Many of Roys friends are great fans of lasagne, though often they buy a premade one at the shops. Recently though, one or two of them have asked Roy if he knows how to make lasagne. Now Roy has a few recipes for lasagne, from the traditional made with bechamel sauce to the thoroughly modern cheese and spinach. He thought that, for a first try, the best to show you would be the simple one he makes when he has a craving. It uses ricotta instead of traditional bechamel sauce, and doesn't involve slaving away over a hot stove. In fact it is perfect for children to make! So this week, Roy Creates Easy, Healthy Lasagne.
You Will Need:
- About 500 to 750 grams of beef mince. Try to get a good quality one. If you don't like beef, you can use chicken mince.
- Some vegetables. You do need an onion, but you can use whatever other vegetables you like. Roy loves his veggies, so he used a carrot, a stick of celery and a zuccini. You can add more if you like vegetables or use less if you don't. It's a great way to hide veggies though for people who don't like them. Just cut them really fine or even put them in the food processor.
- Minced garlic to taste.
- A tin of tomatoes
- A teaspoon of mixed dried herbs
- A bottle of tomato passata
- 500 grams of ricotta. Buy this fresh from the Deli, Roy thinks it's nicer than the ricotta which comes prepacked.
- Shredded cheddar cheese and grated parmesan
- 2 eggs
- A packet of dried lasagne sheets. This works really well with fresh lasagne sheets too, but not everybody can get them. If you use fresh lasagne sheets, just use less liquid or drier mince mixture.
Note: You can add some red wine if you like, this is very traditional but not absolutely necessary.
Method:
- Finely chop all of your vegetables.
- Heat some oil in a big saucepan over a medium heat and add the vegetables. Fry them off for a few minutes. They don't need to be browned.
- Add the meat and fry it off until it looks cooked and slightly dry, breaking up lumps as you go. You might want to reduce the heat to do this to avoid burning. You want to cook any meat juices to ensure there isn't any raw taste.
- Add the tomatoes, herbs and 1/4 to 1/3 of the bottle of tomato passata. Mix it around and leave to simmer. The longer it simmers for the better it will taste. You want a good, thick sauce and if it is too runny turn the heat up and cook it a little longer.
- While your meat is cooking, mash the ricotta, a handful of shredded cheese and the eggs together in a bowl. Roy uses a potato masher.
- When your meat is cooked, layer some lasagne sheets onto the bottom of an oven proof baking dish. Cover with 1/2 the meat and then with 1/3 of the leftover passata and 1/3 of the ricotta mix. Just spread it roughly - it won't stay in separate layers and it will taste great anyway.
- Repeat the layers with more pasta, the rest of the mince, another 1/3 of the passata and another 1/3 of the ricotta.
- Now add one more layer of pasta, top with the rest of the passata and then with the rest of the ricotta.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese and parmesan over the top of the ricotta.
- Bake the lasagne at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes until it is browned and the pasta sheets are cooked. Press a skewer or fork into the lasagne to check this.
- Serve with vegetables or salad and crusty bread (if desired)