I never really had a specific recipe for most of what I cook, and would only follow the biddings of my instincts at that moment. The recipe below is generally a mental calculation of the ingredients I used. In the end though, everything boils down to personal taste and preference.
Lasagna ala Agoo
1 pack of Lasagna noodles
Bacon bits
Grated Cheese
Red Sauce
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 head of garlic, chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1/4 kilo ground beef
1 pack of 750 g Del Monte Gourmet Beef and Mushroom
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup of cubed cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Dried Herbs
White Sauce
bacon bits and edges
1 tablespoon margarine (optional)
1 head of garlic, chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 can of sliced button mushrooms
2 tetrapacks of all purposed cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 can of evaporated milk
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
Dried herbs
salt and pepper to taste
Red Sauce
1. In a sauce pot, heat olive oil then add in chopped garlic and onion. Once onion starts to become translucent, put in the ground beef. (Note: We have some red wine going a little vinegar-y after air exposure and I decided to add two to three drizzles on the beef while cooking it).
2. Add in the pasta sauce and sugar. Mix. Throw in some dried basil and tarragon.
3. I was feeling a bit adventurous so I added a few dashes of turmeric, curry and Spanish paprika. Salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add in the cubed cheese to make mixture more creamy. I just really love adding cheese to my tomato based sauce. Simmer until reduced slightly. Set aside.
White Sauce
1. In a new sauce pot, fry bacon until crispy. I usually like using Purefood's Bits and Edges since it's cheaper and I don't need my bacon to be uniform anyway. I just try to slice them into bite sized bits though. They tend to have big chunks of fat which I use especially for this purpose. Strain bacon bits and leave bacon fat in the pot.
2. I know it's a bit fatty but when I think the bacon fat is not sufficient, I tend to add in a tablespoon of margarine. This is optional though. Once heated, I add in my garlic and onion and cook until onions turn translucent.
3. Add in sliced mushrooms and mix until mushrooms have browned.
4. Add in the all purpose cream to the mixture and mix. In low heat, wait until mixture begins to simmer. Once simmering, add in mayonnaise and evaporated milk, mixing until well incorporated.
5. Slowly, add in the cream of mushroom and mix until there aren't any chunks of mushroom soup left
6. According to taste, add in sugar, salt and pepper. Throw in part of the fried bacon bits.
7. Once again, I play with my herbs - mostly I added dried basil and a pinch of curry powder. I want my white sauce to be rich, but not too strong as to overpower the tomato based sauce.
8. Let this simmer until reduced. Set aside.
Lasagna
1. Cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Usually add a pinch of salt and oil to prevent them from sticking to the pot. Once al dente, take them out of the pot and rinse in cold water to stop cooking.
2. In a baking pan, spread the meat sauce at the bottom of the pan then top with lasagna noodles. Then spread the white sauce over the noodles and sandwich this with another layer of lasagna. Keep alternating sauces and noodles. Make sure the topmost layer is sauce - either white or red.
Note: I had my sister help me out on this.
3. I left our lasagna in the fridge for a day since I prepared the lasagna ahead of time. (Make sure lasanga has already cooled off before popping in the refrigerator) I'm not particularly sure if it has an effect, but mom says it's better to wait it out a few hours before serving.
4. Top lasagna generously with grated cheese and remaining bacon bits.
5. Bake in oven until cheese melts. Serve.
Conclusion:
I received quite a lot of commendations for the lasagna, which I am very proud to announce. It is a rather heavy and rich viand though, that I don't recommend partaking too much. Browsing through the ingredients list, I bet you can already compute how much calories a slice of this baby contains. Winks.
Acknowledgements:
For the white sauce, I'd like to thank Marie Ong for getting the recipe. We first tasted the Carbonara Alfredo at Rommel's birthday bash back in college and were very much impressed. Apparently, it was Rommel's mom's recipe. Marie requested for it and eventually passed it on to me. I just tweaked it a bit to suit my taste. My Alfredo experience has never been the same after.
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