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    Tuesday, August 11, 2009

    The Best Lasagne Yet


    I’m very pleased with this Lasagne I made the other night. It may seem like a lot of steps, but I made enough for 3 meals (Of course I froze two)...
    Make it early in the day, if you have people coming.
    It's all the better for hanging about a bit.
    Thought it would be a good entry for Ruth from "Once Upon a Feast"'s
    Presto Pasta Night weekly blogging event. Just click here to see all the wonderful Pasta recipes from all over the world.

    This week PPN is being hosted by Psychgrad of http://eatfordinner.blogspot.com
    The round up will be in the weekend.

    So it’s much the same as normal, but with a wee twist.
    I make a separate mushroom sauce, as well as a béchamel.
    Plus I add an egg to the cheesy sauce, this makes a lovely almost custardy topping.
    A moist very tasty lasagne.

    I had some Brussels sprouts and hunted out Brussels Sprouts Italian Style on the net.
    I felt it may have been more of a French style, with the Dijon mustard, but it was very tasty nevertheless.

    See recipe further on.

    I made three sauces for the layers
    Basic Meat and Tomato sauce
    Mushroom Sauce
    Béchamel with Grated Cheese

    You will also need a packet Lasagne sheets


    Basic Meat Sauce
    500 gms mince
    1 tbs olive oil

    sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

    1 tbs olive oil
    1 onion finely chopped
    1 carrot grated
    2 sticks celery finely chopped
    2 cloves garlic finely chopped
    1 heaped tsp oregano
    sea salt and black pepper

    1 cup wine
    2 cans tomatoes
    1 cup beef stock
    2 tbs tomato puree or ketch
    up

    Brown mince in hot pan with olive oil
    Remove and Reserve

    Add another tbs oil
    Add onions saute till soft
    Add carrots, garlic and celery
    Saute till soft
    Add wine, reduce
    Add tomatoes, break up with wooden spoon

    Return mince to pan
    Add beef stock and simmer about 45 minutes
    Check seasoning, adjust if necessary and leave to cool.



    Mushroom Sauce
    2 tbs butter
    250 gms mushrooms small chop
    100 mls white wine
    1 tsp oregano

    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    2 tbs flour
    1 1/2 cups milk


    Melt butter in pan
    add mushrooms
    Toss around and cook till liquid reduced
    add wine reduce again
    add seasoning and oregano

    Add flour
    Mix well and cook the flour out
    Add milk and stir well
    Simmer gently about 5 minutes, till sauce thickened, stirring regularly
    If too thick add more milk and cook a little longer
    Check seasoning and adjust if necessary.

    Set aside and cool
    Make Bechamel Sauce

    75 gms butter
    60 gms flour
    1 tsp mustard
    Sea salt and white pepper
    1 bay leaf
    6 peppercorns
    1 1/2 cups milk

    1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese
    1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

    1 egg

    Make a roux.
    Melt butter in pan
    Add flour and seasoning and mustard
    Mix well cook flour out
    Heat milk with bay leaf and peppercorns
    Strain and add all at once to roux.

    Whisk well and cook till thickened
    Add cheese
    Cool slightly and add egg

    Beat well

    Now time to layer In a lightly greased dish
    put a spoonful of cheese sauce on bottom
    Top with lasagne sheets
    Next Mushroom Sauce
    Lasagne sheets
    Meat Sauce
    Lasagne sheets

    Top with cheese sauce.


    Bake 180C for about 30 - 40 minutes until bubbling and golden brown on top

    And here is the
    ITALIAN-STYLE BRUSSELS SPROUTS *
    500 gms fresh Brussels sprouts
    Salt and pepper, to taste
    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
    2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
    2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
    1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
    1 clove garlic, minced
    2 tablespoons shaved Parmesan cheese

    Trim the ends from the Brussels sprouts and cut each sprout into halves.
    Heat ½ cup water in a medium nonstick skillet.
    Add Brussels sprouts.
    Season lightly with salt and pepper
    Cook till liquid disappears and sprouts are tender
    You may need to add a little more water, if they are not tender before the water evaporates.
    If any excess drain them first.
    Mix mustard, lemon juice, balsamic and olive oil together
    Add garlic
    Pour over sprouts and toss well
    Add shaved Parmesan and serve
    Great meal.

    2 comments:

    Ruth Daniels said...

    Looks wonderful - and it's nice to see you back here sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

    As my grandmother used to say to visitors as they were leaving "Don't be a stranger"

    So So Simple said...

    Hopefully I will be back on deck with all my blogging friends after next week. The lasagne was worth the effort.