Bolognese Lasagna

My lovely friend did Bolognese last week. When she cooked it, the smell of Bolognese was full of the house. I asked her how to cook it. Surprisingly, she roasted tomato before starting to simmer the sauce. I think this one more step enriches the flavor. My friend used Bolognese with spaghetti. Doing some different cooking. How about cook Bolognese with lasagna sheets?

 

Oven Temperature Setting: 200C/392F/Gas Mark 6

Baking Time: around 45 minutes

Recipe: Serve 4 People

 

Steps of Bolognese

(1) Wash tomato and halve all of them. Place them on a baking plate

(2) Drizzle some Olive oil over the top. (I used 2 table spoon, totally)
(3) Drizzle some sea salt and black pepper over the top. Send it to the pre-heated oven at 160C/320F/Gas Mark 3 for an hour.

 

(4) When it is ready, place all roasted tomato into a bowl. Then, juice all by a kitchen blender.

 

(5) Prepare finely chopped garlic clove and onion and chili pepper. Place around 2 table spoon of olive oil into a fried pan. Switch to medium heat. Place chili pepper and clove into the fried pan. Stir for around 1~2 minutes.

(6) Place chopped onion into the pan. Stir for a while. Cover the lid and cook it around 5 minutes.

 

(7) Place beef and pork mince into the pan. Fried the mince until it is colored.
(8) Prepare the gravy. Pour gravy and tomato sauce into the fried pan.

 

(9) Add tomato puree and grated carrot in. Mix all ingredients well. Boil them. And then, simmer it for around 2 hour.
(10) At the last 30 minutes, add sliced mushroom into the sauce. Mix it well. When it is ready, cool it a little bit. Set aside.

 

Steps of Assembly

(1) Cover the Bolognese sauce at the bottom of a baking dish

(2) Add 2 lasagna sheets over the top.

(3) Cover the Bolognese sauce over the lasagna sheets. And then, drizzle some grated cheese over the top
(4) Repeat step (2) and (3) until using out all lasagna sheets.
(5) Cover the Bolognese sauce over the lasagna sheets. Use the rest of grated cheese over the top. Cover with a kitchen foil and send it into the pre-heat oven at 200C/392F/Gas Mark 6 for 25 minutes. Then, uncover the kitchen foil and cook for another 15~20 minutes until the surface turns a little golden and brown.

 
Learning how to cook Bolognese sauce can do lots of different meals. Although Italian people may disagree this, I use that for pasta, pastry, rice, or bread. Enjoy this Bolognese sauce and I’ll share how to use this sauce on another cooking next time :D

Same Ingredients for Two Different Meals Part 1 – Pesto Salmon Pizza

Mostly, we are busy at working every day. Eat take away, pre-cooked food or frozen food is very convenient. YES, but might not have a very balance diet. In the weekend, follow me to do some different things cooking for your family :D I am so excited to share this. Use same ingredients can prepare two different meals, one pizza and one salmon roll. Eat one on Saturday and another one on Sunday. Though these are same ingredients, you will not feel like you are eating same thing. Are you ready to know what they are?

 

Oventemperature setting: 200C/392F; Baking Time: 15~20 minutes

Recipe: for one 8” pizza and one salmon roll
Pesto Link

 

Steps of Pizza Dough

(1) Weight all ingredients well

(2) Place Strong Flour, Plain Flour, Granulated Sugar and Salt into a big bowl. And then, stir a while.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: The use of yeast varies due to different manufacturers. Check the instructions.)
(3) Add yeast into the mixture. Mix it.

(4) Then, 180 ml milk into the bowl as well. Stir and mix into well until there is no flour.

(5) Move the dough ball into a lightly floured work space. Knead the olive oil into the dough
(6) Add the rest of 30ml milk into the dough gradually during the kneading. The dough should be kneaded into smooth and elastic dough.
(7) Shape the dough into a ball. Move it back to the lightly greased bowl. And brush some watch or milk on the surface of the dough ball. Wait around 1~2 hours until it doubles the size.

 

Steps of Salmon Fillings

(1) Prepare a fried pan. Add some oil into the pan. Fried the half of salmon (60 g) until it is Medium-Well. Chop it into small pieces and then drizzle 1 tea spoon salt over the salmon. Stir it well

Steps of Assembly

(1) Half the dough. Roll it into a round shape. Spread 25 ml pesto sauce on the top.

(2) Place half of chopped onion, 1 ea chopped mushroom and chopped salmon over the top
(3) Drizzle 30~35 g pizza over the top
(4) Brush some water around the side. Send the pizza into the pre-heated oven at 200C/392F. Bake it around 30~35 minutes until the side turns golden and crispy.

 

Of course… Serve in HOT. The taste of pesto pizza is very different. Not like tomato or BBQ sauce as base, the taste is stronger than tomato or BBQ sauce. So, pesto is not used to moisturize the dough only. You can really taste pesto at every bite. I’ll share how to bake Pesto Salmon Roll tomorrow. Enjoy it.

Creamy Salmon Lasagna

I like lasagna A LOT. I like the multilayer taste in my mouth. Have a very crispy cheese over the top with very tender lasagna with various ingredients inside. Many lasagna dishes sold at restaurants are cooked with tomato meat sauce. But, this was for my lovely flatmates’ farewell party. She likes salmon. Salmone+Tomato sauce… It doesn’t sound very match… So, I decide to use creamy cheese sauce to cook this lasagna. This is the most amazing part of cooking and baking. I can always do some new things. Kitchen is my playfield that I can do whatever what I like.

 

Recipe: Serve 4~5 people

 

 

Steps

(1) Fried Salmon until it is well-cooked. Then, chop it into small pieces. Set aside

(2) Chop onion, mushrooms and spinach into small pieces.

(3) Add 2 table spoon of olive oil into the fried pan. Switch on the medium heat. Add onion into the pan. Cook around 2 minutes.

(4) Then, place all mushrooms into the pan. Fry those around 2 minutes.
(5) Pour double cream and water into the pan. Cover the lid and switch to the high heat. When there are some bubbles starting to pop on the surface, and then lower the heat to the smallest one immediately. We don’t need to boil the creamy sauce. Keep simmering it around 5 minutes.

(6) Add spinach into the creamy sauce. Stir it into the creamy sauce. Keep simmering it around 5 minutes.

(7) Add 100g grated cheese into the pan. Stir it around 3~5 minutes. Then, you will find out the sauce starting to become a little thicken. Add seasoning. Switch off the heat.

(8) Pour the creamy sauce into the baking dish. And then, cover 2 lasagna sheets over the sauce.

 

(9) Pour the creamy sauce into the baking dish again. And place some salmon on the sauce.

(10) And then, drizzle some cheese over the top. Cover another 2 lasagna sheets.

(11) Repeat step (9) and (10) until using out all lasagna sheets.
(12) Pour sauce over the top. And then, drizzle the rest of cheese over the top.

 

(13) Cover with a sheet of kitchen foil. Send it into the pre-heat oven at 200C/392F for 25 minutes. Then, uncover the kitchen foil and cook for another 15~20 minutes until the surface turns a little golden and brown.

It takes lots of steps. But, don’t difficult to do it. When my friends arrived, they smelled the cheese coming from the oven… It made everyone starve. So, it is definitely worth of doing it for your friends and family. When you saw the big smile on their face, it is the happiness I am looking for it. Enjoy it.

Bacon Pesto Pasta

Blogging how to do pesto sauce means I would like to blog how to do pesto pasta. But, pesto pasta is not as popular as another two. It is not only in Taiwan, but also here in the UK. The Italian restaurants I have been in Leicester don’t have pesto pasta. It really makes me wonder. But, I know lots of people liking pesto pasta.

I went to food shopping at Sainsbury’s last week. Saw a big basil pot there. The strong and fresh flavor … OH… I knew I would like to bring it back to home and use it to cook lots of things. So, of course, the first thing is the classic pesto pasta.

Recipe: Serve 1 person

Pesto Sauce Link 
 

Steps of Bacon Pesto Pasta

(1) Prepare all ingredients

(2) Place spaghetti into the pan and add some salt. Pour the boiling water and add 1 tea spoon olive oil the pan. Switch onto the high heat and keep boiling it. It takes around 8~10 minutes. It needs to stir 2 or 3 times when boiling to prevent spaghetti sticking together.
(3) At the same time, add 1 table spoon olive oil into another fried pan. Switch to the medium heat. Add onion into the fried pan. Cook for around 2 minute.

(4) Add bacon into the fried pan. Cook it for around 2 minutes.

(5) Place mushroom and broccoli into the fried pan. Cover with the lid and cook around 4 minutes.
(6) Then, dry spaghetti. And place all spaghetti into the fried pan. Add the pesto sauce and 2 ~ 3 table spoon spaghetti water into the fried pan. Cover with the lid. Cook for another 2~3 minutes. Before placing onto the plate, taste it. If it is not so salty, add  a little salt into it.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: I always medium cook my pasta. And then, cook my past with the sauce. The flavor of pasta will be more tasty if you cook in this way.)

Pesto Sauce

People know there are three main pasta sauces, tomato sauce, creamy cheese sauce and pesto sauce. These sauces represent three colors of the Italian flag, red, white, and green. Pesto and creamy cheese are my favorite pasta sauce. About pesto, I like the strong basil flavor with garlic flavor. When pesto sauce is covered around the spaghetti and you eat into your mouth, it is the best thing. Pesto sauce is very easy and quick that it only takes around 10 minutes. And then, you can use this pesto sauce to your cooking and baking.

 

 

 

Recipe: Serve 3 ~ 4 people

 

Steps of Pesto 

(1) Prepare all ingredients

(2) Place olive oil, basil leaves, garlic clove, pine nuts into a bowl. Blend them well by a kitchen blender.
(3) Add grated cheese, salt and black pepper. Well-incorporated them
(4) Preserve them in a clean jar in the fridge.

 

Is it easy and simple? Although people say it can last about few weeks in the fridge, I prefer to eat them in fresh. Look for a classic pasta sauce? Here you are.