The youngest daughter has requested a recipe for this. It is a dish reproduced on every kind of menu, in pubs and restaurants, and as a ready meal but homemade really is best.
You can adapt it and use well seasoned lentils, black eyed beans or roasted veg for vegetarian versions. There is even a chicken in tomato sauce recipe.
But the best is the Italian taste alike which is made like this:
Lasagna
You need: Beef mince, Onions & garlic, Tomato paste,Tinned tomatoes, herbs
For 4 people 3/4 lb beef mince is enough. You can start by frying the onions and garlic and mince in some oil, but ever since the fat cutting down days of my youth, I start in a medium hot frying pan with just the mince and no oil. As you break the mince up, stirring it regularly, and it starts to brown, then add the chopped onion and lastly the garlic. Cook it all till the meat is brown and the onion soft.
Now add tin of tomatoes, a good tablespoon tomato paste, a pinch of mixed herbs or oregano, a bay leaf (optional). If you happen to have some left over red wine, add a slug of that. Or try a capful of red wine vinegar.
Now let this cook without a lid for at least 30 minutes, checking it doesn't go dry. Then taste to ensure you have the Italian taste sensation and adjust the seasoning until you do.
White Sauce
This is the other pre lasagna task. You need 3/4 pint milk, a good 1 oz butter and the same amount of flour. Use the same tablespoon to measure.
For a really good outcome, let the milk heat up slowly with a bay leaf, some pepper corns, and half an onion in first before you make the sauce - sieve these out once your butter and flour is ready. You can manage without this stage but it gives additional flavour.
Serve with a flourish.
This looks like a long job but is straightforward. It is easy to make a large or small version and you will soon get to know the quantities for your dish and your eaters.
You can adapt it and use well seasoned lentils, black eyed beans or roasted veg for vegetarian versions. There is even a chicken in tomato sauce recipe.
But the best is the Italian taste alike which is made like this:
Lasagna
- First find a shallow oblong or square dish
- Check that you have enough lasagna sheets to cover the dish 3 times. You may have to break them up to match the shape of the dish.
- Check that you have a kind that doesn't need cooking first.
- Now make your sauces - bolognese and white sauce.
You need: Beef mince, Onions & garlic, Tomato paste,Tinned tomatoes, herbs
For 4 people 3/4 lb beef mince is enough. You can start by frying the onions and garlic and mince in some oil, but ever since the fat cutting down days of my youth, I start in a medium hot frying pan with just the mince and no oil. As you break the mince up, stirring it regularly, and it starts to brown, then add the chopped onion and lastly the garlic. Cook it all till the meat is brown and the onion soft.
Now add tin of tomatoes, a good tablespoon tomato paste, a pinch of mixed herbs or oregano, a bay leaf (optional). If you happen to have some left over red wine, add a slug of that. Or try a capful of red wine vinegar.
Now let this cook without a lid for at least 30 minutes, checking it doesn't go dry. Then taste to ensure you have the Italian taste sensation and adjust the seasoning until you do.
White Sauce
This is the other pre lasagna task. You need 3/4 pint milk, a good 1 oz butter and the same amount of flour. Use the same tablespoon to measure.
For a really good outcome, let the milk heat up slowly with a bay leaf, some pepper corns, and half an onion in first before you make the sauce - sieve these out once your butter and flour is ready. You can manage without this stage but it gives additional flavour.
- Now assemble the dish. Lasagna is easy to make in advance with everything cold.
- Put a thin layer of white sauce on the bottom of the dish and then cover with lasagna sheets.
- Put half the bolognese on top and then some blobs of white sauce. Don't try to get a full layer of this, it will spread while cooking and you want to make sure that you have enough for the top.
- Repeat so that you have 3 layers of lasagna sheets, 2 of meat and you finish with lasagna.
- Now put the last of your white sauce over this; if you don't seem to have much or it is rather thick, add a little milk to it first.
- Sprinkle with grated cheese, including some parmesan if you have it.
Serve with a flourish.
This looks like a long job but is straightforward. It is easy to make a large or small version and you will soon get to know the quantities for your dish and your eaters.
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