Cooking Club Classics #1: MissFlitworth's Lasagna (The Januarying)

A real time experience.

I was delighted to see lasagna pop up as this week's Classic because a) it's a filthy week out there and lasagna is a magic cure for the blues that ensue when you look out the window to a sky the colour of mangy elephant and b) because, alack and alas, I have become a similar shape to Ursula the sodding Sea Witch over the last while and have hi'd away to Slimming World to do something about that. So, today I am trying to make lasagna like Mama* used to but also keep it either entirely 'Free' as far as Slimming World is concerned or minimal 'Syns' (HATE that word) if not. And I'm posting as the lasagna progresses so this is a work in progress

Step 1 - Ragu



In theory my ragu is a version of a Hugh Fearnley Whitingthingy recipe, that I currently can not find, but in reality it is used to dispose of things in the fridge that might otherwise find themselves trundling off in the back of a Greyhound van to the tip of a Tuesday morning. So I have no fixed recipe but it always contains onion, carrot, passata, tinned toms, garlic, beef stock and beef of some description, salt, black pepper & olive oil. Regular guest appearance from bacon/pancetta. Occasional special guest - finely diced other vegetables, chunks of chorizo, a forgotten teaspoon (just the once, never lived it down), red wine, tomato puree etc. etc.

Ingredients

To keep the 'Syns' down my lasagna ragu this evening contains

- 1 carton passata
- 1 tin plum tomatoes (no herbs or anything in there, I do not like those)
- 1 beef stock pot
- 1 400ish gm packet 'extra lean' beef from Leedl
- 2 small onions
- 1 stick celery
- 1 carrot
- As much garlic as your heart desires, I have about a third of a bulb cos I ran out
- 1 cup water that ham was slowcooked in (very optional)
- Leftover shredded, slowcooked ham (very optional)
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Frylite (I am not sold on this stuff at all. It smells odd and if the-other-side-of-the-table gets a look at the ingredients and spots that I'm frying things in xantham gum and water he's going to mock me horribly)
- squeeze tomato puree
- Black Pepper

Method

Finely dice your carrots, onions, celery and soften in a large pot over a medium-high heat, depending on how your cooker works. Use your choice of cooking fat or sunflower oil emulsified into water using xantham gum.

While this is happening mince as many garlic cloves as your heart desires, add those in when your veg are soft and the onions are looking transparent (this was around the 10 min mark for me). Toss around on the heat for a couple more minutes till the aroma of garlic has nearly, but not quite, overwhelmed the yogurty frylite whiff.

Add in your mince and brown, I do this all in the one pot & in one go if I'm only cooking around half a kilo but other people will tell you to do it in batches. Do whatever floats your boat. When your mince is nicely browned, and any unappealling looking liquids drained off. add in your passata, tinned toms, stock pot/stock cube, ham cooking liquids (if using), couple of cans of water, shake of worcestershire. I didn't add salt because there's plenty in the stock pot and the ham water and I did add a shake of dried basil because it caught my eye and YOLO, amirite?

Give it a few stirs, bring it up to a nice simmer, then turn the heat down low and leave for a couple of hours. (or, at least, that's what I'm gonna do. You take yours off the heat when it tastes ready to you)

I'll add loads of black pepper when it's done and before it goes into the lasagna dish.

Then promising yourself you'll do the dishes any moment now, take yourself off to watch the bizarre sight of Disney characters playing hurling in Descendants and to drink tea.

More lasagna post to come shortly!



*although if we're talking my Mama, that's one jar of the red sauce, one jar of the white and most of a bag of that orange and white grated cheese.