What could be better on a freezing night than creamy lasagne? This warm, filling dish tastes like pure comfort, and is so easy to make!
Recipes and styling by Claire Ferrandi
Assisted by Nomvuselelo Mncube
Photographs by Dylan Swart
Creamy lasagne
Ingredients
Mince
- drizzle olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 15ml (1 tbsp) rosemary leaves, finely chopped + extra sprigs, to garnish
- 500g beef mince
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 80g marinated sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
- 250ml (1 cup) red wine
- 250ml (1 cup) beef stock
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Cheesy white sauce
- 60g butter
- 45ml (3 tbsp) cake flour, sifted
- 500ml (2 cups) milk
- 95g Parmesan, grated
- 2,5ml (½ tsp) Dijon mustard
- small handful fresh thyme leaves
To assemble
- 150g lasagne pasta sheets
- 125ml (½ cup) fresh cream
- handful grated Parmesan
Instructions
For the mince, add a drizzle olive oil to a large frying pan or pot and place over low-medium heat. Fry the garlic and rosemary leaves, 2 minutes, before adding the beef mince, tinned tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, red wine and beef stock. Simmer over low heat, 30 minutes, before seasoning to taste.
While the mince simmers, make the cheesy white sauce. Add the butter to a medium pot and melt over medium heat. Add the cake flour and stir with a wooden spoon to make a smooth paste. Cook, about 2 minutes, before adding the milk, stirring constantly as the sauce thickens. Once the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon and the flour taste has cooked out, remove from heat. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well to melt the cheese and season to taste. Set the sauce aside until needed.
Preheat the oven to 190˚C and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta sheets, 6 – 8 minutes (they should not be completely cooked), before draining and drizzling with olive oil.
Start layering your lasagne – first add a layer of cheese sauce to the base of a 28cm-round, deep dish (or a 30cm x 25cm rectangular casserole dish; the size doesn’t need to be exact), followed by a layer of pasta sheets, then ½ of the mince. Repeat the layers until all of the ingredients are used up, making sure the top layer is pasta sheets (nothing about this needs to be too precise!). Pour over the fresh cream and sprinkle over the Parmesan. Place the dish in a larger roasting dish to catch any spills while the lasagne bakes. Bake in the preheated oven, about 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden. Serve immediately, garnished with fresh rosemary sprigs.
