Author: Saleem
Lasagna
Lasagna
Actually a super versatile dish and not too bad if you make it in parts. Let me show you how to get it right every time.The easiest way to do this is to make the bolognese the day before, then on the day you just have to make the white sauce and put the lasagna togther. The while sauce is also called béchamel which is a French word so I don't know how that happened – is lasagna part French ?Anyway, we don't have time for etymology, lets get on with the recipe.
Ingredients
Bolognese
- 1 cup finely chopped carrots
- 1 cup finely chopped onions
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 3-4 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 1 kg mince meat
- 3-4 tsp dried mixed herbs or Italian seasoning
- 2-3 tbsp tomato puree
- 2-3 leaves basil
White Sauce
- 50 g butter
- 50 g plain flour
- 1 lt Milk non diary milk works fine
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Lasagna
- 1 packet Lasagna sheets
- 50 g Parmesan or as much as you like
Instructions
Bolognese
- Soften the onions and garlic on a medium flame in 3-4 tablespoons of oil.
- Throw in the carrots and celery and continue to sautee until everything is reduced and soft – around 10-15 minutes.
- Add in the mince meat and mixed herbs. Season to taste, around 1 tsp of salt per 500g of mince is a good start.
- Fry until the meat is brown and add the tomato paste.
- No need to add water at this stage as the veg and meat will release water and we need this to be kinda thick.
- Lower the heat, lid and leave for 30 minutes. Throw in a few bay leaves if you have them.
White Sauce
- Same as the Moussaka recipe here. Melt butter in a pan.
- Add the flour, always stirring until it turns into a beige paste, keep stirring otherwise it clumps up. If its browning too fast, turn the heat down a little.
- Add the milk a little at a time, constantly stirring and incorporating.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Lasagna
- Now everything needs to cool a little before you can use it. give it 15 minutes. Take the bay leaves out of the mince.
- OK, so layering, I forget every time. The way to remember is that the white sauce goes under the pasta because that helps to cook it. The meat goes on the pasta, because yep, where else would it go 🙂Butter your lasagna dish well.
- So what do we start with? start with the meat.
- Then the white sauce.
- Then the pasta, and repeat.
- meat on the pasta
- white sauce on the meat
- pasta on the white sauce
- and repeat so you have 3 layers
- top with as much cheese as you like. Admire my layers first.
- In the oven at around 160 degrees C for around an hour or until the cheese is nice and brown.Then the hardest part, it needs to set for an hour after it comes out of the oven, we have never achieved this in our house! Someone is always too hungry to wait and i have to look away as the lasagna is served falling apart!
- Yep it vanished before i could take any pictures of the finished dish!
Aloo Palak / Spinach and Potato Curry
Aloo Palak / Spinach and Potato Curry
Also called Aloo Palak and potato and spinach curry in English.Actually the word Saag just means greens, and you can use different types to make a Saag curry. The two main types are Palak and Sarson, Spinach leaves are known as Palak and mustard greens are known as Sarson.Sarson ka Saag is probably more popular in Pakistan and is normally eaten with a type of corn based chapatti called Makai ki roti. This recipe is nice and quick, and we will use canned spinach leaves. So the proper name is Palak Aloo. If you use fresh left spinach, you will need a lot as it reduces down massively. I would recommend at a couple of 500g bags.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1 medium brown onion finely chopped
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 1 thumb ginger finely chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 3-4 green chillies roughly chopped optional
- ½ can chopped tomatoes or 2 large chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 500 g potatoes potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 500 g can spinach leaves or 2 500g bags fresh spinach leaves
- 1 tsp fenugreek powder optional
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 tpsp ghee or butter
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and keep the heat on medium / high.
- Add the cumin seeds when hot and fry for a couple of minutes until they start browning and smelling lovely.
- Throw in the chopped onions and try until they start browning.
- Add in the chopped ginger and garlic and fry off for a couple of minutes or until they’re just starting to brown.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, green chillies if using, salt, chilli powder if using and turmeric. Mix and let everything heat until it starts bubbling. Then turn the heat to medium and leave for 10 minutes.
- Now the oil should start separating, i.e. you should see oil rising to the top. If not wait a little longer and stir if its starting to stick.
- Now throw in the cubed potatoes and fry until coated.
- Add ½ cup of water and cook for around 15 minutes or until the potatoes are softened.
- Now add the spinach, fenugreek powder if using, garam masala and mix everything together well.
- Over and cook for 15 minutes.
- Mix in the ghee or butter and wait a few minutes for everything to combine.
- Enjoy
Braised Pork Loin Chops
Braised Pork Loin Chops
This is a great way to cook amazing pork chops in one pot and you can't go wrong with the delicious flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 kg pork loin chops any cut is fine
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup white wine optional
- 1 cube chicken stock with ½ litre of boiling water
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper powder
Instructions
- You don't need to do anything with the chops, they're good to go out of the packet. Thickness doesn't matter either.
- Heat some oil in a deep pot on medium / high heat. At this stage you just want to caramelise the chops on the outside really as they will have plenty of time to cook through later.Do two at a time at most so the pot retains its heat.
- The pot might start to stick, just add a little oil and we will get all the stuff of the bottom later.
- Set the pork to one side.
- Finely chop a couple of small onions or 1 medium one. Also roughly chop 3-4 garlic cloves.Use the same pot on medium heat and throw in the onions and fry until translucent – so around 5-7 minutes. After that throw in the garlic and fry for another few minutes.
- Throw in roughly a glass of white wine, turn the heat up to high and reduce.In the meantime boil some water and dissolve a cube of chicken stock in a cup of water.
- Bring the pot back to the boil with the stock and then turn the heat down to medium/low.
- Add around 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of pepper. Check the taste and adjust as per your preference.Now add the pork to the pot. Add more boiling water so that the pork is completely covered. That's all the work done, lid the pot, put the heat down to low and set your timer for around 1 hour.
- After about an hour your pork will be deliciously infused with flavour and melt in your mouth. Enjoy with rice and roasted or boiled vegetables.
