Gluten-Free Lasagne
I love lasagne but have never bothered to make it from scratch as there are so many easy options out there from "simply place in oven or microwave" options to the "here are your ready made sauces...just assemble" versions. By the way did you know that lasagne is the plural for lasagna? It refers to the pasta sheets...thanks google and wikipedia!lol
A couple of people recently asked me to blog a lasagne recipe and of course I had to indulge them and go for it...I decided to go a little differently and make two options, a gluten free version that would suit one of my favourite people who has to manage a gluten-free diet due to intolerances and another standard version but using the same gluten-free bechamel sauce because I could! I would advise that you pop a bay leaf or two into the meat sauce and a couple of cloves in the béchamel until it's ready and then the bay leaf and the cloves would be retrieved prior to layering but I had neither of them in the cupboard and did without.
Ingredients-This recipe serves 4 and is so yummy because aubergines!!😋
Meat Sauce
350g pork mince
350g beef mince
200ml gluten-free beef stock
2 carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 medium red onion, chopped roughly
1 tsp oregano, chopped finely
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp tomato puree
2x400g cans of peeled plum tomatoes
100g cherry tomatoes
Bechamel Sauce
100g butter
50g cornflour
750ml milk
1 tsp nutmeg
70g parmesan
55g mature cheddar
"Lasagne"
1 large aubergine
-Combine the pork and beef mince and brown in a large frying pan.
-Drain off the fat and add the oil, garlic, onion, herbs, nutmeg and carrots. Cook for 2 mins.
-Add the tomato puree and stir through then add the plum tomatoes, breaking down the tomatoes, add the stock and allow to simmer for 10-15mins.
-Quarter the cherry tomatoes and stir through and remove from the heat.
-Preheat the oven to 165°C (I have a fan oven so adjust accordingly)
Bechamel
-Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. You'll need to move quickly with the next step.
-Just as it finishes melting, add the cornflour and using a whisk, stir together and as it starts to stick, gradually add the milk, stirring gently the whole time until you have a runny smooth sauce.
-Add the nutmeg and continue to slowly stir until it starts to thicken.
-Add half the parmesan and cheddar and stir through thoroughly then set this aside also.
-Cut the aubergine into 75mm slices lengthways and set aside for layering.
-Take a rectangular oven safe dish and start to assemble the lasagne.
-Spread a thin layer of bolognese, then layer the aubergine, bechamel, leftover cheddar, bolognese, aubergine...until you've finished your aubergine or you run out of space to layer.
-I recommend going in different directions to aid the coverage on each layer as aubergines don't line up like pasta sheets do
-Now sprinkle with parmesan and drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil.
-Place on the middle shelf of the hot oven uncovered for 25mins.
-Remove and leave to stand for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy 😄
I was a silly billy and forgot to take a picture of the finished job but I will definitely be making this again and will update the post when I do. You can head over to the standard lasagne recipe to see a photo of the finished job done more or less the same way but with pasta sheets and different treatment in the oven..
