Halal Food Festival - Lasagne

What inspired the dish

Being muslims in the UK, I think we've all had mum's version of lasagne that's more like our cultural mince meat, with white sauce, cheddar cheese and lots of spices. While this is nice in its own way, lasagne it isn't. In Italy, it can be whole cuts of meat braised until it falls apart, sometimes it is beef, sometimes pork, sometimes veal. Some variations are very tomatoey, some don't even have any. A lot of the time it is a combination of one or several of the meats with varied levels of tomato and wine, barely any herbs! And it almost always has wine, different kinds depending on the region. Very often it will have a cured meat there too for a depth of flavour, but it's not just the meat, but the vegetables which are super important.

This version of the dish is closer to a traditional Italian ragu and lasagne, we've no idea what region it is closest to, but it has a few tweaks based on our halal diet and what is available in the UK. It's delicious, beefy and has some serious depth of flavour. The secret ingredients to make this special? Our beef bacon and Cranberry juice

How do I make this at home?

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 100g beef bacon (diced)
• 1 large carrot (diced)
• 1 large celery stalk (diced)
• 1 large onion (diced)
• 4 cloves garlic (crushed or pureed)
• Olive oil
• Butter
• 1 tbsp Tomato puree
• Mutti tinned tomatoes (400/500g) or Mutti Passata (400/500g)
• 100g sliced cherry tomatoes
• 200ml cranberry juice
• Beef stock (optional)
• Thyme (1 sprig)
• Bay leaves (2 or 3)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2.5 tbsp butter
• 2.5 tbsp plain flour
• 350ml milk
• A pinch of salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Lasagne sheets
• Mozarella
• Parmesan

Method

Ragu

1. Using your best casserole dish or stock pot, on a medium high heat fry your beef mince.
2. The most effective way is to take put heaped tablespoons of mince into the pan, let them fry like a burger, flip it once it’s got a crust, and allow the bottom to cook. This means more flavour builds up from the word go
3. Do this for all 500g of your meat in small batches, remove and place in a  separate bowl. The mince does not have to be fully cooked, but needs the colour
4. Once all the mince meat has been removed, your pan should be left with beef fat and little meat residue
5. Lower the heat to medium low
6. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and 20g butter
7. Add in all of the carrot, celery, onion, bacon and sauté til translucent
8. Add in the garlic and cook down, do not let any of this burn
9. Add back in your mince, and sauté until it all comes together and is fully cooked
10. Add in your tomato puree, cook until rawness of this is gone
11. Add in your beef stock (optional)
12. Add in your cranberry juice cook and make sure all residue on the bottom is scraped off (do not let it burn)
13. Add tinned tomatoes or passata
14. Add in your sliced cherry tomatoes (optional)
15. Scoop out any excess fat that comes to the top
16. Add your thyme, and bay leaves, cook for 1hr 30mins - 2hours on a low gentle heat
17. Remove lid and reduce any excess water so the sauce intensifies
18. Season to taste with plenty salt and black pepper
19. Allow to cool, refrigerate for use the next day

White Sauce

1. Make the white sauce, I’m sure you know how!

Assemble

1. Layers are important, you want at least 5 layers of pasta here
2. Thin layer of ragu
3. Lasagne sheet
4. Ragu
5. White sauce
6. Parmesan
7. Repeat 4 times
8. Top with low moisture mozzarella
9. Top with more parmesan
10. Bake for 40mins at 180C or til cheese is bubbling and caramelised
11. When serving, top with even more parmesan