As mentioned in last weeks let’s Cook I have a few recipe books both in paper form and on the kindle. My wife rolls her eyes every time she discovers I’ve bought another one. What’s even more puzzling is I’ve hardly made any of the recipes! However, I’ve decided to try and remedy that poor record and start cooking. Having said all that this weeks recipe is my wife’s tweak on her mothers recipe for homemade lasagne. I have to admit I didn’t even contribute to the cooking. I did the creative bit of taking photos while Fran did all the hard work.
So here’s what you need
For the ragu
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 25g butter
- 5 medium carrots’ chopped into small cubes
- 900g/2lb beef mince
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- Nutmeg grated
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- Mozzarella
Heat a large saucepan. Add a tbsp of vegetable oil and a large knob of butter. Add the chopped onions, garlic and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots and sweat for a further 5 minutes.
Put the heat on high, add the mince and brown it off, turning occasionally.
Once the mince is browned add a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Add the nutmeg and bay leaves then add 175mls of whole milk and lower the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.
Add 175mls of white and simmer for approx 20 mins or until the alcohol is evaporated.
Add the 400ml of chopped tomatoes and 2 tbsp of tomato purée. Put the heat on low and summer for 4-5hrs.
For the Béchamel sauce
- 150g/6oz butter
- 150g/6oz plain flour
- 1 litre whole milk
- Grated nutmeg
- Bay leaf
- Onion halved
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the béchamel sauce, add the milk, bay leaf, nutmeg and onion to a saucepan. Slowly bring this to the boil then lid on switch the heat off and let it infuse for about 50 minutes.
Add the butter and the flour to a separate saucepan, warm and stir to create a roux. One ladle at a time then add the infused milk stirring well to the roux on low heat. Increase heat to medium and stir well to cook out the flour and thicken the sauce (20 minutes). If you can create a figure of 8 with a wooden spoon it’s perfect.
Separately mix 125g of grated cheddar with 125g of grated Parmesan cheese ready for building the lasagne.
We start the build by greasing the bottom of an ovenproof dish with butter. Spread a small amount of the béchamel sauce around the base then a layer of the fresh pasta. Now add a layer of the ragu, then a layer of béchamel followed by a sprinkling of the grated cheese mix. Now we repeat. Sheet of pasta, ragu, bechamel, cheese mix. Then for a 3rd time.
Finally, add a sheet of fresh pasta and top it off by covering the top with the grated cheese mix topped with chunks of torn fresh mozzarella.
Now place on a baking tray and place in a pre-heated oven for 40 mins at 180 °C fan.
Serve with rocket and tomato salad, garlic bread and a dash of good balsamic vinegar.
It should look like this at the end.
Let me know if you try it and if any of the recipe is not clear or incorrect. Let me know your own versions or tweaks at davidlinden4@gmail.com. Enjoy.
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