Home is where the hearty lasagne is

Keep Cooking and Carry on!

When motivation and spirits are down and when times are dull or stressful, nothing is more inspiring than food, friends and fun. Similarly to a good old English cuppa, a nice big meal really solves anything and even just thinking of the evening in which this luscious lasagne was created (a couple of months ago now) is cheering me up, reminding me to ‘keep cooking and carry on’. If the baking industry can take on world war two propaganda then so can I, and as they say, an army marches on its stomach, and so into battle against the bad times we must go.

To ease us all back onto the food platter I thought a nice dollop of Italian would do the trick. This food blog wasn’t necessarily about sharing recipes, however, the night we all gathered in Petra’s kitchen there was an ambience of contentment spurned on by a couple of bottles of red wine, good chats and the promise of a better-late-than-never spring, which really brought this authentic lasagne to life. It is not that I want to say that this recipe is the best, just that there aint nothing that can compare to home cooking from scratch where all you need is to invest a little bit of time and effort.

Delia Smith is starting a campaign on bringing cooking back into the home and away from easier and readily available food products. She is additionally trying to tackle the myth that cooking at home with fresh produce is more expensive than these other options, when actually it is far more economical to buy, cook and eat fresh. Money issues aside, we need to see the eating table as a time and place for bringing people together and for enjoying each other’s company. Whether your dinner table is filled with arguments about politics, drunken chatter, the top 40 charts or whether to get a pet chinchilla or not, the one point in common is the food table; sharing it with others is paramount to our survival as a civilised race.

On this particular Saturday night we took advantage of having a house with no ‘host parents’ where we could relax in knowing that we weren’t going to disturb them or the children and could experiment vivaciously dans la cuisine.

Petra had never made a lasagne before and wanted to give it a go. Wasting no time we nipped to Albert Heijn for the ingredients and invited a few people over to enjoy it with us. Hey presto, spontaneous cooking eve achieved, and a sunny one it was at that.

Making a lasagne can take time because of the chopping, making the saucy bit, making the cheesy béchamel topping, layering it and then cooking it in the oven. This does, however, mark out five easy steps to fashioning a pretty fabulous lasagne. Let’s begin with the ingredients and then go through the steps.

Ingredients

Bolognaise sauce

400g minced beef

2 large carrots chopped into tiny pieces

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves,chopped

1-2 cans of chopped tomatoes or passata

1-2 tablespoons tomato puree

A handful of fresh basil ripped into random pieces

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Tad of oil for frying if needed

Cheeky dash of red wine if it is about!

Béchamel sauce

I usually just make this a bit spontaneously…. But around

30g butter

4 tablespoons flour

3/4 pint of milk

200g strong grated cheese

Salt and white pepper to taste

Pinch of grated nutmeg

Also… don’t forget the lasagne sheets. Either dried or fresh, you will need a big box/packet.

Step One: chopping for the Bolognaise

    I would most definitely recommend getting all of your ingredients chopped and ready for the bolognaise sauce before beginning to cook it. This simply means that your attention can be given to the food that is in the pan and prevents you from having a decapitated finger infecting the onions and garlic on the chopping board.

      The onion needs to be finely chopped and the garlic however you wish. Keep it chunky or thinly sliced (the smaller the piece the more flavoursome).

      I would cut the carrots into thin rings and then cut those rings into quarters. If you looked at a clock, you would have little 15minute chunks. The carrots will cook more easily like this and adds a little texture to the dish. Of course, cut em how you like though!

      The basil just needs to be torn into random sized pieces. Nothing too strenuous.

Step two: Making the Bolognaise Sauce

§  Take a large frying pan with high sides or just a deep pan and start to cook the minced beef on a medium heat. I usually dry fry the mince first so that the other ingredients can then fry/cook in its fat, meaning that I don’t have to add any extra oil. Feel free to add any oil if you think it needs it.

§  When the mince is browned, add your onions and garlic, mixing them in thoroughly.

§  After about 5 minutes add the carrots.

§  Another 5 minutes later add in your tomato puree, salt and pepper, can(s) of chopped tomato or passata and cheeky dash of red wine if you wish. Mix them all in together, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20minutes. Quickly throw in the basil when simmering is underway.

Step Three: Making the cheesy béchamel sauce

      This is the creamy white sauce that goes on the top of the lasagne. I add cheese to mine (technically making it a Mornay sauce if you wanna be all French about it!), if you are doing it the cheesy way like me then it is the same as before, be prepared and grate your cheese before getting started on the sauce.

      Take a medium sized pan and melt the butter on a medium heat. Add in the flour and mix it constantly with a wooden spoon.

      When nice and mixed, add in the milk gradually, bringing the heat up and keeping stirring.

      Making this sauce does take a bit of practice as you have to feel when the sauce is reaching the correct thickness. Hopefully your sauce will start to look (and feel when stirring) like a thickish blended soup. At this point you can take it off the heat add the cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg seasoning.

       If your sauce does not reach this thickness after 10 minutes of stirring on a high heat then add another tablespoon of flour and continue stirring. Keep stirring it for a further 5 minutes and if there is still no improvement, add another tablespoon. So on and so on.

      If it all goes wrong you can always start again, no panic. My Dad attempted a béchamel sauce many times in a row once and completely failed. That night we had toast for tea and we will remember it forever. Look on the bright side- you have a bolognaise sauce that you can just eat with pasta ;)

Step Four: the Big Layer up

§  Take a casserole dish/lasagne type dish… you all know what they look like! And put 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom. Cover the bolognaise layer with lasagne sheets.

§  Copy this another 2 times.

§  On top of the final layer of lasagne sheets, pour on the cheese sauce so that the lasagne is covered.

Step Five: Cooking

      The wonderful thing about a homemade lasagne is that you don’t have to oven cook it immediately. You can make it the night before or in the morning of. In which case, when you are ready to cook it, preheat the oven to 180 and then cook for 30-40 minutes.

      If preparing and cooking the lasagne in the same innings, turn the oven onto 180 just before you begin making the cheesy béchamel sauce and then it will be nice and hot in time.

      When cooking the lasagne please don’t be so complacent as to go shopping, natter upstairs with your flatmate or get distracted watching The Voice, keep an eye on it as all ovens and all lasagnes are different. If the top begins to burn yet the inside is not cooked enough, simply cover it with Kitchen foil.

Buono appetito!

Mmmmm what a delicious meal it was. Don’t forget you can be all English about it and have some garlic bread on the side, or a little bit of cold, crunchy, cucumber infused salad to complement the hot tomatoey lasagne.

Good home-cooked masterpieces are back in business. Keep it up guys and when the going gets tough, flee to the kitchen, rest up, cook up a storm and venture back onto the path with energy, direction and a happy tummy! 

Jo*