Lasagna Recipe

When I was growing up, I never really had a good dish of lasagna. Well I did but on rare occasions and when I did, it was a delicious treat. I've always wanted to learn how to make them but it all seemed too complicated for a younger 'I don't really care for cooking' me. While I was dating hubby, I discovered an unknown passion for cooking and to my mothers delight, she shared her secrets and recipes with me to cook for hubby, who fell in love with our local dishes. I think hubs was more excited about the food than the fact that he would be marrying a wife who was soon to be addicted to cooking!

So after the wedding, before I was leaving to Sydney to be with hubs, mom took me out to shop and she came upon recipe books half price! Score, mom! So she bought me 3 The Australian Women's Weekly recipe books and to my giddy delight, there was a recipe for lasagna! Can't wait to try that!

So I left (cue the tears) and went off to start a new chapter in my life. Took me a while to gather up some courage to try and cook this dish. As I was fresh of the block, hubs was there with me the whole way, guiding me. It turned out pretty good and I started cooking it with more confidence, cooking it for friends and family. One friend, who I affectionately call my 'son', was skeptical when I cooked for him and his 2 precious daughters this dish for dinner. He had bad experiences with lasagna. It was either pub or frozen lasagna. Well I changed his mind alright! He had 4 servings!

This recipe has been tweaked a little according to the mince that you are using. I use beef mince so some ingredients is halved. I will put in the original recipe with notes of my tweaked recipe alongside the ingredients stated. I also used the white sauce recipe in the my Cheesy Potato Bake Recipe.


Main ingredients :

• 1 tbs oilve oil
• 1 med brown onion, chopped coarsely
• 3 stalks celery, trimmed, chopped coarsely
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon ( pork and veal mince ), 1 tsp ground cinnamon ( beef mince )
• 800g pork and veal mince ( I prefer to use beef mince )
• 1 tbs plain flour
• 2 tbs red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp brown sugar ( pork and veal mince ), 1 tsp brown sugar ( beef mince )
• 700ml bottled tomato pasta sauce/passata
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh sage

White sauce ingredients :

• 40g butter
• 2 tbs plain flour, extra
• 2 1/2 cups ( 625ml ) hot milk
• 1 1/2 cups ( 120g ) finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 1/2 cups ( 250g ) coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

Extra ingredients :

• 250g fresh lasagne sheets
• 12 fresh sage leaves ( I find this optional. There's no difference in the taste if you decide to not put it in. The chopped sage is enough for me )

1. Heat oil in large saucepan; cook onion and celery, stirring; until soft. Add garlic and cinnamon; cook, stirring, until fragrant.
2. Add mince; cook, stirring, until meat changes color. Add flour; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in vinegar, sugar, pasta sauce and undrained tomatoes; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in chopped sage.
3. Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced. ( I do this before I start cooking to make sure the oven is nice and hot! )
4. Meanwhile, melt butter in medium saucepan. ( Don't burn it like I did the first time I made this! ) Add extra flour; cook, stirring, until mixture thickens and bubbles. ( To be safe, do this on low heat first ) Gradually stir in milk; stir until mixture boils and thickens. ( Increase heat to medium while stirring mixture ) Remove sauce from heat; stir in one-third of the Parmesan. ( Sauce should be creamy and thick. If your sauce is still water-like, before stirring in Parmesan, put back on heat and keep stirring until thick )
5. Spread quarter of the meat sauce into shallow 20cm x 31 cm oven proof dish. Cover with one-third of the trimmed lasagne sheets, then one-third of the remaining meat sauce, half the white sauce and half the mozzarella. Make two more layers with the remaining lasagna and meat sauce; top with remaining white sauce then sprinkle with combined remaining cheeses. Sprinkle with sage leaves. ( If you decide to add this ) Cook, uncovered, in oven, about 50 minutes ( Keep checking on it because usually by 30 minutes, its ready ) or until browned lightly. Stand 15 minutes ( Or in the case of my home, 2 minutes. Boys usually have their hungry hands cutting it up by the time I take it out! )

Tips :

• The great thing about lasagne is you can either make both sauces a day ahead, then assemble the lasagne when you're ready, or completely finish the lasagne a day ahead, put it in the refrigerator and reheat it in the oven ( 180C/160C fan-forced ), covered, for a bout 30 minutes. or, if you like, freeze the finished lasagne, as a whole, or in serving-sized portions. The whole lasagne will take about 24 hours to thaw in the refrigerator. Individual portions can be thawed in a microwave oven - follow the manufacturers directions.
• Pizza cheese ( 375g ) is a good substitute for the Parmesan and mozzarella in this recipe.

So there it is. I hope you, the fresh of the block cooks out there, find the courage to cook this dish like I did. Practice makes perfect! Took me a while to perfect this dish and the white sauce. Especially the white sauce! So do try this dish and if you have any more tips or if you cooked it with an extra ingredient, let me know. Would love to try it! Also let me know if you need any advice on this dish. More than happy to help out a fellow lasagne lover!

xoxo