Monday 27 February: Old Faithful and a coming of age pudding.

This week was slightly different to all the preceding weeks of "Anything Can Happen Mondays".  Both my main course and dessert were already tried and tested.  The main was the firm family favourite lasagna, which brings me to another far older tradition our family has; on each person's birthday, they get to choose their absolute favourite meal. However, on 10 February this year, it was a Friday, and we were all doing our own different things, with the teens having supper at their Youth group, and with us having supper with family from Jo'burg who were in Cape Town for the weekend.  This meant that Andrew's all-time favourite lasagna was put on hold until a more opportune time - which happened to be this Monday!  The dessert was a fridge tart, which I last made 21 years ago!  It was every bit as delicious as I remembered it.

Here are the two recipes, with variations:

MAIN COURSE

Traditional Mince Lasagna (as per Fattis and Monis lasagna box)


250g lasagna sheets
Meat Sauce
3 tbsp cooking oil
125g streaky bacon/bacon pieces, finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I use 2 tsp ready-crushed fresh garlic)
1 carrot, scraped and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
750g beef or lamb mince
1 x 410g tin tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 x 160g tin tomato paste
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken or beef stock
1 tsp oreganum
1 tsp sweet basil
2 bay leaves
Salt & pepper to taste
White Sauce
100g butter/margarine
1/2 cup flour
4 cups (1 litre) milk
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheese

Method

1.  Heat oil in a large pot and fry bacon, onion, garlic, carrot and celery for 5 minutes. Add mince and brown, breaking up with a fork until crumbling.
2. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, stock, herbs, bay leaves and seasoning. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour, adding more water if mixture cooks dry.
3. Make a white sauce by melting butter in another pot. Stir in flour for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk until mixture is smooth and thickened. Season to taste, add cheese and stir until melted.
4. In an oven proof dish, layer white sauce, lasagna, meat sauce and lasagna. Continue in this fashion, ending with a thick layer of white sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and paprika for topping. Stand for 30 - 40 minutes before baking in a preheated oven at 180ºC for about 30 minutes.
5. Stand in a warming drawer for a further 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6 - 8 people

Lasagna and "Potagna"

Variation: 

I have a little guy that won't put pasta in his mouth at all.  I've got around that by using thinly-sliced potato layers instead of lasagna sheets, hence its nickname "potagna". Basically a potato bake, but just every bit as yummy as its pasta counterpart.

AND FOR DESSERT

Pineapple Fridge Tart (thanks to Evelyn Crossland for this one)

2 packets jelly (greengage or apple and lemon)

250 ml boiling water

1 packet tennis biscuits (plain square biscuits for non-South African viewers)

1 large tin evaporated milk

1 large tub pineapple yoghurt

1 tin pineapple rings

Glacé cherries

1. Dissolve 2 packets of jelly in boiling water
2. Lightly grease large dish
3. Lay biscuits close together to form base OR crush biscuits and mix with 125g melted margarine, then press down into dish (having tried the former on Monday night, I would definitely recommend the latter)
4. Beat well-chilled evaporated milk until thick and very foamy
5. Add yoghurt and blend well, then add jelly and blend well
6. Pour over biscuit base
7. Allow to set in fridge
8. Drain pineapple rings on paper towel. Place on tart to decorate, placing cherries in inner circles.

Pineapple Fridge Tart

Variation:

For Peach Fridge Tart, use peach and orange jellies, peach and granadilla yoghurt and decorate with peach slices and cherries.

Enjoy!!