Classic Italian Beef Lasagna
King Prawns in Coconut Sauce
Classic Italian Beef Lasagna
Ingredients for 4 people
300g Lasagna sheets
butter flakes or wafer thin Parmesan slices
Béchamel Sauce (white sauce):
500ml chilled milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
30g butter (don't use any substitutes)
40g plain white flour (no self raising flour)
ground nutmeg
lemon juice (ideally from 1 fresh lemon)
Ragù Bolognese:
How to avoid flour lumps in Béchamel Sauce:
1. Only use proper butter. Don't use substitutes like tub margarine, light spreads, etc. because they contain too much water which thickens as it bonds with the flour and you won't get the buttery flavour which the sauce should have.
30g butter (don't use any substitutes)
40g plain white flour (no self raising flour)
ground nutmeg
lemon juice (ideally from 1 fresh lemon)
Ragù Bolognese:
500g minced beef
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped or sliced
1 bunch of fresh parsley (remove stalks and use a herb cutter to finely chop leaves)
2 tbs tomato puree
2 tins peeled tomatoes (can be chopped)
1 tsp olive oil
2 bay leaves (optional)
red wine (optional)
Cooking Instructions
Ragù Bolognese:
Heat up the olive oil in a pot, then add the minced beef and brown it all over, along with the chopped onions. Once the mince is browned, remove all excess liquid and add the garlic and the tomato puree. Give it all a good stir and fry for a minute, then pour in the peeled tomatoes together with the juice and finally add the parsley, bay leaves and salt, pepper and red wine as required. Simmer the Ragù on the hob at medium heat for at least 30 minutes without lid, stir it occasionally and prepare the Béchamel Sauce in the meantime.
Béchamel Sauce:
Melt the butter in a small pot, stir in the flour and let it fry a few seconds (be careful not to burn the butter) while constantly whisking and then add the milk gradually. Keep whisking until the sauce is smooth. Let it simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes so that it looses it's flour taste and season it to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. Don't overdo it with the nutmeg, just sprinkle a bit on top, stir it in and taste if it is enough or not before adding more and then balance it out with the lemon juice.
Preparation of the Lasagna:
Grease your shallow oven-proof container (i.e. gratin dish) with butter and preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4). Remove the bay leaves from the Ragù Bolognese and cover the bottom of the gratin dish with some Ragù, then put a layer of Lasagna sheets on top, add another layer of Ragù Bolognese and then cover it with a layer of Béchamel Sauce, then again another layer of Lasagna sheets, Ragù Bolognese and Béchamel Sauce and again and again until you are done. The last layer should be Béchamel Sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the Lasagna and top it with some butter flakes or Parmesan.
Place the dish on the middle or the bottom shelve of the oven and bake it until the cheese is golden brown (approx. 20-25 minutes).
Tips and Tricks:
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped or sliced
1 bunch of fresh parsley (remove stalks and use a herb cutter to finely chop leaves)
2 tbs tomato puree
2 tins peeled tomatoes (can be chopped)
1 tsp olive oil
2 bay leaves (optional)
red wine (optional)
Cooking Instructions
Ragù Bolognese:
Heat up the olive oil in a pot, then add the minced beef and brown it all over, along with the chopped onions. Once the mince is browned, remove all excess liquid and add the garlic and the tomato puree. Give it all a good stir and fry for a minute, then pour in the peeled tomatoes together with the juice and finally add the parsley, bay leaves and salt, pepper and red wine as required. Simmer the Ragù on the hob at medium heat for at least 30 minutes without lid, stir it occasionally and prepare the Béchamel Sauce in the meantime.
Béchamel Sauce:
Melt the butter in a small pot, stir in the flour and let it fry a few seconds (be careful not to burn the butter) while constantly whisking and then add the milk gradually. Keep whisking until the sauce is smooth. Let it simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes so that it looses it's flour taste and season it to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. Don't overdo it with the nutmeg, just sprinkle a bit on top, stir it in and taste if it is enough or not before adding more and then balance it out with the lemon juice.
Preparation of the Lasagna:
Grease your shallow oven-proof container (i.e. gratin dish) with butter and preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4). Remove the bay leaves from the Ragù Bolognese and cover the bottom of the gratin dish with some Ragù, then put a layer of Lasagna sheets on top, add another layer of Ragù Bolognese and then cover it with a layer of Béchamel Sauce, then again another layer of Lasagna sheets, Ragù Bolognese and Béchamel Sauce and again and again until you are done. The last layer should be Béchamel Sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the Lasagna and top it with some butter flakes or Parmesan.
Place the dish on the middle or the bottom shelve of the oven and bake it until the cheese is golden brown (approx. 20-25 minutes).
Tips and Tricks:
How to avoid flour lumps in Béchamel Sauce:
1. Only use proper butter. Don't use substitutes like tub margarine, light spreads, etc. because they contain too much water which thickens as it bonds with the flour and you won't get the buttery flavour which the sauce should have.
2. Make sure that the milk is cold or the flour and butter will thicken so fast that you might not stand a chance to blend it smoothly into the milk.
3. Don't pour the milk in too fast because too much milk at once will just swirl around in the pot as you stir which causes the flour and butter to be pushed along with the flow and form lumps instead of being beaten together with the milk.
4. Constantly whisk at a decent speed until the sauce is smooth. If you are too slow or if you stop stirring while it is still thickening, you will allow it to thicken faster at the bottom of the pot. If you can't keep up, remove the pot from the hob before adding the milk and put it back on once you have blended it and then stir constantly until the sauce stopped thickening.
5. Use the ingredients in the correct order and quantity. Don't cheat by adding the flour to the cold milk either because this will not result in a Béchamel Sauce but in thickened milk with butter and the compromise in taste will outdo the risk of having a few flour lumps in the sauce.
3. Don't pour the milk in too fast because too much milk at once will just swirl around in the pot as you stir which causes the flour and butter to be pushed along with the flow and form lumps instead of being beaten together with the milk.
4. Constantly whisk at a decent speed until the sauce is smooth. If you are too slow or if you stop stirring while it is still thickening, you will allow it to thicken faster at the bottom of the pot. If you can't keep up, remove the pot from the hob before adding the milk and put it back on once you have blended it and then stir constantly until the sauce stopped thickening.
5. Use the ingredients in the correct order and quantity. Don't cheat by adding the flour to the cold milk either because this will not result in a Béchamel Sauce but in thickened milk with butter and the compromise in taste will outdo the risk of having a few flour lumps in the sauce.
Run the sauce through a hair sieve or smooth it with a blender.
Simply prepare the Lasagne one day in advance. Layer the sauces, sheets and toppings into your oven-proof dish as described and instead of baking it in the oven, cover it up and keep it refrigerated. The next day, just remove the cover and pop the Lasagne into the preheated oven as described. It will not only save you time on the day, it will also enhance the taste of the Lasagne because all those different flavours will have had more time to blend together.
You could add some grated Parmesan to the Béchamel Sauce or add vegetables (i.e. Zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper, thinly sliced carrots etc.) to the Ragù Bolognese but always make sure that any new ingredients go well together with the rest.
Use high quality mince as it contains less fat than cheap mince, cut down on the cheese or choose cheeses with lower calories (i.e. Edam, Gouda, Mozarella, or half fat instead of Cheddar or Swiss) rather than substituting milk and butter.
King Prawns in Coconut Sauce
Best served with Basmati Rice
Ingredients for 4 people
500g king prawns
1 onion finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed (i.e. in garlic press)
2 jalapeno peppers (green or red)
2 tbs peanut oil
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp curry paste
250 ml coconut milk
Salt
1 lemon in slices
Cooking Instructions
Wash the king prawns and remove the shells if applicable. Wash the jalapeno peppers, cut them in half, remove stem and seeds and chop the jalapenos into chunky pieces.
Heat up the peanut oil in a large saucepan or wok, add and glaze onion,
garlic and ginger. Then add the king prawns and sauté them for about 3 minutes
(until they changed colour). Add Jalapeno Peppers, turmeric and curry paste,
fry for about 1 minute, then pour in the coconut milk and salt it as required. Stir
continuously on low heat for about 3 to 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Serve it with Basmati rice and garnish the sauce with the lemon slices.
Tips and Tricks:
If you don’t have curry paste, you can replace it with 1 tsp curry powder but it’s best to add it just before adding the coconut milk because curry powder turns bitter when burned.
Curry Paste is often used in Thai recipes and can be bought in Thai or
continental food stores.
