Stir in flour.
Gradually add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Add salt and pepper.
*Now for years I used to make the béchamel sauce like this on the stove. Then I learnt a much easier way from my mother in law - use the microwave! So you melt the margarine, stir in the flour and then I add about 1 c milk and mix well. In the micro for 1 min and then stir again. Do 1 min at a time and take out to stir otherwise it will boil over = BIG mess in your microwave. You don't want to have to clean that too. When that one cup starts to thicken add some more milk and carry on until you have enough sauce and it's thick enough. I don't measure the marg, flour and milk anymore but do if you're not sure. Otherwise it might not thicken and you will end up frustrated and never want to make lasagne again and I don't want that.
Now you are ready to layer in your oven dish. The order of layers vary and I can never remember so this is the one thing I still until recently got the recipe book out for! Right at the end I have to find the lasagne page to see which layer goes first! Now I'm not that bothered and just put whatever first. As long as you end with a sauce layer and cheese.
So this recipe I have here says lasagne sheets first, then half of your bolognese, and half white sauce. Then repeat pasta, mince and sauce and top with cheese.
Bake 30 min at 200 C (without a lid.)
*I add the without a lid part because after my mom moved to Germany years ago I had to phone her to ask if I need to put the lid on the dish or not? They should tell me that in a recipe!
*Some extras to add when you're cooking the mince (bolognese sauce): chopped chilli, green pepper, mushrooms (we always add these three). Also when available in the fridge some kind of veg like finely chopped carrot. Be creative and make it colourful! You can also add some tomato paste if you like it more red. I do. And a fresh tomato too if you like it tomato-y. I do. Mmmm.... what else... I think that's it. Oh garlic and onion!! How can I forget those two! I can't believe this recipe doesn't add that. It's a must.
*By the way, you know you don't have to cook the lasagne sheets? You just place them in the dish and make sure they don't overlap.
Ok, so that was my original trusted recipe. Then another recipe my sister sent me which is supposed to be a healthier (read less fattening) version is what we tried last night and this is the one in the photo - although the above recipe turns out looking the same. You know the top layer of lasagne will always be cheese so will look the same :-)
Now I still have to ask her how all this cheese is better than the milk in the white sauce, but here it is. I call it the:
Easy-way-out Lasagne!
500 g ricotta
4 egg yolks
500 g mozarella
1 c freshly grated parmasan
lasagne sheets
2 cups Bolognese sauce
Mix ricotta with egg yolks and season with salt and pepper. Layer as above, ending with the cheese and bake as above.
*NB I halved the ricotta (250g) and egg yolks (2) and it was enough for 4 portions of lasagne. And it looked rich and cheesy enough without the parmesan so didn't add that.
The ricotta gives it a different taste. I'd say a bit richer and creamier but not too heavy. It was really really good too. I just need to find out which one is less fattening now and that's the one I will continue making. This last one is definitely quicker. Last night I had the mince ready made from earlier in the week so I just had to mix the ricotta and egg yolks and in the oven it went!
Ok, now go make some lasagne for your family!!
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