Rigatoni Lasagne
This is a great dish if you’re having people over for dinner. You can cook it over a couple of days, in stages, so that by the time your guests come, all you have to do is pop it in the oven and get it on the table.
It seems complex but it’s actually very easy, just different bits to get together. Because I use rigatoni, it’s easier to make and rougher in texture than the traditional lasagne, less slimy and more robust. It is so rich and so tasty… and so not low carb or low cal. That’s why it’s SO amazing.
You’ll need:
- Baking tray 15×11 (feeds 10)
- For the meat sauce:
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced onions
- 1 cup rough chopped mushrooms
- Half cup diced carrots
- 1 kg lean mince
- 3 cans chopped tomato
- 1 small can tomato paste
- Half a glass of red wine
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- 3 bay leaves
- Quarter of a stock cube
- 1 tablespoon Tomato ketchup
For the béchamel:
- Quarter slab of butter
- 4-6 tblsp Plain flour
- 3 cups Milk
Cheese topping:
- 1 250g pot ricotta
- Grated mozzarella
- Grated parmesan
Pasta:
- 2 250g bags of rigatoni pasta (or fat macaroni)
Start by making the meat sauce (which can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days, that only improves it)
- Heat some olive oil in a big pot
- Add in the celery, onions and carrots
- You only need it to soften, not brown, so just 10 mins on a low-ish heat
- When it’s soft, add in the mushrooms
- Then the mince
- Brown the mince, so stir around constantly
- When the mince is brown, throw in the red wine
- Then the chopped tomato
- Give it all a stir
- Add in the tomato paste
- A teaspoon of salt
- A teaspoon of pepper
- Add in the bay leaves
- Add the bit of stock cube
- Add one tablespoon tomato ketchup
- Stir and cover
- Turn down the heat so the flame is small, and let it simmer for about 30 minutes
- After 30 mins, remove cover, stir, and let it sit and cook in its own heat
- That’s done – you can pop it in the fridge till you’re ready with the other bits
The béchamel sauce
It’s just a simple roux sauce, and it’s all in the stirring and timing.
- Melt half of the butter (total of quarter of a slab) you’re going to use in a pan – and keep the flame LOW
- Add in sifted flour
- Stir, until the butter and flour have bonded and formed a putty-like texture (should be about 2-3 tblsp of flour)
- Keep adding the flour until you get the putty
- When you have the putty, add 1/3 cup of milk
- Stir stir stir until there are few lumps and the milk and putty have integrated
- Add another batch of milk and keep doing this and stirring till you’ve used 11/2 cups
- You should end up with a smooth sauce, not too runny, like custard-consistency
- Do another batch (I split it into 2 batches because it’s impossible to avoid lumps if you make a big batch)
The Pasta
- Boil a pan of water, add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil
- When boiling throw in the pasta, should take about 10 minutes to cook (don’t overcook!)
- Remove from the heat, rinse in cold water
- Let it cool down
To put it all together:
- If you are not using a non-stick baking tray, wipe it over with olive oil or butter
- Line the bottom of the tray with pasta
- Cover the pasta with a layer of the meat sauce
- Pour a layer of béchamel over the meat sauce
- Add another layer of pasta
- Add the béchamel
- Crumble the ricotta over the whole tray
- Add a layer of meat sauce (meat sauce on top for baking protects the creamy béchamel)
- Cover liberally with the grated cheese
When you’re ready to have dinner:
- Pre-heat your oven to 160C
- When hot, pop in your very heavy tray of yum
- It will need 45 minutes to an hour to heat through and for the cheese to melt
- To brown it, turn up the heat in the final 5 minutes
Serve with salad and a bottle of red wine
Don’t weigh yourself for at least a week.
Don’t worry, I’ll post a great salad recipe in a couple of weeks…
