May's Lagsane

You know how a lagsane looks like, right?

Well, because I forgot to take a picture of my finishing product the other day *knocks head*

I learnt this recipie from my Mum but made quite a number of alterations to it as I am, after all, lactose intolerant and I wanted to do away with the rich, too creamy (and very fattening) white sauce that often accompanies your usual lagsane.

So yes, May's little version of her lagsane. This recipie makes a small portion, not the big arse ones in those huge ceramic trays.

Vat you need:

Instant lagsane sheets
1 small bag of Pizza Cheese (a combination of mozarella, cheddar and parmasen cheese)
250g mince beef
Tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 carrot, grated finely
2 bay leaves
Parsley, chopped roughly
Garlic, chopped finely
2 onions, chopped roughly

How now brown cow?

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Fry garlic and onions until garlic is fragrant and the onions are soft.
3. Over medium flame, add mince beef a little at a time.
4. Once cooked, add in about 5 or more tablespoons of tomato paste. Turn flame down to low. Add diced tomatoes.
5. Add grated carrots, bay leaves and parsley.
6. Add more tomato paste, about 3 tablespoons more.
7. If you need to add water, add only a little (I normally do not add any water. Always use boiled water if you have to.)
8. Allow the sauce to simmer. Season to taste with sugar, salt and black pepper.
9. Alternatively, you could add some chili flakes to spice up the taste of the sauce!
10. Remove sauce from heat.

So now you have your sauce, yes? Good. Now's time to arrange the lagsane sheets before you pop it into the oven. So how?

First, oil the tray with a little olive oil. Then arrange the sheets like so:



Remove bay leaves from the sauce, then pour the sauce onto the sheet like so:



Then sprinkle the Pizza Cheese on top of the sauce. If you're a cheese fan then you can sprinkle lots. If you're like me and cautious about the fat/lactose content, go easy on the cheese!



Now, repeat those 3 simple steps. Sheet-sauce-cheese. If you are using a big ceramic tray to cook your lagsane, you need to turn the lagsane sheet(s) the other way around (you'd need to break the sheet in half to do this.) This is done so that when the final product pops out of the oven you'd be able to see nice criss-cross layers.

Once you've repeated those steps (you may need to repeat the three steps 2-3 times depending on the size of the tray) and your tray is now filled to the brim with cheese, pop it into the oven for 30-40 minutes.

Check that the lagsane is cooked! We don't want our guests biting into hard pasta, no?

Tags: beef lasagne budget recipe

yakitori

And now, the first recipe using the white meatballs! Yakitori is a Japanese kebab, a kind of informal snack that one goes to enjoy after a long day's work. You can also use other types of meat, although I'm quite partial to the chicken meatball version you see here. And yes, ideally a *real* yakitori should be skewered and cooked over hot coals, but we're on a budget, yes?

Yakitori
White meatballs
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp dark soy
4 tbsp light soy
6 tbsp mirin, or chinese rice wine

1. Create the sauce dip by mixing everything (except the meatballs) together and heat in a pan until sugar is melted. Pour into a bowl.

2. Using a little oil, brown desired amount of meatballs.

3. Once browned, dip each meatball into sauce dip and continue frying. Take care to keep the meatballs rolling because the sauce browns easily. Repeat the process as many times as you like.

Oh well, if you really want the atmosphere, you can skewer them and serve...

Tags: chicken pork yakitori Japanese meatball skewers budget recipe

White meatballs

Ok, before you think this post is something vulgar - it's meatballs made with white meat. As in chicken and pork. (Shame on you and you should go wash your brain with soap!) Now that we've got that out of the way...



This is what I'd like to call a Base recipe - it forms the base of other recipes that i'll whip up for my packed lunches throughout the week (more on that later). Of course, the meatballs are good enough to eat by themselves! I've based it a little on Swedish meatballs, and of course, the choice of spices here are purely optional. I just raided whatever I had in my spice rack at the time (tarragon and chilli powder) and you can opt to put in what you like.

White meatballs
500 gm minced chicken
250 gm minced pork
1 cup breadcrumbs
milk
Spices - 1 tbsp black pepper, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tbsp tarragon

1. First, the breadcrumb mix. Put 1 cup of breadcrumbs into a bowl and pour just enough milk to soak the mix. At this point, add in your spices. The breadcrumbs serve as a binding agent to keep the shape together.

2. The basic proportion for chicken to pork to breadcrumbs is 2:1:1. If you'd lke to use only one type of meat (like say, for Muslim readers who cannot eat pork) then the proportion of meat to breadcrumbs is 3:1.

3. Form into meatballs and cook in boiling water. When fully cooked, the meatballs should turn white and float to the surface of the water. Because milk is an ingredient in the binding mix, you should cook all the meatballs and not leave them for later. Store in fridge or freezer until required.

Tune in later in the week to see what I have in mind for the meatballs!

Tags: chicken pork meatball skewersbudget recipe