Cooking In Broken English
For tiniago and beebee852001 who make me feel like Jamie Oliver or something.
Note: I do not know a lot of kitchen-specific English vocabulary, so bear with me if this sounds slightly strange, and don't be afraid to ask if you're not sure what I'm trying to say.
Hmpf's Legendary Tomato Sauce:
You need:
1 small onion (or half a bigger one)
1 clove of garlic
6 dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 packet of pureed tomatoes
dried basil
dried oregano
salt & pepper
olive oil
Slice your onion into little cubes - the smaller the better. Ditto for the garlic. Slice the dried tomatoes, too, but you can keep those in bigger bits than the onion and garlic.
Heat some olive oil in a pot. Throw in onions and cook till they look kinda 'glassy'. Add garlic. Add dried tomatoes. Don't forget to stir frequently all this time.
Add pureed tomatoes. Add basil, oregano, basil. Leave to cook for a while & stir occasionally.
Serve with whatever pasta you like, and freshly grated parmesan.
Hmpf's Lazy Vegetable Lasagna:
You need:
1/2 packet of pre-cooked lasagna sheets
1/2 packet of cream cheese
maybe 100 ml of cream (single cream will do), if you want less fat you can replace part of that with water
1 packet of pureed tomatoes
about 450 g of vegetables (deep-freeze spinach works best)
about 200 g of grated cheese (simple cheddar or something equally mundane will be perfectly all right)
some butter or something similar
salt, pepper, oregano, basil, nutmeg
Start by preparing your vegetables. If you use deep-freeze spinach you have to pre-cook it a bit before you can use it. Frozen peas you don't have to prepare that way, they can just go in the form as they are. Fresh vegetables can usually be put in the form without cooking, as well, unless they take a *really* long time to cook. If in doubt, slice them smaller so they'll cook faster. But really, I recommend using the spinach. Fresh spinach is okay, too, of course.
Got your vegetables ready? Okay. Now for the sauces. This is a lasagna for lazy people, so the sauces are quickly prepared:
For the tomato sauce, simply pour your pureed tomatoes into a pot/bowl/whatever, add the dried herbs (kinda difficult to tell you how much exactly - this is something you'll have to decide for yourselves). Add some salt and pepper. Careful with the salt, but not too careful, either. This may take a try or to to get the balance right.
For the other sauce (usually a bechamel sauce, but I'm too lazy for that, and I bet so are you, so you'll get a cheese sauce, which is much easier to make): Put half the packet of cream cheese into a pot, heat slowly until cheese starts to melt. Add cream. Mix until cheese has melted completely into the cream. Switch off stove. Add salt and pepper and some nutmeg to this sauce. I tend to put more salt into this one than into the tomato sauce, but that's just a matter of personal preference.
Get a form that can go in the oven and butter the inside so the lasagna won't stick. Put in a layer of spinach. Then some tomato sauce. Then a layer of pasta. Then a layer of cheese sauce. Then a new layer of spinach. Etc.
Put a layer of grated cheese on top. Put in pre-heated oven according to directions on lasagna package.
Note: I do not know a lot of kitchen-specific English vocabulary, so bear with me if this sounds slightly strange, and don't be afraid to ask if you're not sure what I'm trying to say.
Hmpf's Legendary Tomato Sauce:
You need:
1 small onion (or half a bigger one)
1 clove of garlic
6 dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 packet of pureed tomatoes
dried basil
dried oregano
salt & pepper
olive oil
Slice your onion into little cubes - the smaller the better. Ditto for the garlic. Slice the dried tomatoes, too, but you can keep those in bigger bits than the onion and garlic.
Heat some olive oil in a pot. Throw in onions and cook till they look kinda 'glassy'. Add garlic. Add dried tomatoes. Don't forget to stir frequently all this time.
Add pureed tomatoes. Add basil, oregano, basil. Leave to cook for a while & stir occasionally.
Serve with whatever pasta you like, and freshly grated parmesan.
Hmpf's Lazy Vegetable Lasagna:
You need:
1/2 packet of pre-cooked lasagna sheets
1/2 packet of cream cheese
maybe 100 ml of cream (single cream will do), if you want less fat you can replace part of that with water
1 packet of pureed tomatoes
about 450 g of vegetables (deep-freeze spinach works best)
about 200 g of grated cheese (simple cheddar or something equally mundane will be perfectly all right)
some butter or something similar
salt, pepper, oregano, basil, nutmeg
Start by preparing your vegetables. If you use deep-freeze spinach you have to pre-cook it a bit before you can use it. Frozen peas you don't have to prepare that way, they can just go in the form as they are. Fresh vegetables can usually be put in the form without cooking, as well, unless they take a *really* long time to cook. If in doubt, slice them smaller so they'll cook faster. But really, I recommend using the spinach. Fresh spinach is okay, too, of course.
Got your vegetables ready? Okay. Now for the sauces. This is a lasagna for lazy people, so the sauces are quickly prepared:
For the tomato sauce, simply pour your pureed tomatoes into a pot/bowl/whatever, add the dried herbs (kinda difficult to tell you how much exactly - this is something you'll have to decide for yourselves). Add some salt and pepper. Careful with the salt, but not too careful, either. This may take a try or to to get the balance right.
For the other sauce (usually a bechamel sauce, but I'm too lazy for that, and I bet so are you, so you'll get a cheese sauce, which is much easier to make): Put half the packet of cream cheese into a pot, heat slowly until cheese starts to melt. Add cream. Mix until cheese has melted completely into the cream. Switch off stove. Add salt and pepper and some nutmeg to this sauce. I tend to put more salt into this one than into the tomato sauce, but that's just a matter of personal preference.
Get a form that can go in the oven and butter the inside so the lasagna won't stick. Put in a layer of spinach. Then some tomato sauce. Then a layer of pasta. Then a layer of cheese sauce. Then a new layer of spinach. Etc.
Put a layer of grated cheese on top. Put in pre-heated oven according to directions on lasagna package.