Delicious Lamb Lasagna
This Lamb Lasagna is truly delicious, creamy and loaded with flavour. With some love and patience you will have the best tasting Lasagna on your dinner table, cooked the old-fashioned way
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 9 Lasagna Sheets cooked as per package instructions
White/Béchamel Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3 cups milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small onion cut into big chunks
- salt
- 6 peppercorns
Meat Sauce
- 500 gram lamb mince
- 2 bay leaf
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 tspn minced garlic
- 1 tspn fresh thyme
- 2 tspn Robertson's dried Italian herbs
- 1/2 tspn dried oregano
- 1&1/2 tspn chilli powder
- 4 roma tomatoes pureed, makes about 1&1/2 cups
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 mutton stock cube/bouillon
- 1/2 cup water
- salt
- pepper
- pinch of sugar only if required
- 1&1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1&1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- little sprinkle of paprika
Instructions
White/Béchamel Sauce
- Add the peppercorns, bay leaf and onion to the milk. Simmer on low heat until it comes to a boil. Allow it to stand for 15 minutes. Strain and set aside.
- Melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and cook until it thickens
- Slowly add the milk and whisk until smooth.
- Simmer until sauce thickens. Add a little more milk if sauce is too thick. Season with salt and pepper and set aside
Meat Sauce
- Brown the mince on high heat. Add the bay leaf and onion and sauté until translucent
- Add the thyme and garlic, sauté for another minute
- Add the Italian herbs, chilli powder and tomato paste. Mix well and cook for 30 seconds
- Add blended tomatoes. Mix the stock cube with half cup water and mix it in. Add some pepper a pinch of sugar if the sauce is too acidic
- Simmer on low heat for at least an hour until the tomatoes are cooked and sauce thickens. You can add a little water if the sauce dries up and continue cooking. Only add more salt if required.
Layering the Lasagna
- Add 1 cup of white sauce at the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Mix the mozzarella and cheddar and set aside
- Place 3 of the cooked lasagna sheets on top
- Add 1/3 of the mince sauce. Sprinkle some cheese over
- Add another layer of lasagna. Another some of the white sauce. Add 1/3 of the mince sauce. Sprinkle some cheese over
- Place 3 of the lasagna sheets on top
- Add another layer of the mince sauce. Add more white sauce and some cheese on top. Place the last 3 lasagna sheets on top
- Add the last bit of mince on top of the lasagna sheets. Pour the remaining sauce over together with the leftover cheese. Sprinkle some paprika over the cheese, (pop some toothpicks on top, this will prevent the foil from sticking to the cheese) cover with foil and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius until lasagna it heats through and cheese melts, about 15 minutes. Cook longer if required. In the last 5 minutes you an turn on the grill function and remove the foil
- Allow it to rest for 15 minutes before serving
Notes
1.You can layer the lasagna in advance and refrigerate. Bake in the oven just before serving
2.I also boil my lasagna sheets until it is al dente (firm to the bite) whether the package states it needs to be pre-cooked or not. I do it anyway because I find that my lasagna sheets tend to dry out if I do not pre-cook them. If you choose not to cook your lasagna sheets please adjust the cooking time
3.You can cook the meat sauce for an hour or even longer (some sauces are cooked for up to 6 hours) if you have the patience, this is where the magic happens. Simmering the sauce for a long period on low heat intensifies the flavours
4. If you don't have a stock cube you can totally leave it, the sauce still tastes delicious. I have cooked it both ways
5. A dish that's about 20cm in length and 5cm in height works perfectly for this dish.
6. You don't have to put the layer of mince of top, it's totally optional.
7. I used fresh tomatoes that was pureed this time but I also use tomato Passata at times