Lasagna – reteta mea / Lasagna – my recipe

Mai multe persoane care citesc blogul m-au intrebat cum fac eu lasagna. Asa ca am pregatit zilele astea o “mostra”.
Exact ca si in cazul Tiramisu am crezut ca deja cunoasteti reteta si ca nu sunteti interesati de ea. M-am inselat. Din nou.
Luati un creion si notati ingredientele de care aveti nevoie:
– 600 g carne tocata de vita
– 400 g carne tocata de porc
– 400 g pasta de ardei (sau 3-4 ardei mari rosii)
– 2 cepe
– 2 linguri de ulei
– 2 ardei verzi
– 400 g rosii decojite
– cimbru
– 2 catei de usturoi
– sare – 750 g foi de lasagna
– 3 oua
– 150 g cascaval
– 50 ml lapte

Some persons who read my blog asked me how I cook lasagna. So I prepared these days a “sample”.

Exactly as in Tiramisu’s case, I thought that you already know the recipe and you’re not interested. I was wrong. Again.

So, take a pencil and note the ingredients that you need:

– 600 g beef minced meat

– 400 g pork minced meat

– 400 g pepper sauce (or 3-4 big red bell peppers)

– 2 onions

– 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

– 2 green bell peppers

– 400 g peeled tomatoes

– savory

– 2 garlic cloves

– salt

– 750 g lasagna pastas

– 3 eggs

– 150 g pressed cheese

– 50 ml milk

Luam un vas maricel in care punem uleiul.Curatam ceapa si o taiem marunt si o adaugam in vasul cu ulei. Calim ceapa pana cand devine sticloasa. Adica nu mult – 3-4 minute la foc mic.

We’ll take quite a big recipient in which we’ll put the oil. We peel off the onion and we cut it finely and we put it in the recipient.

We’ll temper the onion until it becomes glassy. I meant not much – 3-4 minutes at low temperature.

Puneti ardeii verzi spalati, curatati si taiati cubulete. Eu aveam ardei congelati. Da, am trisat! :))
Ii caliti si pe ei 4-5 minute.

Now you put the green bell peppers washed, without seeds and cut in small cubes. I had frozen bell peppers. Yes, I cheated! :))

You’ll have to temper also the bell pepper for 4-5 minutes.

Adaugam carnea tocata si amestecam bine. Fiti atenti ca amestecul sa nu se prinda de vas.

We’ll add the minced meat and we mix. Be careful because we don’t want this mix to stick on the recipient.

Peste cateva minute vom pune rosiile decojite pe care le-am taiat marunt si amestecam cu o spatula. Compozitia va incepe sa fiarba incet in suc propriu.

After few minutes we’ll add peeled tomatoes which were cut in small pieces and we mix with a spatula. The composition will start to boil slowly in it’s own sauce.

Adaugam pasta de ardei, condimentele si 50-60 ml de apa. Sosul se va lasa sa fiarba 20 de minute la foc mic. Amestecam din cand in cand in vas.

We’ll add bell pepper sauce, condiments and 50-60 ml of water. The sauce will be left to boil for 20 minutes by low fire. We’ll mix once in a while with the spatula in the recipient.

Cand sosul este fiert il lasam sa se racoreasca putin. Intre timp vom aranja foile de lasagna. Eu nu am folosit foi proaspete, ci din cele uscate. Stiu ca sunt tari si mai stiu ca toata lumea le fierbe inainte de a le folosi.
Am incercat si eu de cateva ori sa le fierb. Rezultatul a fost de fiecare acelasi: am obtinut un bloc intact si lipicios de paste. Motivul e foarte simplu. De fiecare data ma iau cu vorba la telefon sau visez cu ochii deschisi si uit sa le supraveghez. Asa ca de ceva vreme nu mai procedez asa. Le las nefierte; vor fierbe in cuptor.
Aranjez foile intr-o tava antiaderenta, pun sosul, apoi alte foi si tot asa. Ultimul strat este unul de foi. Apoi adaug apa cat sa acopere si stratul de foi si bag tava in cuptorul preincalzit. Focul trebuie sa fie moderat.

When the sauce is ready we’ll leave it to cool down. Meanwhile we can start to arrange the lasagna sheets. I didn’t use fresh lasagna sheets, but dried ones. I know they are hard and I also know that everybody boils them before using them.

I tried to boil them few times. The result was always the same: I got a whole block of sticky pastas. The reason is so simple. Each time I talk too much on the phone or I dream with my eyes wide open and I forget to supervise my pot. So, for a while I’m proceeding this way. I leave them unboiled; they will boil in the oven.

I arrange the sheets into a nonadhesive pan, add the sauce, put other sheets of lasagna and so on. The last layer is a formed by sheets of lasagna. After that I put water just to cover the last layer of pastas and I’m introducing the pan into the preheated oven. The fire has to be moderated.

Cand foile de lasagna sunt moi scoatem tava din cuptor.
Punem intr-un castron ouale, laptele si cascavalul ras si amestecam pana obtinem o pasta. Aceasta se intinde pe foile de lasagna de la suprafata. Apoi punem tava inapoi in cuptor pentru aproximativ 10 minute. Cand este gata se scoate si se lasa la racorit. Se serveste calduta.

When the lasagna sheets are soft we’ll take the pan out of the oven.

In a bowl we’ll put the eggs, milk and grated pressed cheese and we mix until we’ll obtain a paste. The paste will be put on the surface lasagna sheets. We’ll put the tray back in the oven for almost 10 minutes. When lasagna is ready we’ll take it out and we’ll leave it to cool down. Lasagna is served warm.