Faux Lasagna

So, you made a gigantic batch of bolognaise sauce, and you don't want to eat spaghetti bolognaise for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two weeks, so what should you do with it? Well, my recommendation is to freeze it in small batches so you can make meals quickly and easily on those lazy days. But if you want a change from the old spag bol, here's something you can try with the sauce.


I like to call it a "faux lasagna". I can't make a real lasagna because I don't have an oven. So here's what I do.

I boil up some regular pasta, such as a penne or spirals.

While that is boiling, I make the bechamel sauce. To do this, I melt one tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan, and add one tablespoon (or slightly less) of flour, mixing it in and cooking for about a minute, making sure it doesn't burn. Then I turn off the heat and slowly add one cup of slightly warmed (in the microwave) milk, whisking as I go. Once that's all added, I add salt, pepper and nutmeg and return it to the heat, stirring all the while as it heats up. It needs to continue cooking and being stirred for about 5 minutes. Then, I turn of the heat, add some grated cheese to melt in there, and a little more nutmeg.

Once the pasta has cooked, I drain it and add my leftover bolognaise sauce, heating it through briefly to make sure everything is hot.

Then, I load the sauce covered pasta into small ramekin dishes, or otherwise, one large casserole dish. I top it with the bechamel sauce, and a little extra grated cheese. I let this grill in the toaster oven until the cheese is all golden and melty.

This is such a quick and easy way to use your leftovers and get that yummy lasagna taste with minimal effort!

An oldie but a goodie

Sometimes, when it comes to cooking, I think there is too much emphasis on being "original" and "different". Taking something delicious, then ruining it by adding quirky and unexpected ingredients, does not a good meal make. There's a whole cult of people out there who want to turn food creation into a pretentious, arty-farty elitist club, trying so hard to impress those around them by their ingenuity. I'm all for trying new recipes and mixing things up, but there are those times when you just want to get back to the basics.

And that's where the good, old-fashioned spag bol comes in. This is a dish that I've been happily enjoying since I was a wee child, so why fix what aint broken?

My mother is not exactly a whiz in the kitchen, but her tip for tasty spag bol that she passed on to me has been invaluable - add a can of tomato soup. That's right, tomato soup makes the yummiest spag bol!

So here's what you do:

First, saute a diced onion, a diced stalk of celery, a diced carrot and a crushed clove of garlic in some olive oil for about 5 minutes.

Then, add about 500g of beef mince and cook, breaking up the mince, until brown.

At this point, depending on how fatty the mince is, I may drain off some fat.

Then, add a can of tomoto soup, a can of diced tomatoes, 2tbs tomato paste/puree, a tsp of sugar, two bay leaves, salt, pepper and some mixed dried herbs (I use oregano and basil).

Simmer for about 20 minutes, then serve it on some al dente spaghetti.





And don't forget the garlic bread! I mince some fresh garlic into some butter and keep it in the fridge, so that I can make tasty garlic bread quickly and easily by popping some garlicky buttered bread into the toaster oven. Delish!