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Lasagna - Listener Andrew.md

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Lasagna

by Listener Andrew

Ragout

Ingredients

  • 1 large carrot
  • Celery: Approximately the same amount as carrot.
  • 1 white or brown onion
  • 1 piece of low fat bacon.
  • 3–4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped finely.
  • Olive oil
  • ~500-600g of mince. Between 50–100% beef mince, with 0–50% pork mince making up the difference. I buy pork mince and split it into 3 or 4 portions glad wrapped in the freezer. Using 100% beef mince will give you a more meaty, direct flavour to the final ragout, while mixing in some pork mince will make it ‘smoother'.
  • 2–4 400g cans of chopped or crushed tomatoes. The more you add the better, but add an 30-60 minutes of simmering for each can.
  • 2 teaspoons of tomato paste
  • 2 cups of chicken stock. I prefer the jellied salt reduced type. You can use beef stock instead, but the ragout will tend toward a more meet sauce flavour than tomato.
  • Cooking wine. You can use red if you put it in as soon as the mince is browned, otherwise white.
  • Optional: chopped red or orange capsicum.
  • Optional: finally chopped chilli
  • 3 dried bay leaves.
  • Herbs: Oregano, or mixed herbs, fresh or dried. chopped fine.
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Optional: Milk, cream or butter

Steps

  1. Start by finely chopping the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bacon. Once chopped place in a large deep pan with a good lug of olive oil on a high heat and brown. Stir frequently. Once the onions are clear and the carrots are soft add the meat. Stir the meat, breaking any lumps till its browned. You can be fairly lazy at this stage and just chuck everything in at once because the dish needs to cook for ages.

  2. Once browned, add the cans of tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken stock, mix it through, add a generous portion of wine, any capsicum or chilli, the bay leaves, and any herbs. At this point it should be really liquidy. Wait until it boils and then bring the temperature down to a medium heat with the lid off. You’ll want to keep it simmering, stirring it occasionally, for at least a couple of hours: the more the better. I aim for 3–4 typically. The final consistency you are aiming for is that sort of goopy mince thing, rather than a meat soup. If you reach it super early, add some water or white wine to thin it down some more, and reduce the heat. While you are waiting you can make the pasta dough, pasta sheets, and roux.

  3. Tip: save seasoning (salt) the ragout till you are done reducing it. the saltiness is relative to the wetness / volume of the food so its really easy to over salt it if you do it too early. When you are seasoning it, you can also pepper, add some milk, cream, or butter to the ragout to give it a smoother consistency.

  4. Pasta: I make about 3 eggs / 300g flour worth of pasta dough, and then roll it into sheets at the thinnest setting, cut approximately 2/3 the length of my oven dish. Remember to flour the finished sheets generously before piling them onto a plate, or the will stick.

  5. With about half an hour to go you need to put a big pot of salted water on to boil and turn the oven up to 180°.

Bechamel

Ingredients

  • 50-75g butter
  • equivalent portion of flour
  • milk
  • parmesan or other cheese.

Steps

  1. You can follow any recipe for white sauce you like. I’m a bit of a hack so I start by putting all the butter into a small deep pan over a medium heat. Once the the butter has melted i start adding flour one spoonful at a time and string it in. You don’t want the butter to brown, so i lift the pot off the element from time to time to manage the temperature. I keep adding flour until its turned to an almost biscuit dough texture. From there, start adding the milk in small quantities and stir it in. I aim for a slightly runnier consistency than might be optimal so that i can add cheese and also leave it sitting around if need be. Turn the heat right down at this point.

Combine

  1. Cook the pasta a couple of sheets at a time on an as needed basis. chuck a colander into the sink or another pot/pan nearby, and use tongs to lift the sheets out to drain for a few minutes before putting them on the meat.

  2. Assembling the lasagna is straight forward: Meat, pasta sheets, roux, repeat. I aim for very thin layers of each. Top it off by grating parmesan over the top. I use a medium sized lasagna dish.

  3. Cook in the oven until the top browns up a golden colour. Ballpark 30-45 minutes?

  4. Eat as is, or serve with a light salad or toasted bread.