Well, yesterday i did my meal plan for the week, a basic outline of what dinners I would cook this week, in no particular order. Then I wrote out a shopping list of items I would need to cook these dinners from scratch. $120 later and here is my week of feeding 6 from scratch!
Day 1: Lasagna
Tonight we are having Lasagna, which usually costs me a small fortune cos on top of buying the mince, and pasta sheets, I also buy 2 jars of pasta sauce and 2 jars of bechamel sauce (I have never been able to make Bechamel from scratch in the past so choose to cheat to make it easier for me). This time, I bought the mince and pasta sheets, a couple of tins of tomatoes and used what i had in my cupboard/fridge (i.e herbs, garlic, cheese, flour, milk, tomato paste).
The basic idea is to cook the sauce the way my mums grandmother (my great Nonna who was born and raised in Italy) used to when she was alive. Italian cooking is meant to be vey simple, simple fresh ingredients, nothing too over the top. So the ingredients for my (Nonna's) pasta sauce are: Mince (lean/premium), 2-3 tins of crushed/diced tomatoes (you could really do this from scratch if you really wanted to, but i still use the tins), tomato paste, garlic, herbs (fresh or dried). She also used to put in a couple of Bay Leaves, but i didnt have any on hand, so left them out, instead i chucked an onion in my happy chopper and diced it up small, browned it and added it to my sauce as a treat for Adam, who rarely gets onion cos i dont like it! Brown mince, throw in your tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, garlic, and if you really want to some diced up or grated veges. Simmer for about 20 mins on low heat, stirring occasionally. The sauce will become very rich and smell delicious!
Moving on to the bechamel sauce! Now this bit was stressful for me, having never succeeded in the past. I tried to follow a recipe, but in the end i did it myself with the basic idea in mind. Started off melting some butter, then added some flour like the recipe told me to to make a paste. I then added the milk as per the recipe, used my whisk so i could keep it smooth, then once the milk was simmering i added the cheeses (tasty and parmesan). Kept whisking, nothing was happening, it was still pretty much just milk, but yellow! Stress attack, followed by adding more flour, and more cheese, then i decided to turn the heat up a bit and walk away cos i was getting frustrated. Came back a minute or 2 later and my sauce was thickening! i grabbed the whisk and whisked it for my life before it started getting lumpy, added a little more milk cos it was a bit thick (due to the additional flour and cheese i suspect lol) and viola! Bechamel sauce! I tasted it to make sure it was ok, it was better than OK, it was PERFECT!Wasnt I having a proud moment at that stage :)
So putting it all together was the easy part, got out my big Pyrex lasagna dish, greased it, then put the first layer of pasta sheets down. Topped with a thin layer of bechamel, a nice layer of pasta sauce, then repeated this til i got to the top. Finished off with a layer of bechamel, sprinkled with some parmesan cheese, then put in the oven. I have pre-cooked so all i have to do tonight is turn the oven back on, and heat it back up! I even had enough leftover ingredients to make a small one in another Pyrex dish i have (this is a round one, was interesting with square sheets lol) which will go in the freezer for Adam and I to share for lunch or dinner another night (when the kids want party pies or fish fingers lol).
A very proud moment for me, putting it all in the oven, will update with pics when we actually sit down to eat it. I am serving it up with a light salad tonight, which means i can do smaller serves and have more left to cut into single serves and freeze! Thinking ahead now :)
Tomorrow night, slow cooked Beef Strog!
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