Recipe CXXVIII - Lasagne rolls done two ways

Pasta is a very versatile food, and you can do many things with it, although as Italians still can't see past Artusi, they are stuck with an outdated recipe book, so it is up to us non-Italians to push ahead with new recipes and ideas. This one is an adaptation of a video I saw on the Internet. I didn't really like the recipe it proposed so I took it a step further and added some more ingredients.

You are making two kinds of rolls - one with ricotta and pesto, the other with mince and béchamel.

Ingredients: 

Lasagne sheets, 1 packet (other pasta as backup in case the lasagne sheets break up, which is not uncommon!)
1 jar of green pesto
1 tub of ricotta
Some grated mozzarella
350g minced beef
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
Some fresh herbs
Some Cheddar, grated (other cheeses like Pecorino, Manchego or Gruyère will also do)
Ground black pepper
Olive oil
Butter, flour, nutmeg and milk (for the béchamel)
Tin foil for covering

Instructions:

Put your oven on to 200°C. Take your ricotta, pesto and a handful of mozzarella, and put them in a bowl. Mix well.

In the meantime, parboil some lasagne sheets one or two at a time. Don't do all, as they will stick to each other and become an unmitigated disaster. Take them out of the pan carefully making sure not to break them. If they split a little through the middle though, that's not a problem.

Lay them out one by one on a cutting board and paste the ricotta mixture over them. Then roll them up like a carpet and lay them in a baking tray with olive oil in the bottom.

Then take the mince, the onion, garlic and some black pepper and fry them in olive oil until the meat loses its red colouring. Add some grated Cheddar and the herbs to the mixture.  It is at this point you should make your béchamel. I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how to make that. Make quite a lot, as you will need it for later. Add some to the mince mixture and do the same - roll them up and put them on the baking tray.

They should look like this:

Take the rest of the béchamel and spread it on top of the rolls, then sprinkle over more grate mozzarella and Cheddar, plus some ground black pepper.

Cover the tray in tin foil, put it in the oven for 20 minutes and a further10 minutes uncovered.

The results are very satisfying indeed!

Recipe XV - Beef and Buffalo Mozzarella Roulades with Fresh Herbs in a Red Wine Sauce

As every good cook's hands should smell of onion or garlic, the kitchen should contain a cheap bottle of wine for cooking purposes. This dish takes about 45 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.

Ingredients:
3 thin pieces of beef flank steak
120g buffalo mozzarella
1 onion
Fresh oregano, basil and thyme
6 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
2 glasses of red wine




Instructions:
Take the beef and spread it flat on the preparation dish. Rub some salt and pepper into it on both sides.
Cut up the onion and put it in a blender along with the herbs, garlic and some olive oil until it becomes a pulp.



Spread the mixture on top of the beef like butter onto bread.
Slice the mozzarella into three pieces and place one in the centre of each steak.


Pick up the longer sides in the middle and envelope the longer tongues over the top, sealing with cocktail sticks in strategic places.




Cooking:
Heat a large, high-sided frying pan with some olive oil and place the roulades inside, frying gently until all the sides are sealed.
Add your red wine and put on the lid of the pan. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes on a medium heat. Check it every ten minutes.
Some of the mozzarella, onion, garlic and herbs will have leaked into the wine, making a delicious sauce.




Accompaniment:
We had boiled potatoes with chives and melted butter, but a nice tomato and rocket salad would go really well too.

Recipe VI - Lasagne al Forno

Ingredients for the lasagne:
A box of lasagne sheets (green/egg/ ordinary, to preference)
600g minced beef
2 medium-sized onions
1 medium-sized green pepper
1 medium-sized red pepper
5 fresh tomatoes, sliced
2 large balls of mozzarella, cut into cubes
A glass of cheap red wine
Fresh herbs from the garden
5 cloves of garlic, crushed under a knife and finely chopped

Ingredients for the béchamel sauce:
Butter
Flour
Milk
Nutmeg
Pepper

Recipe for the lasagne:

• Switch on the oven to 175°C and put a square, ceramic baking dish in it. Take the minced beef, garlic and some of the fresh herbs and fold them all into each other, adding salt and pepper from the pepper mill slowly, aiming properly to make sure it is not over-salted.
• Using a large, rounded frying pan like a wok, take the onions and peppers and gently fry them in olive oil. Add the minced beef mix and fry until it is almost fully browned.
• Add the tomatoes and put a lid over the pan. Once the tomatoes have disintegrated, add the wine (however much you want to liquefy the filling), add the rest of the herbs, add the mozzarella and gently cook in the covered pan until the mozzarella is totally integrated into the sauce. You may need to keep a good eye on the bottom of the pan, as mozzarella has a habit of sinking to the bottom and burning. If there is enough liquid, this should not be a problem.
• 45 minutes is recommended, but if you are pushed for time, as long as all the ingredients are in the pan, you should be able to move onto the next phase.

Towards the end of the pan phase:

• Put on some salted water in a saucepan - this is where you will dip the lasagne sheets before you put them in the oven.
• Béchamel: Heat up the butter (a good, thick slice from the block, and add some flour until it solidifies with the butter. Add some milk slowly to your mixture, making sure you balance it with more flour if necessary. Add your pepper and grated nutmeg at this point too. Once it is of a good consistency, keep it near to you, ready for the filling of the baking dish.

Filling the baking dish:
This is a great pleasure of mine - one of the most delightful experiences of making a lasagne.

• Take the baking dish out of the oven. Put three sheets of lasagne into the boiling salt water for about 20 seconds.
• In the bottom, pour some of the béchamel. Using a pair of tongs, remove the lasagne sheets from the water and shake off the excess liquid. Put them on top of the bechamel, covering the bottom of the dish.
• Put three more sheets in the water.
• Using a large serving spoon, put some of the minced meat sauce on evenly-spread.
• Add the next three sheets of lasagne.
• Put three more sheets in the water.
• Add another layer of minced meat sauce.
• Lasagne sheets, remembering three more in the water.
• Add some more bechamel, but no meat sauce. This gives the centre a truly creamy taste!
• More lasagne sheets.
• More meat sauce. By now, you should be running out of meat sauce. Upon the final top layer of meat sauce, pour the excess béchamel.
• Put the whole thing in the oven for 25 to 45 minutes, depending on the size.

Removing lasagne from the baking dish:
Many people have severe trouble keeping the lasagne whole. You need a sharp knife, and go around the outside of the lasagne, peeling it away from the dish. Then, cut across the middle, length-ways, then width-ways, depending on the number of eaters. Using a spatula and your knife, ease the first portion onto the spatula. The first one is the trickiest part!

Accompaniments:
Any lasagne would not be complete without a good bottle of half-bodied, young red wine. Good examples come from the south: Sicily and Puglia.

Starter dish:
Insalata Caprese: Sliced tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil leaves, olive oil, balsamic vinegar.
Slice the mozzarella and slide it between pieces of tomato. Put a leaf of basil on top and drizzle the olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top.
Buon appetito!