“During Ramadan we sometimes crave comfort food that hits the protein–filled spot,” says culinary wizard Farah Sawaf. “This dish is always a hit and does not feel heavy as it is made with fresh ingredients and no cream.”
Serve with fresh salad, great to include in a buffet spread during iftar.
EXTRA BEEF LASAGNE
Serves 6 to 8 | preparation time 60 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 600g good quality beef sausage, ask the butcher to chop for you 1kg ground beef
- ¾ cup brown onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 8 medium ripe red tomatoes, chopped
- 250g canned tomato
- 450g can good-quality tomato purée
- 350g tomato paste
- ½ cup beef stock
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp ground fennel seed
- 3 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 4 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped, or 1 ½ tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 600g ricotta cheese
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 500g good quality shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1½ cups grated good quality Parmesan cheese
- 10 to 12 lasagne strips – I prefer the fresh spinach sheets from Lafayette Gourmet
Plus salt and ground pepper, to taste
PREPARATION
- Sauté the sausage, ground beef, onions and garlic until browned.
- Add the chopped tomatoes both fresh and canned, tomato puree, tomato paste and beef stock.
- Mix in sugar, fennel, basil, parsley, oregano, cinnamon, chilli flakes, pepper and salt to taste. Gently stir the seasoning into the sauce. Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer for approximately 30 minutes.
- In a bowl mix ricotta cheese, nutmeg, egg and parsley.
- Now we start building the lasagne layers. Using a large casserole/rectangular lasagne dish, spread some of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place fresh lasagne sheets over the meat, just covering it. Spread some ricotta cheese mixture over the layer. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the ricotta then sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella layer. Repeat. Top with the remainder of the meat, then top with cheese.
- Cover with foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes.
- Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
All the ingredients for this dish are available from Lafayette Gourmet.
For more recipes from Farah, visit here
