Thoughts from Lasagne

I recently came across a quote saying "if you can organise your kitchen, you can organise your life". It reminds me of my late mother, who not only singlehandedly managed her kitchen to feed many mouths EVERYDAY (no weekend breaks), but also gave comfortable lives to her children.

She worked her kitchen with ferocious efficiency. On the rare occasions when I have to break into the kitchen to prepare for my Food and Nutrition practical tests, she would gladly dish me plenty of advice, but also chide me for my habit of using too many utensils, leaving a big pile of washing at the end. To her (and also to my domestic helper Indar), the chore of everyday cooking can be lighten by efficient cooking, which involved using just 1 wok and 1 pan for 3-4 dishes, and constant washing along the way, so that you don't get the pain of having a huge pile of washing at the end. After all, a dishwasher is not a luxury we have.

So when I was attempting this Lasagne recipe from Jamie's Italy, I wasn't comfortable with its use of 4 pans. Too technical for someone like me, who is still struggling with keeping my kitchen neat while cooking. And I don't own so many pans.

I altered the recipe slightly, using ready made pasta and replacing roasted shredded meat with minced beef. Not sure what went wrong, but the sauce was too juicy the first night we ate it. When we had the remaining half for lunch the next day, it was just perfect.

Lasagne alla minced beef
serves 2-3

Lasagne
Parmesan cheese for grating
mozzarella cheese (according to taste, I personally prefer my pasta to be not overly cheesy)
a handful of fresh sage leaves, if available
olive oil

for tomato sauce:
150-200g minced beef
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 tin plum tomatoes

for white sauce:
300 ml milk
sprig of parsley
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 onion, sliced
2 black peppercorns (I used white ones)
30g butter
20g plain flour (quantity estimation, as I've divided the original quantity by 3)
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
sea salt and ground black pepper


Heat a pan and add some oil. Fry garlic until lightly coloured, add the minced beef. When it's more or less cooked, add the rosemary, bay leaves and tomatoes. Cook gently for 45 minutes with a lid on.

When the tomatoes are nearly done, put milk, parsley, nutmeg, onion and black peppercorns into another pan and bring gently to boil.

Melt the butter in a 3rd pan and add the flour. Mix well, then strain the milk and add slowly, stirring well until you have a thick smooth white sauce. Bring to boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, then take off heat and add Parmesan. (adjust consistency with milk or flour if necessary)

Preheat oven to 180C and butter a baking dish.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, add some oil, blanch the dry lasagne stripes 2-3 at a time until they are relatively cooked, then cover bottom of dish with the pasta. Top with some tomato meat sauce, then some white sauce followed by Parmesan. Repeat layers until tomato meat sauce is finished. Top with white sauce, sprinkle more Parmesan and scatter mozzarella and sage leaves over. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 45 minutes until golden.

So we had our dinner past 8.30pm again. It was good, but being a slow cook, I will do it only if I have more time.