Lasagna at home

Lasagna is one of the most tedious and challenging dishes to prepare at home. Here we are sharing with our readers a recipe for lasagna from our cookbook.

One of the most challenging dishes to prepare at home is lasagna. This is because the preparation is tedious. But when we dined one evening at a popular pizza restaurant, we ordered lasagna. It was good, and we were challenged to make our own at home for a more generous serving for everyone. Luckily as we were checking our cupboard, we found two boxes of lasagna pasta, neither of which is the no-cook type. We wanted to follow the recipe on one of the boxes, but it needed fresh herbs, basil and oregano. Unfortunately, they were not available in the supermarket in our neighborhood. So we resurrected our own recipe from our In My Basket Cookbook and went to work. Needless to say, each one in the family had a generous serving of this popular Italian dish.

We now share our recipe which we call Creamy Cheeseey Lasagna with our friends and readers.

For one box of pasta, you will need:

1/2 kilo each ground pork and ground beef

1/2 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large onion, chopped

1 tin tomato sauce

1 beef cube

2 tablespoons each of oregano and nutmeg

1/2 cup grated cheese

For the bechamel sauce:

butter

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 ½ cups of evaporated milk

Procedure:

Sauté meat in olive oil, garlic and onion. Add tomato sauce, oregano, nutmeg, salt and pepper and beef cube. Let cook for about 15 minutes or until liquid is reduced. Set aside.

Bechamel sauce:

Melt butter in a saucepan and add flour a little at a time to form the roux. Stir in the milk little by little, making sure that no lumps form. Continue stirring and bring to a boil as the sauce thickens.

To assemble:

Brush the bottom of a pyrex dish with a little of the bechamel sauce. Lay out some of the pasta and cover this with some of the meat, bechamel sauce and cheese.

Do a second layer and repeat with the rest of the ingredients. The top layer must be pasta. Spread the remaining bechamel sauce evenly on top of pasta. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in a pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes, until top browns.

Now you are ready with your homemade lasagna. Enjoy!

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