Lasagne

 This is my 6 yr old sons all time favourite dinner - EVER!!! He refers to himself as 'The Lasagne Monster'. I have had so many requests for this recipe that it seemed utterly silly not to have it here. 

 Ingredients, Mince :

• 800g Lean Beef Steak Mince
• 1 Small red onion diced
• 1 Small white onion diced
• 3 Carrots grated
• 4-6 Cloves of garlic chopped or crushed ( reduce or increase garlic to your own taste)
• 2 Tins chopped tomatoes
• ½ – 1 Tube tomato puree
• Worcestershire sauce
• Dried oregano
• Dried basil

Method:

• Sweat the onions, carrot & garlic in the pan for a few minutes until softened.
• Add the mince, and combine well with the garlic, onion & carrot and cook over a medium heat until cooked through.
• Add aprox. 1-2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce and crumble in the oxo cube. Stir well.
• Add the tinned tomatoes, about half of the tomato puree and leave to simmer gently.
• Sprinkle in the dried herbs and stir well.
• Leave on a really low heat while you make the white sauce, stirring occasionally.

Ingredients, Bechamel Sauce:

• 3oz Butter ( unsalted)
• 3oz Plain Flour
• 1 & ½ Pints of milk


Method:

• Put the butter and flour in the pan and melt over a very low heat, stirring until you form a rue.
• Remove from the heat and gradually stir in half of the milk.
• Return to a med heat and add the rest of the milk, stirring continuously.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.
• Keep stirring until the sauce has reached your desired consistency ( I like it like good custard – not too runny, not too thick).
• Switch off heat and assemble lasagne as quickly as possible.

I use aprox 8 sheets of fresh lasagne for the following construction:

• Cover the bottom of the lasagne dish with a good layer of mince.
• Cover with lasagne sheets ( you may need to trim them to fit, which is easy done with scissors or by folding)
• Pour over one third of the bechamel sauce and spread to cover all the pasta.
• Repeat the mince, pasta, sauce and then repeat again.
• Top with grated cheese and black pepper.
• Pop in the oven for about 20 mins on gas 7.

Nachos and Chilli

Chilli con Carne is one of our family favourites. I usually make it with beef mince and serve with rice, but Hubby and I were at a comedy club recently and this is how it was served, just one large plate in the middle of the table for a 'sharing' dinner.  I have also decided to use chunks of casserole steak for this - it just seemed 'right' somehow!

Nachos and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1kg diced casserole steak
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 cartons tomato passata
• 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
• 2 red chillis, de-seeded and chopped
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 1 shot bourbon - aprox 25 ml - Optional
• 2 small red onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• Dried chilli flakes, to taste
• 1 Large packet of tortilla chips
• Sour cream
• Salsa
• Grated cheddar cheese - as much or little as you like.

Method:

• Soften the onions, garlic and chilli in the pan.
• Add the steak and bourbon and brown fairly quickly.
• Turn down the heat and add the tomatos, passata, cayenne, tabasco
• Leave to simmer on a low heat for at least 2 hours, or transfer to an oven proof casserole dish and pop in the oven at gas 3 for 2 hrs or so.
• Just before you are ready to serve, put all the tortilla chips on a really large plate and cover with grated cheese.
• Pop under the grill until the cheese just starts to melt.
• remove the plate from the grill, ladel the chilli over and then serve in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves.
• Serve sour cream and salsa in dishes to accompany the Nachos and Chilli.



P.s  I served this on a large plate, aprox 1and a half foot long and 1 ft wide. It served 4 of us with little left over. However there was enough chilli left in the oven dish for hubby to take to work for lunch the next day.