Lasagna

To get started I thought I'd share my Lasagna recipe. I've worked on perfecting this over the last many years, getting ideas from many other recipes and combining them into something delicious but also reasonably easy. The measurements are rough but should make for about 6 litres of the meat sauce. (I always make loads so I can freeze it for later)

Ingredients (for the meat sauce)

• 5(ish) large white onions (I often use 4 as they coms in a pack of 4 here)
• 5 large carrots
• 5 sticks of celery
• 500g of pork mince (or sausage meat, swap for any kind of mince you want, veg mince needs to cook less though)
• 500g of beef mince
• 2-3 tins of chopped tomato or 1 l of passata 
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 Star Anise 
• 500ml milk

(for the lasagne)

• pasta sheets (quantity depends on how much lasagna you want to make, but I normally get through 1-2 boxes)
• béchamel sauce (I sometimes cheat and buy this ready-made)
• grated cheese (cheddar or edam works well)

Take 3 of the onions and slice finely. Fry these in a pan (add salt and oil) with the star anise over a medium heat for 15+ min or so until they are lovely and golden brown. 

At the same time take the other 3 onions, carrots and celery (there should be about equal quantities of each) and dice. Cook these salted in oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan for about 15 min until the onions have cooked. Once done add the onions from above (minus star anise) to the saucepan. 

Over a high heat quickly fry the minces to brown them often best to do in batches. Then add to the saucepan Along with the crushed garlic. (you can drain the fat off the minces if you want by placing in a colander over a bowl).

Add the milk to the saucepan and a little water so that the mixture is just covered. Place the pan over the heat and simmer for about 6 hours. Yes 6 hours! Longer if you have time! Keep an eye on it and add more water if it starts to dry out. It's this long cooking time that really makes the difference.

After the sauce has simmered you can add the tinned tomatoes or passata. Simmer for a further 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. You will know it is done when it separates on top. Adjust the seasoning and taste as you stir it. Sometimes you may need to even add a bit of a stock cube.

Creating the lasagne

I usually make the lasagne in small disposable dishes as friends regularly steal them and also so I can keep them partly cooked in the freezer. Start with a thin layer of the meat sauce then pasta then béchamel then pasta them meat sauce then pasta! Top with a good layer of béchamel and some cheese. Pop it in the oven at about 170 C for 40 min or until you can pass a knife through the layers and it's nice and golden brown on top. Some pasta sheets tell you to pre soak them, but i normally don't bother with this part. 

Anex: Béchamel sauce

I sometimes cheat and buy this ready made but you can make this quite easily. Take a few litres of milk and heat up with a halved onion some peppercorns and bay leaves or bouquet garni. Don't bring it to the boil! Leave off the heat for 5-10 min and strain.

In a pan melt some butter and then add some flour, mix together, cook out briefly and add the milk slowly mixing all the time. The sauce should thicken and come out nice and creamy. (if it doesn't thicken up you can add some corn flour mixed with cold water and heat). If it has lumps you can strain or blitz it with a handheld liquidizer. Use equal quantities of butter and flour, just a few tablespoons worth.