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Lasagna
This is a recipe for making a Lasagna that I think is more like traditional Italian Lasagna, and is very simple to make. Serves 4 as part of a meal, or 2 hungry people.
Ingredients
- 1 Pack lasagna sheets. This works with GF Lasagna sheets. Fresh pasta is preferable, but the important thing is to get thin sheets
- 2 mugs of milk
- 3 heaped tablespoons of plain flour. Again, this also works with GF or regular flour.
- 1 jar of pesto - green for a vegetarian Lasagna, red for meat.
- Assorted vegetables - For red I use mushrooms, garlic, peppers. For green carrots, leeks, mushrooms, garlic
- Salt, pepper, seasonings to taste
- (For a meaty lasagna) 1/2 pack of fresh beef mince
- Cheese to top with - both Parmesan and Cheddar work well
Steps
1. Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200C (Fan). You'll need 1 frying pan, 1 large and 1 medium sauce pan, and a glass dish for the final product. Boil a kettle of water.
If the pasta sheets are not fresh, thinly coat them with oil with a brush or some paper towel.
2. Chop the veggies
Finely chop all of the vegetables - the finer the better for mixing the lasagna components.
3. Fry the sauce components
Fry the meat and vegetables (as appropriate). Once they are cooked thoroughly, season to taste, then add the jar of pesto. Mix through and then remove from the heat and put aside.
4. Pre-boil the pasta (if not fresh)
Add the pasta and the boiling water to the larger sauce pan and keep at a boil until the pasta starts to soften. Mix the sheets around to discourage them sticking together. Once this is done, drain the water, replace it with cold water and leave it off the heat.
5. Make the white sauce
Put 1 mug of milk into the medium pan and warm on a medium heat, but don't let it burn Mix the second mug of milk with the flour and whisk with a fork until smooth.
From this point on the process is time-sensetive. You don't want the sauce to become too thick to spread out later, or not have enough moisture to cook the rest of the pasta.
Once the milk in the pan begins to steam, add the milk and flour mix. Stir continuously to avoid lumps. As soon as the mixture begins to thicken, add the vegetable/meat/pesto mix from the frying pan and then stir it through until it's a uniform color and consistency. Remove from the heat and immediately begin step 6.
6. Assemble the Lasagna
Place a single-thickness layer of pasta across the bottom of the glass dish. Cover with a thin layer of sauce mixture. Add another single-thickness layer of pasta, then another thin layer of sauce. Continue making as many layers and as thin as possible to use all of the sauce and all of the pasta sheets. Finish with the final layer of pasta, then cover liberally with cheese.
7. Bake + Serve
Bake for 30-40 mins in the oven. You should ideally have the entire thing end up as one homogeneous consistency. The idea is to be able to cut and serve it like a cake. The cheese on top should be golden brown.
