Thursday 30 May 2013

Lasagne


After an extended period away from the keyboard I thought I needed to return with a bang. Although the translation from plate to paper has not been happening, I can reassure you I have been eating, and eating well. This year along with many, many great recipes, reviews and thoughts on food, I promise to bring you bring you a website more useful than Wikipedia, more innovative than google, more informative than twitter, and with a greater procrastination potential than Facebook. 2013 will be forever remembered as the year of ahungryman.co.uk

So to kick off the year one of my favourites. 


Lasagne
Lasagne must be one of the greatest comfort dishes in the world, and here I have two amazing versions of this Italian staple. This week I give to you a traditional meat lasagne and then next week a delicious vegetarian alterative (which can be slightly meatafied).
Lasagne is simple really – meat, pasta, cheese, meat, pasta, cheese




Meat
500g Beef mince
1 onion - diced
3 cloves garlic – smashed
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Half a glass of red wine
A good squirt of tomato puree
1 Mild red chilli – diced.
Salt and black pepper

Pasta
A box of lasagne sheets will normally do two lasagnes for four.

Cheese (béchamel sauce)
1 Mug of plain flour
50g of butter
1 mug of milk
A decent amount of grated cheese (you can make it as cheesy as you like)


Firstly make the meat sauce.
1.     Sweat off the onions, garlic and chilli in a pan.
2.     Turn up the heat and sear the mince with a good amount of seasoning.
3.     When the meat is browned chuck in the wine and cook for 1 minute.
4.     Add tomato puree and cook for a minute or two, and then the chopped tomatoes.
5.     Allow the sauce to bubble down for a good 30 minutes to become lovely and rich.

The Cheese sauce.
1.     While the meat sauce is cooking, you can start melting the butter in a pan.
2.     When it has melted keep on a low heat and add the flour until a kind of doughy consistency has formed.
3.     Slowly add the milk until you have a white sauce.
4.     Add the grated cheese, and you have the cheese sauce.

The Assembly.
1.     Meat
2.     Pasta
3.     Cheese (sauce)
4.     Meat
5.     Pasta
6.     Cheese (sauce)
7.     Grated cheese

Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 mins. Put a knife in to make sure the pasta is nice and soft.

The final product.