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.