Gino's Kitchen Kidnap: Lasagne di Mamma
Last week, Gino surprised superfan Michelle at Waterloo station before stealing her away to cook in our kitchen.
This week, Gino will be kidnapping Linda Aspinwall who loves her food, and loves Gino even more! In her spare time she loves to try new ideas in the kitchen and loves to make Gino's lasagne and cannelloni, recipes she has nearly perfected but alas, she can't quite nail it... until now!
Linda is down from Warrington under the pretence of an early Christmas shopping trip but little does she know that daughter Jo has nominated her to have a personal one on one masterclass live on This Morning. With Gino playing teacher, Linda will become our chef as she makes a very special lasagne recipe that is from Gino's very own mamma herself!
If that wasn't enough, Linda will have to recreate the recipe this weekend when, unknown to her, she will be be cooking for 10 people at an upcoming family gathering. The family will be watching from home to find out what they will be eating live at the same time as Linda.
Homemade egg pasta dough
Makes about 400g of dough
Ingredients300g white flour, type 003 medium size eggs½ teaspoon of fine salt1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Method1. Place the flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs. Add in the salt and oil.
Using the handle of a wooden spoon, mix the edge of the pile into the eggs. Once you have a crumble texture, tip the mixture onto a well floured surface and start to knead until you have soft dough.
Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for about 8 minutes using both hands as if you are kneading bread.
Roll the dough into a ball, cover with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Once the dough has rested, simply flatten it with your fingers so that it can fit through the rollers of the pasta machine.
Flour the pasta lightly on both sides and start to roll it from the widest setting to the thinnest.
Make sure you keep the pasta dusted with flour at all time.
Lasagne di Mamma
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
12 fresh lasagne sheets, each approx 10x18cm500g minced beef5 tablespoons of olive oil1 large carrot, peeled and grated1 onion, peeled and finely chopped1 celery stick, finely chopped1 x 700ml bottle of Passata, sieved tomatoes1 tbsp of tomato puree2 glasses of Italian dry red wine10 basil leaves100g freshly grated Parmesan cheese50g salted butter, cold and cut into 1cm cubessalt and pepper to taste
For the béchamel sauce:100g salted butter100g plain flour1lt full fat milk, cold¼ freshly grated nutmeg
Method
To prepare the meat sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the onions, carrot and celery for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Add in the minced beef and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes stirring continuously until coloured all over. Season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Pour in the wine, stir well and continue to cook for 5 minutes until the alcohol in the wine has evaporated.
Pour in the sieved tomatoes with the tomato puree and fresh basil, lower the heat and continue to cook for 1 hour, lid off, until you get a beautiful rich sauce. Stir occasionally. (After about 30 minutes, taste for seasoning).
Preheat the oven to 180º.
Meanwhile, to make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute until becomes a light brown colour. Gradually whisk in the cold milk, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes whisking constantly.
Once thickened, stir in half of the parmesan cheese and the nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to slightly cool.
Spread a quarter of the béchamel sauce on the bottom of a deep ovenproof dish measuring approx. 30x25cm.
Lay 4 lasagne sheets on top and if necessary cut them to fit the dish.
Spread over half of the meat sauce then top with a third of the remaining béchamel sauce.
Lay 4 more sheets of lasagne on top and cover with the remaining meat sauce. Spread over half of the remaining béchamel sauce.
Add a final layer of lasagne sheets and gently spread the rest of the béchamel on top making sure that you completely cover the lasagne sheets.
Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and scatter over the cubed butter. Freshly ground some black pepper over the top.
Cook on the bottom of the preheated oven for 30 minutes then place the dish in the middle of the oven, higher the temperature to 200º and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes until golden and crispy all over.
Remove the dish from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes. This makes it easier to cut and serve as the layers hold together better.
Watch Gino and Michelle whip up a perfect linguine with mixed seafood sauce, garlic and white wine
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