Lasagna for Tea

I was busy earlier on in the kitchen again.  I had been going to do a stir fry with some of the pork for tonight's tea, but as we have had the pork for a couple of days thought it was necessary to have something else for a change and I had some mince in the fridge that needed using up.  The Pork will not be wasted though and will be had for Thursday night's tea, when I will go through the fridge and sort out any veg that needs using up before I restock for the weekend.

So Lasagna it was then.  

Ingredients:

1 large jar (not standard of a bought tomato sauce) or;

2 tins of canned tomatoes blitzed in the food processor; or

2 x 1 pint jars of home canned tomatoes.

Home made Lasagna sheets or

Bought Lasagna sheets

1kg mince

2 pints of home made white sauce (I used the Roux method)

1 Wheel of Godminster cheddar

Chopped onion

Pinch of mixed herbs

3 small cloves of garlic, crushed,

Plenty of white pepper;

2 teaspoons of vegetable bouillion

2 ice cube tray pods of home made stock - beef

2 ice cube tray pods of veggie stock

a pinch of Oregano;

I used bottled tomatoes, a chopped onion, some mixed herbs, crushed garlic (about three cloves), plenty of white pepper, some veggie and beef stock, some vegetable Bouillion and then a final dusting of oregano to make the pasta sauce.

Method:

Basically I fried my onion with a good pinch of mixed herbs, plenty of white pepper and fried off in a little oil until the onions are just starting to go golden.  I then added in the mince a little at a time and once that was all combined and cooked off I then added the tomato sauce and stirred until it had combined well. I then crushed about 3 cloves of garlic into the mixture, stirred it for a little while again.  I then took this off the heat and put to one side to cool a little.

I made a white sauce to the consistency of single cream and then added in 3/4 of a wheel of Godminster cheddar.  It was the first time that I had used the Godminster cheese wheel for a sauce but it will not be the last time.  It packs a powerful punch and is extremely tasty.  The last quarter is grated and then added to the last layer of sauce.

Starting with the Lasagna sheets I filled the base of a deep Pyrex dish until the base was covered, then added a thick layer of the mince/tomato sauce.  Then added more Lasagna sheets until covered and then the cheese sauce.  Layering up just below the top of the dish.  If you fill it to the top then you will need an undertray to catch any drips.   Finish with a layer of sauce and then add grated cheese to create a cheesy crunchy topping and cook in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. I used Gas mark 5. until golden and crunchy.

The Lasagna before going into the oven.

The Lasagna just out of the oven.

Plated up and ready to eat.

I simply served this with bread and butter; we had a corner each of the Lasagna and it was extremely tasty and very filling.  We have plenty left over for tomorrow's lunch time, when it will be a ping job in the microwave.  Nothing goes to waste around here.

I even keep butter papers in the fridge.  Not the usual thing to keep in there but they can be very useful.  Do any of you have any ideas as to what I use them for?  Look forward to hearing from you on this score.

Tomorrow evening we may well have a scratch tea on the basis that we have eaten extremely well for the last week or so.  Have to lighten things up every so often.  

Right must get on.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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