| My lasagna recipe from last Sunday... |
[26 Jul 2004|11:12pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 cheerful |
] |
Mincemeat Lasagna
Serves 10 people
Ingredients
Flat Pasta Noodles (Fettucine) 500 g
Lamb Mince 1.5 Kilos
Mozarella Cheese, grated 400 g
Parmesan Cheese, grated 200 g
Processed Cheese (Amul, Britannia or Kraft works just fine), grated 1 cup
Onions, chopped fine 250 g
Garlic, chopped fine 6-8 large petals
Oregano, dried and crumbled 1 teaspoon
Basil, dried and crumbled 1 teaspoon
Pasta Sauce (Off-the-shelf Campbell's or Prego; Try one with olives, gherkins and mushrooms- goes well with meat) 500 g
Salt, about 2 teaspoons
Eggs, whisked 4 pieces
Olive oil 2 tablespoons
Preparation
Heat up the olive oil in a wok or deep pan.
Toss in the onions and saute until translucent pink.
Toss in the garlic and saute for another 3-4 minutes.
Sprinkle the oregano and basil and saute for 2-3 minutes more.
Add the lamb mince, mix well and allow to cook, stirring from time to time.
The mince usually takes about 15 minutes to cook. Best way to know would be to check the consistency- the mince should separate out well and shrink in quantity to about 3/4th
of what you dumped in. Also the 'raw' smell should disappear completely.
Once the mince is cooked, add the pasta sauce, mix well and allow to cook on a medium flame for another 5-8 minutes.
Once the kitchen starts smelling of tomatoes and olives you can turn the flame up so that all the extra water evaporates.
Add about half a cup of parmesan cheese and mix well.
Add the salt and stir till mixed well.
Cover and set aside.
Boil water in a large vessel and add about a teaspoon of olive oil.
Gently drop in the pasta noodles and allow to cook al dente. That's about 5 minutes. Take care not to overcook the noodles.
Strain the noodles once done, add another teaspoon of olive oil, cover and set aside.
Grease a baking dish with ordinary butter.
Lay out the pasta noodles in a criss cross pattern with the ends hanging out over the side of the dish.
Spoon in a layer of mince.
Mix the processed cheese and the whisked egg together.
Pour some of it onto the layer of mince.
Sprinkle a layer of parmesan.
Sprinkle a layer of mozarella.
Add another criss cross layer of pasta noodles.
Continue alternating the layers until the baking dish is nearly full.
Now fold over the hanging ends of the pasta noodles.
Sprinkle a final layer of mozarella. You can go overboard with this layer if you like your lasagna to look cheesy-brown.
Put in an oven preheated to 300 degrees celsius.
Bake for about 15 minutes until the top layer of cheese turns slightly brown. Take care not to overcook or the top layer of pasta becomes too crispy to enjoy.
If you like your lasagna mild, you can have it as it is. If you like it hotter you could add some tabasco before you dig in.
Enjoy...!
|
|