What better to eat out of a bowl on your lap but Lasagne
Also, I had all of the ingredients handy
Which is excellent when one is housebound
I actually went to quite a bit of trouble with the components and it paid off
Ready to go into the oven
The Meat Sauce
One of the tricks for this very rich sauce was the addition of 250 gms of mushrooms
Also another, was I whizzed up all of the vege in the food processor
This is a great idea to disguise vege for the fussy kids in the family
And a secret extra... a dollop of ketchup
Added to the meat sauce, I also went to a little bit of extra trouble and instead of just dumping in a tin of tomatoes
I turned it into my special tomato sauce
One other difference was the addition of Buffalo Feta instead of Ricotta
I bought this from a local market
Actually it is from Bulgaria
What a stroke of genius
Salty sharp
Yum
You can use ordinary soft feta of course
By the way
There was enough meat sauce to set aside and freeze for another day
So you will need these ingredients
Meat sauce
500 gms Mince
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion peeled and rough chopped
1 carrot roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery roughly chopped
250 gms mushrooms roughly chopped
Red wine1/2 cup
1 Cup beef stock, I used a stock cube
2 tablespoons of your favourite ketchup
Tomato sauce
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 can tomatoes
Sea salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Bechamel sauce
75 gms butter unsealed
1/4 cup flour
750 mls whole milk, infused with a bay leaf
Sea salt and freshly grated black pepper
1/2 cup grated cheese
150 gms Buffalo Feta
Packet lasagna sheets
Method
Meat sauce
In a pan on medium heat add olive oil
Meanwhile throw all of the vege into the food processor and whizz till they are finely chopped
Add to olive oil season with S&P
and sauté till soft
Meanwhile in another pan over high heat
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and brown the mince
Season with S&P
Add to the vege
De-glaze the meat pan with red wine
Add to vege
Along with beef stock
Tomato sauce
Sauté finely chopped garlic in olive oil
When soft add the tomatoes
Season with S&P and sugar
Simmer for about 5 minutes to develop the flavour
Add red wine vinegar
Add to the Meat Sauce and simmer everything for at least 30 minutes
The sauce will be very rich and dark
Add the ketchup and you will be amazed at the little lift it gives the sauce
Put aside
Make the Bechamel Sauce
Warm the milk with a Bay leaf and some freshly ground black pepper
Melt butter in a pot
Add flour
Sir and cook out the flour for about 2-3 minutes
Season with sea salt
Add all of the warm milk and stir till sauce is thickened
If there are any lumps don't panic just whisk and they will disappear
Don't forget to remove the Bayleaf
Take off the heat and add grated cheese
Assembly
In a gratin dish
Spread 2 tablespoon of the cheese sauce
Place lasagne sheets
Add meat sauce
Sprinkle over 1/3 of the feta
Lasagne sheets
1/2 of the Béchamel
Lasagne sheets
Meat sauce
Then 1/3 of feta
Lasagne sheets
To the renaming Bechamel add a beaten egg and the remainder of the feta
Pour over the top
I made this the day before and popped into the fridge, covered with foil
Take out of the fridge about an hour before you need to cook it
Pre heat oven to 180C
Bake for about 30 minutes
Take off foil and cook for another 30 minutes
Till golden and bubbling
Let sit for about 15 minutes before serving
This makes it easier to cut
Guaranteed to please
Now I used the remaining Meat Sauce
For a Pasta dish for dinner last night
Just topped with grated Parmesan Cheese
Delicious
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