Garfield has nothing on me!

Made Lasagna!!! it's been a long time since i made lasagna... a couple of years i reckon? I rarely cook back home but when I do, it is like Adelaide all over again.

I miss it. The freedom of choice. lol

This is the Lasagna Recipe I used. I tweaked it alittle to suit the environment.. so here are my tweaks!

But first of all, this is for all of you who have never attempted cooking pasta before.. hehehe.. I GOT YOU!

Here's Dee's Cooking Escapades - Singapore Edition!

Cooking Pasta

If you’ve never cooked any successful pasta in your life prior to this and you hate pasta coz it’s tasteless, Fret not! I’m pretty sure this is the reason why. It’s because you did not add salt to your water while boiling it. If you did, I am pretty sure it is not enough. Therefore;

BOIL YOUR PASTA IN WATER AS SALTY AS THE OCEAN! Send it to its final holiday before devouring it all up.

For the purposes of lasagna sheet, put a little olive oil in it too or else the sheets will stick to each other while cooking.


Tip #1
Treat Lasagne as pasta, so the fillings, just add whatever you like or would normally add in pasta. Coz, let’s face it; pasta is basically European’s Nasi Goreng.


Tip #2
Coz we’re all halal sisturs in here and it is not easy to get your hands on wine for cooking coz expensive in SG and also lasagna is comfort food not fine dining LOL, substitute red wine / white wine with sparkling grape juice.

** For the purposes of Covid-19; Grapetiser is out of stock. Sainsbury is a good alternative. Also Sainsbury is more grapey while Grapetiser is a little sweet = adjust your sugar accordingly depending on what brand you’re using. Also a great excuse to enjoy some sparkling juice while cooking. 

** For the purposes of this recipe, it calls for red wine / white wine vinegar which means it’s more sour than your average grape juice. 

So I’ve added 1 cup of sparkling grape juice into my sauce and 1 teaspoon of apple cider (or vinegar is ok too). Cider/vinegar is optional; really depends on how tangy you want it to be.

My mother complained that it was sour but I was ok with it. Then again, my mother is not a huge fan of tangy in general. So if you’re like my mother, add ½ cup of sparkling grape juice and add on as you deem fit.


Tip #3
Step 2: Browning the beef.

The recipe never ask to brown the beef with garlic. But I did. Fry garlic till fragrant and brown beef but not till fully cooked.

My logic for the garlic is this; we do not have cows of our own roaming around which also means that our meat here is not as fresh as those in Australia, New Zealand and other countries with cows roaming around freely. Therefore, the smell and beef taste needs to be aided; therefore GARLIC. BUT ANYWAYS. 

Recipe said until brown on all sides. I didn't do this coz... BEAR IN MIND will be cooked again in oven. So half brown half pink would suffice, at this point there would already be juices in here.


Tip #4
Recipe states to drain the beef but leave 1 tablespoon of fat. As I have found out to my horror while cooking, in Singapore, as the beef cooks it releases more water instead of fat - AGAIN, NO COWS ROAMING AROUND HERE. So in this case, scoop out everything out of your pan, beef + beef juice + beef fat. BUT do not wash pan.


Tip #5
Step 3: Return the browned ground beef to the pan.

I did not do this. Coz, I didn’t wanna overcook the beef. So here’s what you do instead.

Fry bell pepper, red onions and garlic as instructed only with olive oil instead of beef fats. They want the beef taste to be infused into the sauce. Once onion is translucent, pour just the beef juice/water from your lonely beef sitting in the bowl into the pan.

Next, add your canned diced tomato and fresh diced tomatoes. Stir and let it simmer. Cook it till your fresh diced tomatoes has wilted and melted into the sauce and the sauce has thickened. At this point, add your sparkling grape juice.

** For the purposes of Covid-19, ricotta cheese is out of stock everywhere and cooking cream is also out of stock in most places. adding ricotta later on while layering is actually for the beschamel sauce effect. But many is also not a fan of this coz this is what makes lasagna jelak. But coz I’m awesome, here’s the alternative! LOLOLOL!

If you have cooking cream then add about 2-3 table spoons of it, if you have milk instead add about 3-4 table spoons into the sauce. And cook it till it simmers. Add in all the spices inclusive chilli flakes / crushed chillies (coz ASIAN = NEED SPICY) and let it simmer again.

Also since I did not use that much beef as per the recipe, the next thing I added is mushrooms coz meat alternative and also I love mushrooms and since I’m chef, nobody can say anything. LOL.

There were LOTS OF MUSHROOMS. But if you are adding in other vegetables, ie: spinach, cook it till it wilts. Also, if you are using spinach, kindly cook the sauce till it is ¾ dry before adding in the spinach coz spinach has water on its own and it will make the sauce watery again.

Once, that has happened then add your beef and simmer it till it has minimal water. Season it with sugar and salt and everything nice. Salt: as per recipe’s instructions coz parmesan cheese is salty after all. Follow everything else the recipe says.


THE END. K Bye!