Traditional lasagne

I’m not quite sure where the inspiration came from but I’m on a mission to cover basic South African recipes. Lasagne, koeksisters, milk tart, bobotie, chicken pie, tongue... the stuff we grew up with – boerekos! The hearty type of dishes you’ll still find on the dinner tables on our farms, made with lots of love and lots of butter in old school kitchens by tannies with the flowery aprons.

Call it my little kook-en-geniet experiment.

This is not a quick middle-of-the-week-dinner-in-30-minutes-recipe! Rather something you make lots of over the weekend and freeze for those middle-of-the-week-dinners.

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

500g lean beef mince

1 fresh tomato finely chopped

1 can peeled tomatoes (in thick sauce)

1 onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

125g (half a packet) of rindless streaky bacon chopped

2 tbs dried rosemary & thyme (or other herbs if you prefer)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 tbs chutney

1 ½ tbs brandy vinegar (or other dark vinegar)

3 tbs caramel sugar

1 bottle of red wine (80ml for the dish, the rest is for you!)

± 12 sheets of lasagna pasta (depending on the shape and size of the sheets and the dish)

1 cup grated cheese (I used half cheddar, half mozzarella)

Thick white sauce

1 cup of milk

90ml cake flour

75ml butter

1.    Pan fry the onion, garlic and bacon with a little olive oil over medium heat in a deep pan.

2.    Add the mince, salt, pepper and herbs and brown the mince.

3.    Add the chopped tomato and can of tomatoes as well as the red wine and let it simmer for  10 minutes over medium heat while you prepare the white sauce (see below). Give it a stir every now and again.

4.    Now add the chutney, vinegar and caramel sugar and let it simmer for another 15 minutes. You want to reduce the sauce quite a bit.

5.    Pre-heat your oven to 180°C in the meantime.

6.    Remove from the heat and mix in the white sauce.

7.    In an oven-proof dish, smear a thin layer of the white sauce on the bottom of the dish, put down the first layer of pasta sheets. Break them to fit so that you cover the whole surface.

8.    Cover with a layer of the mince mixture and top with a layer of the pasta sheets again.

9.    Repeat until the mixture is finished or until your dish is full. Be sure to end with a layer of the mince mixture, a layer of pasta on top will not cook thoroughly.

10.Don’t fill it right to the top, leave about 1cm open. The reason is that the pasta increases in volume and your lasagne will boil over if you didn’t leave enough space.

11.Cover with cheese and pop it in the oven for 45 minutes.

12.I served it with fresh sweet basil leaves for a bit of green.

Making the white sauce:

1.    Melt the butter in a pot

2.    Add the flour and whisk until it forms a smooth paste with no lumps

3.    Add the milk and keep stirring until it thickens.

4.    You’re looking for a custard-like consistency otherwise the lasagna will be too runny.

Note: If you need to make the sauce thicker, don’t just add flour to your white sauce. Rather pour out a bit of the sauce into another round dish, add the flour and whisk until all lumps are dissolved and then add it to the rest of the sauce.

This lasagne is really good if I may say so myself! Enjoy!