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Lasagne - revisited

My old lasagne recipe is, to be honest, far too rich. Lasagne is probably my favourite dish in the world, always has been since I was a kid, and it is the dish I have cooked more times than any other (except maybe for bacon sandwiches).

Since writing the recipe on here, I have tweaked it quite a bit, and I think, pretty much perfected it now.

The old recipe uses a lot of wine, and spends a very long time in the oven. This makes a lovely rich bolognaise but then, with the addition of the cheese and milk, it gets a bit too much.

So here it is, updated:

Ingredients, for the bolognaise

  • A “pod” of mince from William Rose
  • An onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 small tin of tomato purée
  • 1 pack, or tin, of chopped tomatoes
  • A glass of nice red wine
  • 3 bay leaves
  • Dried oregano

For the white sauce:

  • 50G Butter
  • Pint of full cream milk
  • Plain flour
  • Nutmeg
  • Cheddar cheese (I know, not very authentic, but who cares)

Heat up some olive oil in a large casserole dish (le crusset if you can justify spending £100 on a dish, which I can, as I use it every day). Chop up the onion and throw it in. Let it gently cook until nicely soft. Mince up the garlic and throw that in along with some salt and pepper and cook for a further minute. Turn off the heat, remove the onion/garlic mixture from the dish and set aside. A dash more oil, heat back up high and in goes the mince. Cook until nicely browned all over, then scoop the tomato puree in and give it a good stir so all the  meat is coated. Next in goes the chopped tomatoes, the bay, and the onion/garlic mixture, oregano and the wine. Mix well, season and add some water to get quite a loose consistency, but not too watery. This needs to gently simmer on the hob for half an hour or so, at which point you can turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit.

The white sauce. Put the butter in a pan on a gentle heat (a medium to large saucepan) and let it melt. Now add the flour (yes we are making a roux) bit by bit. I keep a tea strainer in the flour container, and sieve the flour in. I don’t know how much you need, but I usually use about a tea strainer and a half. Add it gradually and mix with a wooden spoon. Eventually all the moisture will be soaked up into the flour and you will be left with a sticky lump in the pan. Let that cook off for a few minutes, and then start adding in the milk. Again, just a bit a time, letting the flour/butter mixture absorb the milk before adding more. You might not need the whole pint of milk. Once it is all added, let that cook for a while - it will thicken as you do. You are aiming for a reasonably thick sauce, but still quite loose - it will thicken up more when you add the cheese. If it is lumpy, you can either use a whisk to try and break it down a bit, or use a large sieve to get the lumps out. Season, and grate some nutmeg in, not too much though. Now for the cheese. Two handfuls is about as accurate as I can be as I have never weighed or measured anything. Let it melt, and keep it on a very low heat, stirring occasionally.

Now the construction. Take your dish, something quite large and ceramic. Grease it well with butter, then add a layer of bolognaise. I keep it quite thin, you need to cover the bottom of the dish completely but not too deep. Now arrange your lasagne sheets over the bolognaise to cover, filling in any gaps with broken bits (never overlap). Pour over some of the sauce and spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon. Again, not too thick but enough to cover the pasta. Repeat this process until the dish is full, finishing with a layer of the white sauce. I generally manage to get 4 layers of pasta in. Microplane some parmesan over the top to give a nice crunchy crust and chuck it in the oven, medium heat for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the top is crisp (but not black) and the pasta is cooked through.

Posted 20 October 2009 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Moroccan shoulder of lamb

This concoction went down very well with my parents. As with all the recipes, it is a mish-mash of different ideas I have found on the net, coupled with whatever ingredients I have - more often then not, these experimental dishes come out lovely. Trouble is I nearly always forget what I did, which is basically the only reason for writing this blog.

So we had a shoulder of lamb with a spice crust - I say crust, it wasn’t at all crusty, but it did flavour the lamb beautifully - a spice blanket perhaps. I served with couscous and a tomato and okra side.

First make a harrissa.

  • 2 tspn paprika
  • 2 tspn tomato puree
  • 2 tspn red wine vinegar
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 3 tspn ground cumin
  • Chillies, how many is up to you, they have to be red. I have a lovely chilli bush growing in the garden full of small, sweet and fiery little babies - I think I used about 10

All of that lot went in the blender, and then had some further pounding in a pestle and mortar (because my blender is useless). This in itself made me happy - it is so tasty, I could have quite happily ate the lot as it stood. Really zingy and hot, but not overpowering, and also so sweet and flavorsome.

The I made the spice rub for the lamb.

  • 1 star anise (ground to powder in pestle and mortar
  • 1 tspn of ground coriander
  • 1 tspn ground cumin
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • a few sprigs of thyme
  • 2 bay leaves, finely chopped

That lot all went in the pestle and mortar and got bashed to a paste, then I added the harrissa to that.

I scored the shoulder of lamb (£15 from William Rose, amazing cut of meat) and rubbed the spice rub all over the top side, then placed in a dish, covered with clingfilm and left it in the fridge for 24 hours.

The next day (the day of the feast!) I took the lamb out of the fridge at about midday, let it warm to room temp for an hour or so. Remove the clingfilm and replace with foil, leaving space between the meat and foil. This went into the oven at a very low heat for the rest of the day - about 8 hours in total. During this marathon cooking time, the lamb put out loads of juice, a kind of watery fatty liquid. After about 5 hours, I removed some of this liquid as it was absolutely swimming in it. About an hour before serving, I removed the foil and some more of the juice and turned the heat up a bit to try and get a bit of crisp on the skin (didn’t really work but it didn’t matter).

Couscous - which can very often be very boring and bland, is make delicious with a few simple extra ingredients. Boil water, measure out the right amount of cous cous and water (see packet) and gently stir. Then add 1 tspn of ground allspice, a stick of cinnamon and 6 cardamon pods. Put it all in an oven proof bowl and put a plate on top if it. Soak some dried apricots in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain and chop. Add these to the couscous, along with a generous bunch of chopped coriander. Gently stir it all in, cover with foil, and place in the bottom of the oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

Okra - Trim the okra and cut into 1 inch bits. Heat some oil in a large pan until hot and throw i the Okra . give it 5 minutes or so to get them started. Then add in another heady mix of north African spices - 2 tspns each of cumin seeds, coriander seeds and paprika. 2 (more!) cloves of garlic, 2 chillies. Toast the seeds for a few minutes, then blend or bash everything together and thrown them at the Okra. Stir. Now chop up 4 or 5 tomatoes and bung those in too. A bit of water to help it all cook, and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so until the Okra is tender but still has a bite.

Pile couscous on the plate, shred the lamb with a couple of forks (it will fall apart) and place on top, and some of the okra on the side. Delicious. Mum said it was the nicest north African food she had ever had. Happy customer!

Posted 20 October 2009 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Beef Stew

A very simple and cheap stew. Very satisfying. This fed 5 beer-filled hungry lads during a game of poker (plus one not do beer filled, but still very hungry fiancé). The ideal poker dinner is one that can be prepared way before the event, and with minimum effort to get it from oven to table, so we can eat, and then carry on losing our money.

This is a great recipe, no finesse required - chop and chuck in a pot. you could use any veg instead of or in addition to the ones I used.

  • 1kg stewing steak (Sainsbury’s had 2 packs for £6)
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 sticks celery
  • A turnip
  • An onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • A pint of ale, bitter, or stout
  • Stock
  • Tomato purée
  • Plain flower
  • Bay leaves and fresh thyme

Chop the meat up into chunks, bite-sized. Don’t worry about trimming off any fat. Brown in a large casserole  on a high heat with some oil. Brown it in 2 batches to avoid over-crowding, put in a bowl and set aside. Roughly chop all the veg and bung them in the same pot, add more oil if necessary. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes on a high heat until they start to brown. Add a teaspoon of tomato purée, 2 bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper and some plain flour (maybe a tablespoon or so) - stir it all in well.

Pout in the ale. (I used Badger Beer Golden champion, which is a quite fruity. Bitter, any ale, and Guinness would all be fine too I reckon.) Dissolve a stock cube in 200ml of boiling water, and add a teaspoon of Marmite too, and pour this into the pot. Add the meat and any juices that have gathered in the bottom of the dish, stir it all together, put the lid on and bung it in the oven for about 4 hours on a medium/low heat (gas 3).

Served with tagliatelle for minimum fuss. The meat was soft and delicious, with a rich dark sauce and plenty of lovely soft vegetables - glorious. Probably cost not much more than £12, or £2 per person.

Posted 11 April 2009 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Pate

Smoked Mackerel Pate - so simple, so satisfying

Buy a pack of smoked mackerel. Peel any dark slimy skin off the bottom, bung it in a bowl with one teaspoon of strong horseradish (I have that weak creamy rubbish), 4 or 5 teaspoons of yoghurt, creme frachie or even mayo. Salt, black pepper, juice of a lemon. Mash it up with a fork, giving it aa good stir and it is done.

On crusty bread it just can’t be beat.

Or can it…..

Chicken Liver Pate

400 grams of chicken liver, a large onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf, some brandy.

Chop the onion finely, fry gently in 50g of butter until really soft. Add the chopped liver, herbs, seasoning  and garlic and cook through for a good 10 minutes, or until the liver is cooked. Turn off the heat, add a tablespoon or two of brandy (I used Armagnac as that is what I had) and stir in. Let it all cool right down.

Once cool, pour into a blender and blitz into a paste - how coarse is up to you, I like it lumpy!

Spoon it into a suitable dish, smooth the top down with the back of a spoon. Now melt some butter and pour it over the top. Place a bay leaf into the melted butter and allow it to cool before putting it in the fridge to allow the butter to set.

Then, eat.

Posted 30 January 2009 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Tartiflette

Following our skiing trip to Meribel this January, I was inspired to make a regional dish of the Savoie that we enjoyed - Tartiflette.

Take a load of potatoes (I used a 2KG bag I think) and boiled in their skins until just tender. Drain and allow to cool until you can handle them, then squeeze the skins off with your fingers (this is a very messy way of peeling potatoes but you do get a lovely round smooth surface to them, and it was quite fun). Then chop into slices - how thick is up to you, I went for quite thick slices of about 1cm.

Finely chop a large onion and fry in some butter until soft. Add a large handful of lardons (good quality bacon will suffice, cut into lumps) and cook some more. I also added garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper.

I used my large terracotta dish for this - whatever dish you use, it has to be round! Pile half the potatoes in a nice even layer on the bottom of the dish, then spread the bacon and onion mixture over this, then layer the rest of the potatoes over the top. I then poured over half pint of double cream mixed with half a pint of milk - that is what I had - a pint if single cream would be fine too I reckon, but a pint of double might be too rich.

Then the most important bit - the cheese!

I bought a whole Reblochon from a rather expensive cheese shop - it was £11.50 which is a lot, but this dish did serve about 12 people. I cut the bottom off the cheese and placed it on top of the potatoes, and that went in the oven for probably 45 minutes to an hour (wasn’t counting) - until the cheese has melted and you are left with a crispy bit of cheese skin on the top.

Absolutely delicious - simple, luxurious, filling, a real crowd pleasure.

In France this is served by itself, with a simple green salad. It is so filling you don’t need any meat with it, andyou certainly won’t need to eat for a while after. I served it at a family party at our house with racks of lamb, home made beef kebabs, salad and lots of bread (and lots of champagne!).

Posted 30 January 2009 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Chicken in cheese and tarragon sauce

Pretty much made this one up, but it is a common recipe and was always a favourite of mine whenever Mum cooked it.

I used a whole chicken and cut it up into pieces, it took ages but apparently it is cheaper than buying ready cut bits of meat - next time I might not bother going to all the trouble (actually since writing I have done it again, and again used a whole chicken - it was much quicker to cut up second time around).

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, whatever size you like. Heat a knob of butter (approx 25g) in a large pan and thrown in the chicken along with a few sprigs of fresh tarragon and some seasoning. Cook until the chicken is slightly browned and remove from the pan, leaving the juices and any remaining butter in the pan.

Take a large white onion and finely chop. Chuck it into the pan and add 2 or so glasses of white wine. Cook this down for a while (10 minutes) on a medium heat until half the wine has reduced. Add 3 or 4 cloves of minced garlic and turn down the heat and let the garlic cook for a minute or two.

Now add half a pint of double cream, and into this crumble some nice cheese. I used some old dolcelatte I had hanging around in the fridge, and some grated cheddar (on second attempt I used Gruyère, both were equally as tasty). While that is all melting together nicely take a large bag of spinach and chop it up. Also chop up a few more sprigs of tarragon. Thrown all that into the cheese sauce, and the chicken, and stir well.

Now it is ready to go in the oven - I pour the whole mixture so far into a large terracotta dish and bung it in the oven at a medium to high temp for as long as it takes really - minimum of about half an hour to make sure the chicken is cooked through, but longer will make the sauce stickier and you might even get it to go a bit brown and crispy on the top.

Serve with pasta.

Posted 21 January 2009 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Lasagne

On la menu ce soir…

Lasagne, my all time favourite (one of them anyway). This will feed 8 hungry friends (there are only 6 coming round but I know there will be no leftovers for Becky - sorry Becky).

For the ragu / meat sauce

  • Large white onion
  • Lots of garlic (about 5 large cloves)
  • 4 bay leaves
  • Two packs of mince
  • Two small tins of tomato purée
  • One carton of chopped tomatoes
  • Bottle of vin rouge

Finely chop the onion and gently soften in some olive oil. Once quite soft, add minced garlic and season. Cook for bit longer, then remove and set aside. Bung the mince in the same pan (I use my big le creuset) with some more oil and brown. Once brown, add the tomato purée and mix in. Chuck the onion/garlic mixture in, with the bay leaf and the chopped tomatoes. Then in goes the red wine. How much is up to you, and will depend on how long you have to cook it. Mine is going to be in there for about 5 hours, so plenty of wine will be used. I put in over half a bottle to begin with, and may add more if it starts to dry out during cooking.

Stir it all well, put the lid on and put it in the oven on a low heat and walk away.

(much later)

For the bechamel (I don’t know measurements, I just follow my nose)

  • 1 onion
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 6 cloves
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • Milk (about a pint)
  • Butter (about 40 g)
  • Flour
  • Cheddar cheese

Stick the bay leaf to the peeled onion by poking the cloves through it. Put it in a pan with the peppercorns and the milk - about a pint I guess for the amount I am making (some cream wouldn’t hurt if you are feeling very extravagant). Bring gently to just below the boil and remove from heat, then strain and discard all but the milk.

Melt the butter in a pan, then sieve the flour in, stirring well all the time. When the flour has soaked up all the butter and the mixture is becoming quick thick, stop adding flour. This is a roux, if you didn’t already know. You now start adding the milk in small amounts, stirring it in thoroughly before adding some more. Eventually you will have a lovely glossy white sauce. If it is lumpy, sieve it (that’s what they are for). I then chuck in a load of grated cheddar, probably not very authentic but I don’t care.

Now you simply layer the meat, lasagne and bechamel in a dish until it is full, and then cook for an hour or more, until the pasta is soft and you have a nice crunchy top. There is so much ragu that they meat layers are pretty deep, and I probably get only three layers into my dish.

Deep, meaty, rich, luxuriant and delicious. Served with salad and lots of red wine.

Posted 18 September 2008 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Daube

I’ve tried a few different version so this, one of my all time favourites, Daube Provençal. I think the best I ever had was in Bonne Maman in Régusse (Provence) which was the most unappetising looking plate of food, lumps of grey-brown meat with some carrots on the side on some pasta - but my god it was about the best thing my mouth has ever known.

Today’s version goes like this (this is half made up, and half taken from a handful of recipes I found on the net, and also influenced by what I have in the cupboard).

Dice the meat (I used steak) into bite sized chunks. I like it nice and random.

Put the meat in a bowl with a roughly chopped onion, 5 or 6 peeled cloves of garlic, some bay leaves, pepper corns, cloves, juniper berries, bunch of thyme and some rosemary (probably not authentic, but I had some left over that needed using) and salt. Then add a bottle of red wine, stir it up and stick it in the fridge. I also added a parsnip as it was going to go to waste otherwise. If I had them, I would have also added: celery, parsley and orange peel. That all goes in the fridge and marinades for a long time, long as possible (I only had a few hours).

Remove the meat from the marinade, pat dry and dust in flour. Brown it off in a pan (usually best in batches or about a handful in size at a time) with some olive oil and set it to one side.

Chop up another onion, quite coarsely, and fry that off in a pan with some lardons until they soften. No oil is needed there, plenty of fat will come out of the lardons (mmmm). I read in one recipe that you should blanche the lardons first before frying them. Don’t know why. I did it, but then I do enjoy going a bit OTT when I cook, I doubt it makes any real difference.

Peel and slice the carrots, whack them in the pan too, then add the meat. Strain the marinade and pour over the meat, top up with water or stock if necessary so the meat is almost covered. Bring slowly to boil, stir, put the lid on and either leave it on the hob to simmer for ages on a low heat, or stick it in the oven. I put mine in the oven as it is out of the way and I am less tempted to fiddle with it ever 10 minutes. Low heat, for as long as you can (4 to 5 hours).

Serve with tagliatelle or mashed potatoes.

Posted 01 September 2008 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off °

Left-over Lamb Curry

Today for dinner is my left-over lamb curry.

Last night it was the Becky’s favourite, Roast lamb with dauphinois potatoes and green beans. The shoulder of lamb (under a tenner from William Rose) gave us second helpings last night, and plenty enough for dinner tonight (and probably lunch tomorrow for me).

I have made this quite a few times now and it is always packed with flavour and very satisfying. This one was no exception, and Becky said “Ganapati standard” - compliments don’t come much higher than that.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large white onion
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 carton of chopped tomatoes
  • Various spices from the shelf
  • 4 tomatoes
  • Half a red pepper
  • 8 mushrooms
  • 4 small red chillies

The spices I used today are: coriander seeds (2 teaspoons), fennel seeds (2 teaspoons), mustard seeds (an amount), some cardamon pods (about 8), some cloves (about 12), 4 bay leaves from the garden, some cinnamon bark (from India), 4 or so star anise, some powdered ginger*, turmeric, and perhaps some others that I can’t think of right now. My general attitude towards spices is chuck in a bit of whatever I have and it usually tastes ok.

* fresh ginger is of course preferable, grated and cooked in with the garlic.

Method:

Finely chop the onion and gently fry it in oil until soft. Crush and chop and mince the garlic, then sprinkle with salt and mash with the side of the knife (for some reason I always do it this way instead of using a crusher, I think a tv chef told me to do so, or something). Stir the garlic paste into the onions and cook for a few minutes.

In a dry frying pan I toasted the spices I didn’t want to either remove or eat whole. I like to remove the cardamons, star anise, cloves and bay leaves from the dish before serving. I like to eat whole the mustard seeds as they look nice and are small enough to be inoffensive. The coriander seeds and fennel seeds are a bit to big and strong to eat whole so I toast them until they start popping and then grind them to powder in a pestle and mortar.

Now all the spices go into the onion, with a bit of water for an infuse. Then in went the tomatoes, pepper and mushrooms (in large chunks) followed by the carton of chopped tomatoes. That is stirred and left to bubble away on a low heat while I start to man-handle the lamb carcass!

I chop all the meat off the carcass in as large a lumps as possible, then strip as much of the fat off as I can. As it is a shoulder, there is loads! I get rid of all the tough or nasty looking bits, and chop the rest up into nice bite-sized chunks and whack it in the pot with everything else.

Then simmer gently for as long as you like really, stirring occasionally to make sure it isn’t burning. I cooked this one for maybe an hour and a half, or perhaps 2 hours - lost track. Doesn’t really matter. I guess eventually everything will go to mush so I just keep an eye on it. Cooked some rice, served by filling a small bowl then turning out onto the plate and ladling the curry around it. Served with Greek yoghurt and Mamma Geeta’s mango chutney (very nice, sold in Sainsbury’s).

Posted 25 August 2008 † admin § Eating and Drinking ‡ Comments Off ° Tagged: