Homemade Lasagna

It’s gonna be the first & the best homemade lasagna I ever made. (Next… I don’t guarantee what will happen). So, before anything happen, here I want to share my own recipe. Completed with ingredients and spices & herbs from my magic box….. ^_^ *lol*

Ingredients :
12 sheets Lasagna, prepare as instruction on a packing sheet
100 gr grated mozarella cheese

Meat Sauce : (you can prepare it one day ahead)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion (medium), coarsely chopped
300 gr ground beef
1 can button mushroom, sliced
2 carrots, finely chopped or grated
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
300 gr red tomatoes, blanched & crushed
1 can tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 bayleaf
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Bechamel Sauce :
60 gr butter
1/2 cup flour
700 ml milk
1/2 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Instructions :
Meat Sauce : saute garlic & onion until aromatic, then brown the beef (about 7 minutes). Add the remain ingredients, reduce heat to low & bring to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Béchamel Sauce : melt butter in a stock pot. Add flour and stir well. Pour in milk gradualy and stir well. Stir in the remain ingredients until well thicken. Remove from heat & set aside.

How to assemble the lasagna : Turn the oven to 200 degC.
Grease baking dish with butter or olive oil. Arrange some sheets of cooked lasagna noodles over the bottom (overlapping noodles slightly to cover the bottom). Spoon meat sauce over lasagna noodles. Top with béchamel sauce mixture. Repeat the above method of layering. Top the last layer (bechamel sauce) with mozzarella cheese. Bake about 30 minutes in the preheated oven.

Note :
If it takes too long, you may skip the béchamel sauce with crème fraîche mixture. hehee.. sorry I haven’t the recipe here.

Orange Sponge Cake

Got this recipe from Diana’s Dessert. I was glad to find this easy recipe, before something happened with the result.

Ingredients:
Cake:
5 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 pkg. plain yellow cake mix
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 teaspoon grated orange rind (changed with orange extract)

Glaze: (I skipped it)
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons orange juice

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).

2. Place egg whites and cream of tartar (or lemon juice) in a medium bowl. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, about 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overbeat.

3. Place cake mix, egg yolks, orange juice, oil, orange juice concentrate and orange rind in a large bowl. Beat on low speed 1 minute. Stop machine and scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes; batter should look well blended.

4. Turn beaten egg whites out on top of batter; fold whites into batter until mixture is light but well combined, with no white streaks remaining. Pour batter into ungreased 10 inch tube pan, smoothing top.

5. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and top of cake springs back when lightly pressed with tip of finger. Remove pan from oven and immediately turn upside down on the neck of a glass bottle to cool for one hour. Run long sharp knife around edge of cake; invert onto wire rack; then invert again onto serving platter, right side up. Makes 12 servings.

My suggest, never skip or change the ingredients from the original recipe if you asked the real taste. Trully, I got my cake flate in it taste.

Basic Buttercake

Finally I posts my easy simply recipe… I shared this cake with my neighbours while they were hangin’ out here at my porch last night. Here’s the recipe :

Ingredients :
100 gr butter
175 gr sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
200 gr all purpose flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
150 ml fresh

Directions :
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Grease & flour an 8 inch square cake pan175 gr sugar
- Sift flour, cocoa & baking powder. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract on high speed until smooth & pale
- Add eggs, beat for 5 minutes on high speed until smooth & fluffy.
- Gradualy add sifted flour & milk, stir until well combined. DO NOT overmix.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack. You may also fill and frost as desired. Enjoy!

I prefer serve it with herbal tea than a cup of coffee. How ’bout you??