Tzatziki Dip
November 11, 2019
Tzatziki dip. This cool and creamy sauce is absolutely perfect for any Meditteranean meal. Cool and creamy set greek yoghurt mixed with
Menu
Lasagne. I love a good Lasagne, I mean who doesn’t? When I was Little there was a Cartoon on Tv. It was called Garfield.
Garfield was the star of the show. An overweight ginger cat who lives with his owner along with a dim loveable dog called Odie. Garfield loved Lasagna and pretty much spent his time winding Odie up and eating Lasagne!
I was small when this show was on TV and I Didn’t really know what Lasagne was! We never ate Lasagne at our house. This was because my Mum and Dad were very plain eaters, which meant I was as well!
The word Lasagne is the word to describe the wide flat pasta sheets. These are then used to layer up the dish with. The recipe is very old, with origins from Ancient Greece. Although the dish was very different from what we know it to be today. It was made from a thin bread. Which back then was placed in boiling water. It resembled a form of pasta dough. The Greek word ‘Lagana’ means a type of flatbread.
The Lasagne that we know and love today, originated in Naples, Italy in the 16th Century. The Naples version is very different from the Lasagne we know today!
It was made from sausage meatballs and hard-boiled eggs, I’m not sure I would want Hard boiled egg in my lasagne, perhaps you do? Each to their own I suppose!
As with all Italian dishes there are regional variations and the Lasagne is no different, some of the regional variations have olives in, some have different types of vegetables and others different types of meats. Basically anything goes and why not! Cooking is an expression of personality.
The Lasagne version that is the most widely known is the ‘Lasagne Al Forno’. Lasagne means flat pasta and Al Forno means to ‘oven bake’. The Literal translation is ‘flat pasta oven bake!’
My Recipe is based on the this widely known version, the Lasagne Al Forno. (Feel free to throw some boiled eggs in it…if that’s your thing, there’s no judgement here!)
It is beautifully layered up with a traditional Ragu, freshly made pasta sheet, Creamy homemade white sauce and topped off with a strong and tangy Mature cheddar cheese. It is then Oven-baked.
It is simply divine with Garlic bread!
This is an easy recipe to put together. If you are making the pasta and the white sauce from scratch then it can be a little time-consuming. However, I do recommend that you make them yourself! Homemade food tastes a lot better than the store bought stuff! Even if you only do it the once! Be warned though! Once you make this version it will be very hard to go back to store bought ingredients!
The Ingredients are as follows:
To start your lasagne, you will need to make a classic Italian Ragu sauce.
To do this, mince the Garlic and the carrot up using a fine mincer. Next, finely dice the onions and Peel and chop your vine-ripened tomatoes.
Once you have the vegetables prepared for your Lasagne, Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add in your onions and garlic. Saute over a medium to low heat, taking care not to caramelise the onions or burn the garlic. You want the onions to go translucent. (slightly see through)
When your Onions have gone a little see through, add in your Mince beef. Pan fry on a medium to low heat until the mince has browned, taking care not to scorch the meat.
Once your meat for your Lasagne has browned off, add in your minced carrot, chopped tomatoes and the glass of red.
Once your meat for your Lasagne has browned off, add in your carrot, tomatoes and the glass of red. Over medium heat, allow your ragu to reduce. The tomatoes will break down. This will leave you with a wonderful Ragu sauce which will form the main base for your lasagne.
Once your Ragu has reduced and has thickened, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Finely slice up the basil leaves and mix them into the ragu. Season and set aside ready for you to build your Lasagne
Taking a large baking dish, spoon a layer of ragu in the bottom of it. Making sure that the layer is even across the bottom of the baking dish.
Use about half of your ragu for this layer as you will need the other half for the next layer.
Next, cover the ragu with a layer of freshly made pasta, cutting the pasta sheets as you need to. Taking care to make sure that all of the ragu has been covered.
Try not to overlap the pasta sheets by any more than a slight margin.
Once you have you pasta layer on, take the bechamel sauce and pour a thick layer over the pasta sheets.
Using the back of a spoon or a spatula spread the bechamel evenly across the pasta sheets. Be sure to get an even coverage over the pasta.
repeat the layers again in the same order of Ragu, pasta sheets and then becheaml to form the next half of your lasagna.
All that you need to do now is to grate the cheddar cheese over your lasagne and pop it into the oven for 30 to 35 minutes at 180 degrees.
Once cooked, let it cool slightly before cutting it and serving it with some freshly made garlic bread for you and your friends or family.
This really is a great recipe and you really should try to make it. Once you have all the main parts the assembly is easy! Let me know what you think in the comments box below!
Hopefully you are inspired! Happy cooking
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