Lasagna

Approx cost: €4.00
Approx calories (per serving): ~350
Approx preparation and baking time: 1 hour

Lasagna is one of those awesome, warming dishes which is just perfect to eat when it’s cold outside and you’re in the mood for something hearty. I vary the recipe a lot, depending on what I have in the house – sometimes I put celery, mushrooms or carrots inside, sometimes not, and sometimes I don’t even put meat in (vegetarian lasagna!). My lasagne are always very saucey – I’ve had some “genuine” lasagne cooked by Italian friends before and they manage to really get it so you feel like the pasta has absorbed all the delicious flavours from the meat sauce – something I can never achieve, but my version usually seems to go down quite well anyway.

Ingredients

To serve 4-6

Ingredients you'll need for this dish

Meat Sauce
– 300g Minced Beef
– 1 x 240g can chopped Tomatoes
– 1 x 70g can Tomato Concentrate
– 1 medium Onion
– 4 cloves Garlic
– 1 glass Red Wine
– 1 tsp dried Oregano
– 2 tbsps Olive Oil

White Sauce
– 50g Butter
– 3-4 tbsps Plain Flour
– ~50cl Milk
– 125g hard Cheese, grated (such as Cheddar)

You’ll also need
– 7 sheets dried lasagna sheets
– 125g hard Cheese, grated (such as Cheddar)
– 50g Grated Parmesan

– Some type of deep oven dish

Instructions

1. Start off with the sauce. Peel and chop the onion finely, and the peel and mince or chop the garlic. Heat the oil in a large pan and lightly fry the onion and garlic in the pan until starting to turn golden. Add the beef into the onions and then fry through until the beef is cooked.
   
   
   




2. Open up the cans of of chopped tomato and tomato concentrate and pour into the saucepan. Rinse out the tin of chopped tomatoes with the glass of wine and pour into the pan. Add in the oregano and stir well. Simmer for around 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce has reduced a little and thickened a little.




3. For the sauce, melt the butter in a new pan and then add the flour and stir until the flour has mixed completely with the butter to make a soft golden paste.
   
   
   




4. Add the milk in a little bit at a time, whisking, and simmering between each addition. As the milk heats with the butter and flour it will thicken up so it’s important to ensure it’s whisked and heated before adding more milk. Continue adding the milk – adding less or more than the recipe calls for if necessary –  and whisking until you have a glossy sauce which is thick and creamy but easily poured, and then add in the cheese and mix well.
   
   
   




5. Heat enough water to fill a large bowl or pan until the water is hot to the touch and place the pasta sheets in the water – this will stop them from curling when you lay them on the meat and sauce. Take a large dish – a roasting pan is usually good, about 30cm long by 20cm wide, and maybe 5 cm deep or so, and place half the meat sauce on the bottom and spread out. Put in a third of the white sauce and spread over the meat and then place 3 of the pasta sheets over the meat – feel free to increase the quantity of pasta used if necessary to get a good covering. Repeat with another layer of meat, sauce and pasta, before pouring the last third of sauce over the pasta. Top with the 125g grated cheese and the grated parmesan.
   
   
   




6. Bake in the oven at around 150 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown on top and you can see the sauce bubbling underneath. Remove from the oven and cut into servings.
   
   
   




7. Dish out and enjoy! As it’s quite a rich dish it’s excellent with a light, leafy salad.

Nom nom