lasagne

made lasagne for dinner on Sat. must say it did taste pretty yummy....after about 4 to 5 attempts (over the last 3 years!) i think i finally got the hang of making this gorgeous Italian dish ....so i'll share with you what i've concocted. must warn you though that the portions are pretty rough as i am not finicky about exact measurements when it comes to cooking?

enough for 3-4 hungry gobblers
the filling:
200g minced pork (or if you are vegetarian, you could use soya substitutes or have an assortment of veggies instead!)
2 medium sized zucchinis / courgettes, cut into bite-size chunks
2 large tomatoes, cubed
2 onions, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of shallots, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
a small tin or half a tube of tomato puree
a tin or packet of tomato /pasta sauce (or you could also do this from scratch if you like)
Italian and French herbs (i've only got the dried ones?)
a handful of Basil leaves (or dried ones are fine too)
black, paprika and cayenne pepper
about 3 tablespoons soya sauce (yes i am addicted!)
2-3 tablespoons cooking/olive oil

preheat the oven at 200?C
marinate the meat with the soya sauce, paprika and cayenne pepper.
in a deep pan, brown the onions and shallots and garlic in the heated oil and stir-fry the minced pork in the fragrance.
add the dried herbs, pepper, and the courgettes and tomatoes
then the tomato puree and sauce
mix well and add the fresh Basil last.
leave the stir-fry in the pan over the warm stove while preparing the white sauce;

the sauce:
about 400ml cream (i actually had too much! 500ml!!! heee)
300-400g of shredded cheese (mixture of Gouda, Mozzarella, Emmental) use only half for the actual sauce?!
roughly 2-3 tablespoons of corn flour
a dash of ground cinnamon/cloves

in a sauce pan, heat up the cream and add a handful or two of cheese and the spices and stir well.
gently sieve in the flour and keep this mixture ?liquidy??it should be somewhat thick?and messy! (yup?)

layering:
place a layer of ready-to-use lasagne sheets in the oven-proof baking dish.
(this first layer is often omitted; do as you prefer)
add a layer of filling
followed by covering with some sauce
and then repeat the whole process;
ending with a layer of the lasagne sheets, the left-over cheese and topped with the rest of the sauce and hopefully nothing spills out!

bake for about 30-40 minutes, careful not to burn the top (trick?use the other oven tray ---usually comes with 2 ? by placing it above the lasagne (after some 15 minutes or so), shielding the heat from above) and test with a sharp knife?.

enjoy it warm?.with some lovely German Riesling or red wine?.
Guten Appetit!

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Monday, 8 September, 2003 at 01:47 hrs