Lasagna

Tomagotchye

Hey all,

I'm thinking about diving into an old lasagna dish I have lying around. I had an idea, basically take some mince, onions, garlic and salt...pile it all together and then smother this in baked beans (from the tin cheap as chips).

Has anybody tried using baked beans for this? Will the rebaking of the beans matter, or will the sauce taste alright?

I have my doubts, but it'd be very very cheap and I think quite tasty!

You should use also some meats, like pork belly, or half pork with beef, and some ragu.

Dial Hard

Tomagotchye wrote:

I'm thinking about diving into an old lasagna dish I have lying around. I had an idea, basically take some mince, onions, garlic and salt...pile it all together and then smother this in baked beans (from the tin cheap as chips).

I don't really understand the question. Do you want to make lasagna with baked beans in it, or just use a lasagna dish to bake a mincey-beany mix?

Tomagotchye

Dial Hard wrote: »

I don't really understand the question. Do you want to make lasagna with baked beans in it, or just use a lasagna dish to bake a mincey-beany mix?

The former.

Dizzyblonde

I have no idea how that would turn out - but I would advise you to brown the mince in the pan first, for flavour and colour.
I've moved this into Cooking & Recipes.

Dial Hard

Tomagotchye wrote: »

The former.

You could amend this Paul Flynn for Lidl recipe slightly and use that as your filling. Instead of using the meatballs, fry your mince off with the garlic and onions at the start. I'd also add plenty of oregano.

http://www.lidl.ie/en/3859.htm

Mind you, I can imagine that it would be a VERY filling lasagna.

Mrs Fox

Dial Hard wrote: »

You could amend this Paul Flynn for Lidl recipe slightly and use that as your filling. Instead of using the meatballs, fry your mince off with the garlic and onions at the start. I'd also add plenty of oregano.

http://www.lidl.ie/en/3859.htm

Mind you, I can imagine that it would be a VERY filling lasagna.

I've made that meatball baked beans recipe many times and it's really delicious (but I do add carrots and celery when sauteeing onions too). It will be a very filling lasagna though, as Dial Hard said.

Dial Hard

Mrs Fox wrote:

I've made that meatball baked beans recipe many times and it's really delicious.

It's lovely, isn't it? I add a teaspoon each of cayenne and cumin when making it.

Ryan Mac Sweeney

Hi
I have read your post. I have a recipe for lasagne first finely chop an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a carrot and some streaky bacon. First fry off your streaky bacon until its nice and crispy then using a slotted spoon remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper and set aside then add another drop of oil to your saucepan and add in the vegetables and cook until softened. Then add in your mice and breaking it up cook it until its cooked through then add in two tins of chopped tomatoes and two tablespoons of tomato puree and about half a cup of red wine then bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes until thickened. Mean while make the cheese sauce. In a saucepan melt butter and flour and what you are making is a roux about 50g 2 oz is perfect. Then cook the roux for about 15 minutes until the flour is cooked. Then add in a litre of milk whisking all the time then bring to the boil and cook until thickened. Then remove from the heat and add in a teaspoon of mustard and some freshly grated cheddar cheese and then stir until the cheese has melted. Then make up your lasagne first put a layer of ragu then cover with lasagne sheets then add a layer of cheese sauce then repeat with another layer of ragu lasagne sheets and another layer of cheese sauce keep repeating this procesd until everything is used up. Before you start cooking preheat the oven to 180 C 350 F Gas 4 before you start preparing and then when you are ready place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the cheese has melted and it is piping hot and cooked through then remove from the oven allow to rest for 5 minutes and then serve with a nice green salad and some garlic bread. The best cheese to sprinkle on top is a combination of cheddar and guyere.

Dial Hard

He was specifically looking for a recipe that included baked beans.

Lady is a tramp

Tomagotchye wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm thinking about diving into an old lasagna dish I have lying around. I had an idea, basically take some mince, onions, garlic and salt...pile it all together and then smother this in baked beans (from the tin cheap as chips).

Has anybody tried using baked beans for this? Will the rebaking of the beans matter, or will the sauce taste alright?

I have my doubts, but it'd be very very cheap and I think quite tasty!

I've never really cooked with beans, but I'd imagine it would work better to use normal beans maybe mixed in with passata? Still very cheap? It's just the amount of salt and sugar in baked beans would really make it quite un-lasagne-like, in my opinion, and not very tasty!

In fact why bother with the beans at all - if you just want a cheap easy lasagne-type dish, why not do what you suggested (fry up some mince and garlic and veg and herbs) put in the dish and smother in passata, stick in the oven and sprinkle some cheese on towards the end.

Is there a reason you're not planning on using any actual pasta? To be honest whatever way you plan on doing it, I wouldn't call it lasagne without pasta!

Dial Hard

Lady is a tramp wrote:

Is there a reason you're not planning on using any actual pasta? To be honest whatever way you plan on doing it, I wouldn't call it lasagne without pasta!

I think he is planning on using pasta. Hence my caveat about it being a stodge-fest. But hey, sometimes a bit of stodge is all that will do.

Mellor

Tomagotchye wrote: »

The former.

I thought it was the former at first as you never mentioned pasta.

Beans work fine in a lasagne/pasta-bake type dish. Re-baking the beans won;t be an issue. But if the only sauce you are using is the sauce from the tin of beans, it will be very dry.

I use beans with mince all the time. However I use kidney beans an make make my own sauce. If you want to take the simple option with baked beans then it won't kill you

Tree

After being fed a very peculiar lasagne by an Italian friend the other week, it seems all that's required to be lasagne is flat sheets of pasta and a baking dish.

As for the OP's original plans, I see no reason why it wouldn't work. I'd add tomato purée to that as the tomato sauce in baked beans is usually too sweet and not tomatoey enough. The final part of the challenge is what to layer the top with. As béchamel probably isn't low-overhead enough.

Dial Hard

Tree wrote: »

The final part of the challenge is what to layer the top with. As béchamel probably isn't low-overhead enough.

Jamie Oliver has a great cheat's "bechamel" - 500ml tub of natural yoghurt, crack an egg into it, mix up with a pinch of nutmeg and bob's yer uncle.

Mystery Egg

Tree wrote: »

After being fed a very peculiar lasagne by an Italian friend the other week, it seems all that's required to be lasagne is flat sheets of pasta and a baking dish.

Describe! :pac:

Tree

Layers of puréed vegetables, with pasta sheets, topped with plenty of cheese (they were catering for a vegetarian and had never made veg lasagne before)