Man-made lasagne and herby brussels sprouts

How many ladies are lucky enough to have a husband that can cook? I am! We were invited for supper a few nights ago and my hubby decided to make his specialty lasagne to take along. I did help, OK! He was in charge of making the mince filling and messing the kitchen. I was making the cheese sauce and cleaning up after him.

How he does it? He's very secretive so I'm relaying what I've learnt by carefully watching him while he's preoccupied stirring the pot.

Two chopped onions along with freshly grated garlic and ginger, are sauted in butter. Chopped up green, red and yellow peppers are added. Three tins of chopped italian tomatoes are poured into the mix. A variety of spices that included, leaf masala, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder (and possibly others), salt and pepper were thrown in along with half a cup of sugar. When that was bubbling away, the rinsed mince was added in to cook. The gravy thickened and was set to simmer on low heat. Chopped coriander leaves and parsley were stirred in then. It smelt yummy!

While that was happening, I was squeezed next door on the adjacent plate making cheese sauce. I used a litre of milk and roughly, five tablespoons of cornflower. First mix the cornflower with a little of the cold milk to make a paste. Melt some butter in a large saucepan, then pour in the paste and the rest of the milk, slowly bringing it to a boil. Once the sauce thickens, add some salt, ground pepper and an over-flowing cup of cheese (of your choice).

We used lasagne sheets that didn't need to be pre-cooked and that saves a lot of time. In a large dish, pour a layer of cheese sauce then place lasagne sheets over it. These sheets swell up quite a bit so layer the mince filling generously. Layer with the cheese sauce and lasagne sheets again until the dish is filled, finishing off with a layer of cheese sauce. Top with grated cheese and garnished with chopped coriander leaves and parsley.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 ℃ for 30 minutes and voila!

We ended up having this massive dish. There was still filling left though, so we made another smaller lasagne. There were tons of dishes to eat at supper, that our hostess forced us to bring some home to have the next day. I wanted my hubby's lasagne for lunch, so I made Brussels sprouts to add to the leftovers.

You can boil Brussels sprouts for about 3 minutes or microwave them in a bag with a corner cut off for 4 minutes, turning it around half way through. They shouldn't be over-cooked otherwise, they taste yucky.

A quick vegetable dressing:

2 table spoons of butter
2 cloves of garlic grated
and a handful of chopped parsley.

Melt the butter and mix everything together. If you wish, you can add some salt to taste and just pour it over your veggies, adding a little bit more flavour to their natural goodness.


Not bad for a team effort!