Semi Pronto Cheesy Beef Lasagna

Lasagnas are often put into hard/exotic/leceh/susah dish category. But trust me, once you've known the secret, you won't go into any italian restaurant for it. If you already have a knowlegde to cook spaghetti bolognese, lasagna is kacang putih roasted for you.

Cooking western/italian dish are much much simpler than authentic malay dishes. Follow the recipes and you can't go wrong. You can even be adventurous n experiment with it. Janji sedap. Enjoy the recipes :)

So, here it is..

Semi Pronto Cheesy Beef Lasagna

1 packet of San Remo Instant Lasagna (250g) - can be bought at any supermarket carrefour/giant. tapi bukan kat kedai runcit pak shukor.

Meat Sauce

1 small bottle of Prego spaghetti sauce. as long as it's tomato based, it should be fine.
1 big onion - diced
2 tomatoes - diced
3 cloves garlic.
300g (or more) minced meat.
a little bit of mixed herb / oregano
salt and pepper to taste.
olive oil or any cooking oil will do.

Method

1. In a saucepan, heat 3 tbspoon of oil. Sauteed the onion and garlic until fragrant. Add tomatoes. Agak2 da keluar juice, add in minced meat and stir. Let it brown a bit before masukkan Prego Spaghetti Sauce.(You could add a bit of water if the sauce appears to be quite thick for your taste. Tapi jgn sampai terlalu berkuah, later the lasagna will be soggy)
2. Season with mixed herb/oregano, pepper and salt to taste. Let it bermesra-mesraan w each othr (read:simmer)

Cheese Sauce (Bechamel Sauce)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups warm milk
1 tspoon nutmeg powder / mixed spice
salt and pepper to taste
125g mozarella/cheddar cheese.

Method

1. melt butter in a heavy saucepan (lg heavy better so that the sauce x hangus cepat). Add flour and stir continously to prevent hangus. Cook on a verrrryy gentle heat for about 2-3 minutes.
2. Remove pan from stove and pour milk. Keep on stirring to prevent clumping. Kalau ade whisk is better (but make sure you're not using your tefal pan).
3. Return to heat and stir until smooth and thick.
4. Season with nutmeg/mixed spice, salt n pepper. Add in cheese n kacau2 until it looks oh-so-yummy (read: sebati)

Mari menyusun lasagna

1. Preheat oven to 180c
2. Grease an ovenproof dish/loyang. (For yummy effect, clear pyrex is the best)
3. Sendukkan the some of the meat sauce into the dish. ikut la nk tebal mana, pekat mana.Alternate layers of lasagna, meat and cheese sauce, ending with cheese sauce layer.
4. Allow for AT LEAST 4 layers. nk lagi tinggi pn takpe.
5. Sprinkle with 125g of mozarella/parmesan/cheddar cheese. The more cheese the better!!
6. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes. Masa masak u could see the cheese bubbling n turned golden brown.
7. Soru!!

Bleh masukkan sliced button mushroom and diced carrots into the meat sauce - mushroom n beef lasagna. You can even substitue the meat with minced chicken or lamb.


The same meat sauce and bechamel sauce can be used to make Moussaka , a mediterranean dish. Pan fried slices of terung and potatoes which has been coated lightly with flour. Slice 1 whole capsicum. Instead of lasagna sheet, use the veggies to create layer in the dish. (meat sauce - potatoes - meat sauce - cheese sauce - terung - meat sauce - cheese sauce - capsicum - meat sauce - cheese sauce).