Crossposted from this old LJ post so I have my recipes in one place on oeconomist.infotrope.net.
Carol at work asked for my lasagna recipe, and since I’m typing it up I figured I’d post it here.
It all starts with my generic spaghetti sauce. The following makes an enormous batch that will serve for much more than just one lasagna, but that’s OK, because it freezes well. Usually I make this first, and use it for spaghetti, then freeze a couple of litres to use for lasagna later.
- 2kg lean minced beef
- 3 onions, diced small
- 1 full head garlic, crushed or chopped small
- olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh chilli from a jar (sambal oelek type thing)
- 1 bottle Italian tomato sauce
- 1-2 tins tomatoes (diced)
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 bag mushrooms (as in, those paper bags they have)
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- ground black pepper
Brown meat in a frying pan or wok, in small batches, and set aside in a bowl. It’s important to do it over a high heat and in small batches so that it gets brown without too much juice coming out and making it just boil in its own juices. You shouldn’t really need any oil for this, especially if you have a non-stick pan or a well-seasoned wok.
In the pot you’re going to make the pasta sauce in (and it had better be a big one), saute the onions, garlic, and chilli in a little oil until the onions are translucent. Put the meat in with this, including any juices from the bowl it’s been sitting in.
Add tomatoes, Italian tomato sauce, and wine until you have a big sloopy pot-full of proto-spaghetti-sauce. It should be wetter than you want it to be in the end, so that it can cook down a bit. The exact amounts are a bit vague; you might need more or less tomatoes, but it doesn’t matter much. Add in half the oregano at this stage.
Leave it to simmer for a couple of hours over a low heat, stirring occasionally. I usually do this on a weekend afternoon, and just give it a stir from time to time as I wander past.
About half an hour before you want to eat: slice the mushrooms and throw them in along with the rest of the oregano. Add pepper at this stage too, to taste. Maybe a little salt, but I don’t use it — use your own taste.
Boil up some pasta and serve this over it along with parmesan cheese. You should have enough for 4-6 serves of pasta plus two big containers (say, 2L each) to freeze.
Now the actual lasagna recipe.
- 2L spaghetti sauce, as above
- 500g ricotta (I get the low fat one)
- 375g grated mozzarella (I buy the bags they have at the supermarket)
- 1 packet fresh lasagna sheets from the refrigerated cabinet
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- some pepper
You also need a big lasagna dish for this, obviously.
In a bowl, mix the ricotta, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the mozzarella, the nutmeg, and some pepper by mushing it all together with a fork. The resulting mess should be kind of dry and crumbly — that’s how you estimate how much mozzarella to put in. Don’t use more than half, though.
Layer ingredients in the lasagna dish as follows:
- A thin layer of spaghetti sauce — this is just to stop the bottom layer of pasta from sticking
- A layer of pasta
- Spaghetti sauce
- Sprinkle of ricotta cheese mix — I pick it up in my hands and just crumble it all over
- Repeat previous 3 layers until you run out of pasta — you’ll probably have 4 pasta layers if you do it the way I do
- Spaghetti sauce
- Ricotta mix — a thick layer
- Remainer of the mozzarella sprinkled on top
Bake at 180C for 45 mins, approximately, or however long it takes for it to become golden-brown on top. Assuming I’ve got the spaghetti sauce pre-made and defrosted, this whole thing takes about 1 hour from start to finish, and only dirties one bowl plus the lasagna dish itself.
Serves 8, and freezes really well.
If you want to use the dried lasagna sheets, I believe you have to boil them for about 3 minutes first, just enough to make them pliable but not to totally cook through. But I am too lazy for that.
