Lasagne

Who is not in love with everyone’s favourite cat?  I love Garfield..I always get a chuckle reading the comic strip.  You know there is something we have in common though…our love for pasta..more specifically Lasagne.  And aren’t you guys lucky today…I’m sharing with you my world famous recipe for traditional Italian lasagne.  It’s made with egg noodles, Ragu and Béchamel Sauce.  Enjoy

Ragu Sauce

• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 3 Tbsp Earth Balance Butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 cup chopped bacon, maple flavoured
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 600g ground moose meat or extra lean beef
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp  Sorghum Flour GF
• 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chicken or beef stalk
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 tsp oregano
• some freshly grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

1.  Chop up the bacon, onion and celery. 

Heat the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat.  Add the onions, celery, bacon and fry for 5 minutes, stirring.

2.  Stir in the garlic and ground meat, stirring until the meat has lost it’s redness.  Lower the heat and cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

3.  Increase the heat to medium, stir in the tomato paste and the flour and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. 

Stir in the tomatoes, stock and wine and bring to a boil, stirring.  Season and stir in the oregano and nutmeg, salt and pepper. 

Cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring.  You want most of your liquid to be cooked off and the sauce nice and thick.  Your sauce is now ready to be used. 

Bechamel Sauce

• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves
• 1 onion
• 4 Tbsp Earth Balance butter, plus a little extra for greasing
• 6 Tbsp Sorghum flour GF
• 1 1/4 cup light cream (10% or 1/2 and 1/2)
• large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste

1.  Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the bay leaves.  Press the cloves into the onion, add to the pan, and bring to a boil.  Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

2.  Strain the milk into a jug and rinse the pan.  Melt the butter in pan and stir in flour.  Stir for 1 minute, then gradually pour in the milk, stirring constantly so that the mixture does not stick to bottom of pan. 

3. Cook the sauce for 3 minutes, then pour in the cream and bring it to a boil.  Remove from heat and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

Lasagne Noodles

• 2 cups Semolina Flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

This is really easy to make.  In a bowl add the flour, then 2 eggs and oil. 

Mix together and dump onto counter.  Bring mixture together and make a well in center of mound. 

Kneed dough until you have a smooth ball.  Wrap in saran wrap until ready to be used.

Now it’s time to make the lasagne sheets.  

Using a serrated knife, slice 1 inch slices and roll through the pasta roller.  Then boil in hot water for a couple of minutes, pat dry and set aside until ready to assemble lasagne. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To assemble the Lasagne

Assemble in this order. 

• pasta
• ragu sauce
• pasta
• béchamel sauce
• cheese
• pasta
• ragu
• pasta
• béchamel sauce
• top with cheese

 

 

 

 

 

BAKE IN A 375F OVEN FOR 40 MINUTES, COVERED WITH FOIL, THEN REMOVE FOIL AND CONTINUE TO BAKE UNTIL CHEESE GOLDEN AND BUBBLY.