Hi guys! I can’t believe it’s the holiday season again! I’ve been so utterly busy with making pretty accessories for my DiploShop, cooking, baking and going on my usual shopping rounds to take advantage of the end of season sales to get what I need and having my perpetual online garage sale. (I am a struggling minimalist – but obviously losing that battle so far hehe!) Anyway I just wanna share with you that I finally made lasagna for the first time! And IMHO it was pretty yummy for a first try! It helps to have a good authentic recipe to begin with, even if I kinda winged it on the Bolognese sauce. Read on.
Anchor Baking Dish
It all started when I saw a box of lasagna in the supermarket. I said “I really should learn how to make lasagna!” This was a couple of months ago. Then last weekend I saw this Anchor Baking Dish on sale at Ace Hardware Pasaraya. It is usually 399.000 but for the Anniversary weekend it was on promo for 299.000. It’s my first time to see something like this in Jakarta. Not a bad deal for Jakarta yeah?
- Oven/Microwave/Refrigerator safe baking dish
- It has a Cover for the baking dish so it’s perfect for storing – no need to cling wrap!
- It also has this awesome insulated bag – that keeps the dish hot (not just warm), makes it easy to bring to aparty without being scared of touching the hot dish!
- There is also a Temp Assure insulation pack which can keep your dish hot or cold.
Then yesterday, while I was having my morning coffee I saw David Rocco’s Dolce Vita on TV and guess what he was making?!? Lazy (wo)Man’s Lasagna! That was it! The last piece of the puzzle. I knew what recipe I was gonna use! Click here to print out the full recipe.
TD told me he was coming home for lunch and to be honest I thought the recipe was gonna be quicker than I thought and I didn’t have complete ingredients! So I had to do some shortcuts on the Bolognese recipe (I had 50 mins to do it and the full recipe called for 1 hours of simmering the bolognese). I didn’t bother doing the salsa di minuti either. I basically combined David Rocco’s recipe with the Bolognese recipe that I learned from the Italian Chef at Cooking Class in The Ritz’ Lobo. Here’s the recipe I used….If I were you, I would still taste it along the way to be sure it comes out the way you like your lasagna.
Ingredients:
- 50 grams carrots finely chopped
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- dried chili pepper flakes to taste
- 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin olive oil
- 500g high quality lean ground beef
- 4 basil leaves
- 1 can of pelati 400g
- Seeved tomato puree about the same about as the can
- 2-4 tbsp tomato paste (depends on how sour you like it)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Lazy Man’s Lasagna:
- Heat oil in the pan (medium)
- Throw in the carrots, onions, chili pepper and garlic and sautee for a few seconds
- Throw in the beef and sautee until golden brown
- Add salt and pepper
- I should have really added some wine and let reduced at step 4 but this has to be for next time.
- Add canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste + basil leaves + more salt and pepper to taste
- Simmer until it’s the desired consistency (I wanted it to be a tiny bit watery than thick because I needed the sauce to cook the pasta and I know that a lot of it will be absorbed)
- Remove the basil leaves
Btw did you know that this is how to pronounce Bolognese properly?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYB1c5YI-mE]
I followed the other instructions almost perfectly except for….
- I prefer using Grana Padano Parmesan Cheese instead of Parmigiano Reggiano. According to Lobo’s chef it is the best parmesan cheese because it’s aged longer than Parmigiano Reggiano. The weird thing is it’s also cheaper in the supermarkets.
- I didn’t have mozzarella so for the bottom layers I just used Grana Padano, then on top I spread some thinly sliced Quickmelt cheese with a generous sprinkling of Grana Padano.
I’m just so happy that it turned out pretty good because I ended up having to bring it to TD’s office instead and having everyone try it out. They were quite impressed and I hope they weren’t just being nice. Personally I really liked how it turned out and TD said the only thing missing was the garlic bread – LOL!
If I had time and complete ingredients I might wanna try the entire recipe next time! Btw I have to say that the bechamel sauce was fantastic and so easy to do!
hi TDW – this lasagna looks yummy! [was going to shoot you an email but realized I forgot to get it at the Turkuaz cooking class –really bad at that. wanted to let you know that I found quinoa at the Kemang Hero. it is, however, quite cher 🙁 ]
Hi Emilie! Thank you for the compliment! Glad you got in touch! My email is thediplomaticwife@gmail.com. I am sorta sad because the ibu who was going to email me said she sent me her calling card (the one who lives in Bandung) but I never received it. I think she might have made a typo on my email address. Miscommunication I think! What do you mean “cher?” =) I would still love to visit you sometime!
Looks delicious! I love the insulated carrying case with the handles…perfect way to take a heavy dish to a potluck event.
Thanks Joy! Yes I really am loving the carrying case. And it really keeps the lasagna hot! I brought it to TD’s office and I didn’t even need to reheat it. It stayed piping hot long after I cooked it. Thanks for dropping me a line Joy!
We certainly love lasagna in our house. Yours looks so yummy. Maybe we should do lasagna tonight? If we have the ingredients, that is. 😀
Thank you for the compliment! I enjoyed making it the first time and for sure I will be making more this Christmas. What’s your recipe?
We have a few recipes that we combine into our very own. BTW, had pasta last night. Missing a few ingredients for your recipe, but will try next time for sure…
Happy holidays to you. 😀
True I like adjusting recipes to fit our personal taste and available ingredients as well. I am surprised with how simple and how yummy David Rocco’s Bechamel sauce is. I hope you get to try and like it too!
Just wanna say hola! to you and thank you for your interesting and helpful articles, especially the good finds/housekeeping tips and cooking tips! I’m a diplo wife too here in Seoul, and I just love reading your posts whenever my baby is asleep. Hehe
Hello there RDD! Thank you so much for your sweet comment. It warms my heart that someone finds my little blog helpful. I wish you luck with your new blog, new post and new role as a mom – so many new and exciting things! Keep in touch. Hugs!