MAKING the most of school holidays, means planning ahead on meals, so that you can maximise the time with activities based around the children. Making the most of school holidays, means planning ahead on meals, so that you can maximise the time with activities based around the children.
Enjoy a late afternoon dip at the hot pools or a walk on the beach as the light changes, all the while knowing – smugly – that dinner is already prepared. Lasagne is a favourite with children and is an easy way to get extra vegetables into a meal, almost unseen.
I have two recipes this week, one fairly traditional and the other a low-carb, high-fat, gluten free – almost paleo – chicken and spinach lasagne.
Chicken and Spinach Lasagne
Diced or shredded meat of a cooked chicken 350 grams mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped½ teaspoon smoked paprikaSalt and pepper to season
100 grams blue cheese
200 grams grated tasty cheese
400 grams fresh spinach or 300 grams frozen spinach
350 grams gluten free lasagne sheets
50 grams butter
400ml coconut cream
Splash of tabasco pepper sauce
Melt butter in a pan and add in garlic and mushrooms, cook until soft, add in Worcestershire sauce, seasoning and paprika.
Stir in half of the coconut cream and add the chicken. Cook for a few moments and then take off the heat. Heat the remaining coconut cream and add in the shredded blue cheese and half of the tasty cheese. Warm through, stirring until smooth.
Add in a splash of tabasco and set aside. If using fresh spinach, wilt in a large pan and strain to take away the moisture.
Assemble the lasagne. Pour a couple of tablespoons of the coconut sauce into the base of the serving dish, spread well. Lay the first layer of pasta over it and cover with half of the chicken and mushroom mix. Layer half the spinach over the chicken.
Add another layer of pasta, and add the remainder of the chicken and mushroom mix and top with the rest of the spinach. Add the last layer of pasta and pour over the remaining cheese sauce. Sprinkle the top with remaining tasty cheese.
This can then be refrigerated until required, or cooked and then rested for 10 minutes. This makes cutting into neat slices so much easier, and the contents won’t burn little mouths either. Bake at 180 degrees fan bake to get a golden crust.
Classic Beef Lasagne
100 grams streaky bacon finely chopped
700-800 grams minced topside beef (premium grade)
1 large onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 large carrot, grated
2 celery sticks, finely sliced
150 grams sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons tomato puree
Herbs: fresh or dried thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley
2 x 400 gram cans chopped tomatoes in juice
50 grams butter 4 tablespoons flour
1 litre full-fat milk (I add a dash of cream to the sauce if I have any on hand)
200 grams grated tasty cheddar
Grated nutmeg
350 grams dried lasagne sheetsRoasted pumpkin or butternut Spinach or silverbeet (good sized bunch finely shredded)
Slice pumpkin quite thinly and lay onto baking paper, brush with olive oil and bake in a medium oven (160 degrees) for 20 minutes.
For the ragout or beef sauce, sweat the onion, celery and garlic in a splash of olive oil, add in the chopped streaky bacon and cook for four to five minutes.
Add in the mushrooms and cook until soft. Put all this mix into a bowl and return the pan to the heat.
Brown the minced beef in batches and add to the bacon, onion, mushroom mixture. Return the mix to the pan and add in the range of herbs you enjoy from the ones mentioned.
Remember that dried herbs are six times more potent than fresh, but are good to have in winter months when growth of fresh herbs is slow.
Add in the grated carrot, tomato puree and the canned tomatoes. Simmer for up to an hour.
The longer the cooking, the better the sauce as the flavours develop. Test for seasoning and add salt and paper to taste.
Cool the sauce. Make a traditional roux (white sauce), by melting the butter and adding in the flour, cooking this before slowly adding the milk.
If you rush this part, the flour wont cook and the sauce will taste gluggy (technical term).
Continue to whisk and cook over the heat. Add in most of the grated cheddar, leaving some aside for the top. Add a taste of nutmeg and seasoning.
Cool slightly, covering to ensure a skin doesn’t form on top of the sauce.
Shred the silverbeet or spinach and have on hand.
To assemble, spread a little of the cheese sauce in the bottom of the dish and layer with lasagne sheets, half the beef, then sliced pumpkin and spinach or silverbeet.
Pour over a little of the cheese sauce and top with another layer of lasagne sheets.
Repeat another full layer of beef and vegetables and finish with a layer of the lasagne sheets and pour over the remaining sauce, and top with grated cheese.
Rest in the fridge to set the layers before baking for 40 minutes at 160 degrees.
Allow to settle for at least 10 minutes before cutting. This freezes well, cut into portions and individually wrapped, or as a whole.
Good to take away for a boating or bach-ing weekend. And being school holidays it is a good chance to get the children into the kitchen to help out with the construction of a lasagne and some education around using knives, graters and handling hot surfaces.
By Rosemary Sloman