Gluten Free and Lactose Free Lasagne
Posted on 04/10/2010

INGREDIENTS

BOLOGNAISE SAUCE:
3kg of ripe tomatoes (roughly chopped)
1 onion
200g of pork mince
200g of beef mince
1 cup of water
A couple of tablespoons of olive oil
A couple of bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
PASTA:
300g of Vitarium Plain Flour
5 eggs
BECHAMEL:
6 tablespoons of Vitarium Plain Flour
1 bay leaf
½ cup of olive oil
3 ¾ cups of soy milk (Bonsoy preferred)
Salt and pepper to taste

STEP ONE

Heat the oil in a pot and fry the onion until soft and transparent. Add tomatoes, water, salt and pepper (usually two generous pinches), and simmer. After 30 minutes, break down the tomatoes with a potato masher while in the pot and continue simmering until the tomatoes have disintegrated and the skins are left with no flesh. This should take about an hour and a half. Remove tomato sauce from pot and push through a sieve, using the potato masher or the back of a spoon (or alternatively use an Italian Passata machine), into a separate bowl.

STEP TWO

Heat a touch more oil to the pot the tomato sauce was originally in and fry off pork and mince meat, breaking it up while it browns. Mix sauce back through pot with cooked meat and add bay leaves. Simmer until the sauce thickens. At this point taste and add salt if required. This can take a couple of hours depending on the ripeness of the tomatoes.

STEP THREE

In the meantime – make the pasta! Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the five eggs and mix until well combined. Add extra flour if need be to form a ‘non-sticky’ ball in your palms. Cover in cling wrap and place in the fridge for half an hour. After 30 minutes, flour a chopping board and remove a golf size ball of pasta dough from the fridge. It’s a great idea to keep the remainder of pasta dough covered in cling wrap (not necessarily in the fridge), to prevent it from drying out.

STEP FOUR

Kneed the golf ball size of pasta dough and add extra flour until no longer sticky (but not dry). Flatten down with palm of hand on chopping board and gently roll through a pasta machine (starting at setting #7 and ending at setting #5). Put the finished sheet on a tray of baking paper. Continue this process until you have enough pasta sheets for the four layers of lasagne. Remember to use baking paper to separate the sheets of pasta so they don’t stick.

STEP FIVE

The Béchamel Sauce: The Béchamel Sauce should always be made at the very last minute, just before you assemble your lasagne. Pre-heat your oven at this point to 200°C. Heat the oil in a pot and add flour, whisk until mixed. Allow bubbling for a quick 30 seconds and then add seasoning, soymilk and bay leaf. Bring to the boil while whisking to prevent the contents from forming clumps. When the whisk is leaving a trail in the mixture, remove from heat.

STEP SIX

Assembling your masterpiece – In your chosen tray, cover the base with a layer of sauce. Add one layer of pasta, followed by more sauce and dollop the béchamel over the sauce. Repeat this step with four layers of pasta. Sauce to béchamel ratio should be about 2:1. On the top of the lasagne, finish by covering the béchamel with an extra layer of sauce. Cover the dish with foil and place in oven to cook for 40 minutes and then remove the foil. Place back in the oven to crisp around the edges for 20 minutes.