Smoked Lasagne

A woodfired oven has to be the ultimate way to cook a lasagne, but doing it in the Egg is pretty good too. You want a little of the smokey flavour as it elevates the flavour.

Similar to our chilli recipe, we start the ragu by frying off the mince, until it starts to crackle and you get the benefit of the Maillard reaction.

Once you’ve had lasagne on the Egg; there’s no better way to cook it.

Method

For the Ragu

1. Setup your Egg for direct cooking with the Dutch Oven on the stainless steel grid directly over the coals.  Get the temperature to around 200°C.
2. Add your mince and cook it until all the liquid that comes out of it has evaporated and it starts to make a popping sound.  You’re trying to get some caramelisation on the beef as this builds a more intense flavour.  Cook with it popping for about 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so.
3. Add the chopped onion and tomato puree to the mince and sweat down – you will need to open the Egg every couple of minutes to stir.
4. Take out your Dutch Oven and remove the stainless steel grid and add your wood chunks of choice to the charcoal.  We used Sweet Chestnut for this recipe. Add the plate setter (feet up) and stainless steel grid ready for an indirect cook.  Set your Egg to between 160 to 180°C.
5. Add all the other ingredients and place back on the Egg, you do not need the lid for the Dutch Oven but ensure you close the Egg.  If you’re short on time cook for a minimum of 45 minutes. I like to cook the ragu for about 3 hours –  the longer the better to build the flavour.

For the white sauce

We make this indoors

1. Melt 50g butter in a saucepan, then add 50g plain flour.
2. Stir continuously until a paste forms – this is the roux. You need to cook this for a couple of minutes.
3. Gradually add the milk to the roux (flour paste), stirring as you go, until you get a smooth sauce.  This takes a bit of patience!
4. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring continuously, until the sauce thickens.
5. Add the mustard together with some salt and pepper to season.
6. Stir in the grated cheese gradually.  Taste as you add.  You might need slightly less or more cheese to build the taste of the sauce to your palette.  Remove from the heat.

To finish the lasagne

1. Set up your Egg for an indirect cook as described above in step 4 of the ragu section and aim for 180°C
2. Take an ovenproof dish.  Cover the base of the dish with half of the ragu mix.
3. Cover the ragu with a layer of lasagne sheets.  Use half the white sauce mix and spoon over the lasagne.  Add another layer of lasagne sheets – this sandwiches the white sauce.
4. Add the remaining ragu mix to the dish, spread the mince over the pasta.
5. Add a final layer of lasagne on tope of the ragu.  Pour over the remaining cheese sauce.
6. Finish by grating over some parmesan.
7. Pop the dish in the Egg and cook for around 45 minutes until beautifully golden brown.

Serve with a simply dressed green salad.