The Lasagna of Your Dreams - Pam Lee's Favourite Dish!
'cause you deserve this after a week of hard work
last week, we had the rare chance of being invited to comedy influencer Pam Shuhadah’s house for lunch! the only catch was that Azfar had to teach her to cook. when asked what food she wanted to make, she instantly suggested her favourite dish, Lasagna!
Pam added that it is very hard for her to find a good portion of Lasagna and she was hoping that Azfar could make one that would put a smile to her face (and belly)!
This recipe of makes for a perfect ratio of tomato sauce and béchamel, two essential components of Lasagna. It’s tangy, meaty, creamy, cheesy and is equivalent to getting a warm hug! Furthermore, with the use of INSTANT Lasagna sheets, it makes for a shorter cooking time!
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Pam & Azfar’s Lasagna
250g instant lasagna sheets
135g shredded mozzarella-red cheddar mix
Meat Sauce:
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 stalls celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
180g beef bacon, diced
300g minced beef
400g canned chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp light olive oil
2 bay leaves
2 cups water
1 cup water
Salt, to taste
Dash of black pepper
Bechamel sauce:
80g unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
4 cups full cream milk
1/2 chicken stock cube
1 bay leaf
1 cup grated parmesan / hard cheese
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Dash of black pepper
Water, as needed
directions:
heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan om medium-high heat. sear the bacon evenly until lightly browned. combine the minced beef and let the beef take on a brown colour. remove from pan and set the beef and bacon mixture aside.
in the same pan, add the remaining oil. saute the onion, celery and carrot until very soft and onion in translucent. add the garlic and continue to saute until fragrant.
spoon in tomato paste stir well. continue to cook the mixture until the tomato paste is thick and slightly caramelised. add in the diced canned tomato, bay leaf a pinch of salt and water. cover and let simmer for 20 minutes medium heat.
fold in the meat-bacon mixture. cover and simmer on low heat for another 30-40 minutes, adjusting the consistency with water when needed.
add milk and season to taste with salt and pepper. set the meat sauce aside and prepare the béchamel.
in a separate saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. sprinkle in the flour and whisk together to combine. cook the roux for about 2 minutes until it gets to a toasty aroma.
slowly pour in the milk and whisk vigorously to dissolve the roux paste. add in bay leaf and stock cube and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes on low heat.
sprinkle in hard cheese, grated nutmeg and pepper and mix gently with a spatula to until the cheese is fully melted and incorporated into the sauce. adjust the consistency with more milk if it gets too thick. season accordingly with salt.
preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. spoon in a layer of the meat sauce onto an ovenproof baking dish followed by a few dollops of béchamel. arrange a layer of instant lasagna sheets, enough to cover the sauce layers. repeat with the same order of components until it fills the brim of the baking dish, with the béchamel sauce being the last layer on top.
sprinkle the grated mozzarella-cheddar mix on top. bake the lasagna for 15-20 minutes in the oven or until the pasta is fully cooked and the cheese topping becomes melty and lightly browned.
let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into lasagna. serve warm.