Lasaka

A Lasagne/Moussaka inspired dish for my family of Aubergine haters (I am not one of them !!!). Meat sauce is cooked the day before eating.

Meat sauce

240ml Tomato Passata (or poached pureed/strained fresh tomatoes)

450 ml Lamb Stock

120ml Red Wine

2 heaped tbsp Tomato Paste (Tomato Puree in UK)

1 tbsp dried Thyme Leaves

2 Bay Leaves

1 stick of Cinnamon

4 tbsp Olive Oil

1 large White Onion, finely diced

6 cloves of Garlic, finely diced

750g Minced Lamb

1/4 cup finely diced Fresh Parsley

Black ground Pepper, to taste

Salt, to taste

Béchamel Sauce

120g Butter

120g Plain Flour

1litre Milk, at room temp

80g freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp White Pepper

2 Egg Yolks whisked together

To assemble the Lasaka

250g of fresh lasagne (6 large sheets in the pack I bought)

2 balls of fresh Mozzarella (tennis ball size) drained, patted dry with kitchen towel and cut into ½ cm slices

Meat Sauce

Put the Tomato Passata, Lamb Stock, Red Wine, tomato paste, Thyme, bay leaves, and Cinnamon stick into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, turn the heat down until just bubbling and cook without a lid on until the sauce is reduced by about one third. Takes about 30 – 40 minutes.
In a frying pan fry the onion over a medium heat in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until softened. Add the diced garlic and fry gently for another 2 – 3 minutes. Put the onion mixture into a bowl.
In the same frying pan put in the rest of the olive oil, 2 tablespoons and fry the lamb mince until it is lightly browned, 5 -8 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Once the sauce is cooked down add the fresh parsley, the onion mixture and the fried lamb to the saucepan and cook gently for another 15 – 20 minutes. Finally taste the sauce and add salt and or pepper to taste. Turn the heat off and leave in a cool place overnight to let the flavours develop.

Béchamel Sauce

Pre heat the oven to 180ºC.
Over a medium heat put the butter and plain flour into a large non-stick pan (I use a wok) and stir or whisk the flour into the melting butter. Once you have a smooth paste start to add the milk in small batches, incorporating each batch, good quick video here to show you the basics:

Keep stirring or whisking until the sauce thickens and cook for 3 or 4 minutes gently bubbling to cook the flour in the sauce. Add the nutmeg and the white pepper.
Turn off the heat and stir in the Pecorino Romano Cheese, once its all melted in leave the sauce off the heat for two minutes and then quickly stir or whisk in the egg yolks.

Assembling the Lasaka

Grease a casserole dish (26cm x 26 cm x 5 cm) with butter.
Put a third of the meat mixture on the bottom of the casserole
Put a third (2) of the lasagne sheets over the meat mixture. Repeat with another third of the meat mixture and a third of the lasagne sheets.
Then put over the last third of the meat mixture and on to this place the sliced mozzarella before putting the final lasagne sheets on top.
Finally pour the Cheesy Bechamel sauce all over the top and smooth down.
Put the Lasaka into a preheated 180ºC oven and cook for 1hour until a lovely golden brown. Take out of the oven and leave it to sit for 15 to 25 minutes. (Its much easier to cut and serve if you leave it to set)
Serve with a crisp green salad

Based on an original Recipe for moussaka at:

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