VEGETABLE LASAGNA

:::In the name of ALLAH, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful:::

~PATIENCE IS VITAL~



Looks yummy? Would you like to try making them yourself? Here's something special for your Christmas Celebration *smiles*

Ingredients:-

10 nos Lasagna sheets
125ml Sunflower oil
100g Onions, finely shopped
10g Garlic cloves, chopped
200g Mushrooms, de-stemmed and sliced
200g Zucchini, diced
3g Oregano
1 Canned whole tomatoes
50g Tomato puree
300g Broccoli, cut small florets
100g Carrots, diced
250ml Béchamel sauce
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
250ml Natural yogurt

Method:-

1. Cook lasagna sheets in salted boiling water until al dente.
2. Heat half the oil and sweat onion and garlic. Take care not to brown.
3. Add mushrooms and continue to cook. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Heat remaining oil and add zucchini and lightly fry.
5. Sprinkle with oregano, cook until crisp, add canned tomatoes and tomato puree.
6. Add broccoli florets and carrots (previously blanched and refreshed)
7. Make a cheese sauce using the béchamel and half the grated cheese. Finish with the yogurt.
8. Grease an ovenproof dish well with the oil and place a layer of lasagna at the bottom.
9. Cover with a layer of mushrooms, then a layer of lasagna, then broccoli and tomato mixture, then lasagna, then cheese sauce.
10. Repeat and finish with a layer of cheese sauce on top.
11. Sprinkle with remaining grated parmesan cheese and bake at 180C for 20-25 mins


Recipe for Béchamel Sauce:-

1 ltr Milk
50g Butter
50g Flour
1 no. whole onion (small)
1 no. Bay leaf
7 nos. Cloves
pinch Nutmeg powder

Method:-

1. Peel onion and stick the cloves all over the onion. Slice/score onion on the root side and slide the bay leaf in.
2. Heat milk in a saucepan, add the onion and nutmeg powder into the milk.
3. While milk is heating, melt butter in another pan. Once melted, reduce heat to low, add flour and mix well until a thick paste forms. This paste is called a 'roux'.
4. Take care to cook roux for only a few minutes, as the roux should still maintain a whitish colour.
5. Add the roux to the milk while whisking vigorously to mix well.
6. Once mixed, take off heat, remove the onion and strain the sauce.

Of course lasagna sheets can be bought in stores but nothing beats the joy of making your own. The recipe for pasta dough to make lasagna sheets is:-

200g Flour
1 no. Egg
50ml Water
pinch Salt
5ml Olive oil

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
2. Make a well in the middle of the flour. Add egg and water and mix to form a dough. Add olive oil in the middle of the process to make a smoother dough.
3. Cover bowl with damp cloth and rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
4. If you have a pasta machine, roll out long sheets from the thickest setting to the next to thinnest setting. Cut sheets into suitable size for lasagna (taking into account the type of dish or pan you're using to bake in).
5. If not, do it the old-fashioned way using a rolling pin.

A pretty detailed guide to making a good pasta dough by hand is as follows:-

Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and water. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the liquids. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours (or chill it in the fridge as per the recipe above).

Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm).

Lightly flour a pan and lay the sheets down to air and set aside until use.

(Courtesy of "The District Domestic")

Note:

1. If you're using freshly made lasagne sheets, you do not have to boil them first. So omit step no. 1 of the lasagne recipe above.

2. Although this recipe is for a vegetarian lasagna, you may use chicken or beef to make a bolognese sauce. Just substitute the vegetables with 500g of minced meat. Brown the meat in olive oil before adding the tomatoes and herbs.

Enjoy!!!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!