This rather extravagant lasagne was found on a slow food tour in Italy by Gordon Wright, author of Veld to Fork. This is what Gordon Wright had to say about this recipe:

“I had a most memorable lunch there (The HQ of Slow Food Italy) and was so taken by a similar dish of veal mince, mushroom and Parma lasagne, that I went into the kitchen and chatted to the chef and got the basic recipe. This is my own Karoo adaptation of it using springbok mince and my home-made (f)arma ham and pasta. Feel free to experiment with your own version of this recipe. Have Fun!”

Ingredients:

45ml butter

1 onion, finely chopped

300g mushroom, roughly chopped

60ml cake flour

1 litre milk

60ml grated Parmesan cheese

10ml grated nutmeg

500g springbok mince (or any good- quality venison or beef mince)

4 cloves garlic, chopped

Chopped fresh rosemary

Salt and freshly ground pepper

16 sheets good-quality lasagne

300g baby spinach or morogo (wild African spinach)

45g cubed butter

250g mozzarella cheese, grated (optional)

1. Preheat the over to 180 °C. Grease a large ovenproof dish.

2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes. Gradually add the mushrooms, cover the saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Gradually add the flour, and then the milk just as slowly. Stir non stop and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in half the Parmesan and all the nutmeg, then remove from the heat and set aside.

4. In a separate pan, fry the mince with the chopped garlic and rosemary until cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Cook the lasagne sheets for 1 minute in boiling water (if you are not using fresh lasagne.)

6. Place alternate layers of lasagne, mince, mushroom mixture, spinach and Parma ham in the prepared dish until the dish is full. Dot with cubes of butter and the rest of the Parmesan and grated mozzarella.

7. Bake for 20 minutes and serve with a herb salad and a good bottle of wine.

 

Serves 4-6