Pub Lasagne and Hacker Pschorr, Oktoberfest Marzen

It's controversy time. Not only is Lasagne itself controversial, but one of its ingredients, the Bolognaise sauce, is its own controversy too. Let's start with the sauce:

Bolognaise does not really exist. It's a made up name for a meat and tomato Ragu for pasta. We Brits have taken the idea of a beef and tomato sauce added spaghetti and created a meal that has graces dinner tables all over the country. It has become the ultimate student dish owing to the fact that it can be made reasonably cheaply and batch cooked to gain economies of scale. The interesting thing about this sauce is that so many people claim to have the authentic recipe leading to all sorts of weird arguments and complaints.

Should I use pork and beef mince? Or even veal? Should I use red wine , white wine or just stock? Onion? Garlic? Both? Fresh tomatoes or tins? Beef stock or chicken or even vegetable? There is a plethora of choices and questions on route to the perfect bolognaise sauce. 

Dear reader, let me assure you that it simply does not matter. There is no authentic sauce here. This is, in effect, peasant food, Cucina povera, so work with what is in your fridge. You can go quite light on the meat and bulk up with vegetables and add all kinds of bits and bobs you find. In the past I have added bacon (often), chopped up black pudding (you must try this) and even leftover steak (so very good). As long as the sauce is based on tomato and is thick enough to coat pasta then all is good. By the way, it tends to be much better if it is served with ribbons (taggliatelle, linguine, etc) rather than spag.

And now another controversy: The other sauce. This should probably be a bechamel, made with infused milk, however, I tend to go with a cheese sauce albeit made from scratch. 

You can buy posh fresh pasta sheets or even roll your own but my recipe uses dried.

Pub Lasagne (for a large bunch of people)

• 1kg meat (mince, cooked roast leftovers, little bit of bacon, black pudding)
• Glug of oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 3 to 6 garlic cloves very finely chopped
• 2 tins of plum tomatoes
• 2 beef stock cubes
• 1 small glass of dry sherry
• Salt, pepper, thyme, Oregano.
• 1 large squirt of tomato puree
• 60gms plain flower
• 60gms butter
• 500ml full fat milk
• 200gm mature cheddar
• Dried pasta sheet.

The ragu - Add the oil to a large saucepan ans place over a high heat. when the oil is hot add all of the chopped veg except the garlic. Cook until the tiniest amount of brown is appearing. Remove the veg and pop in a bowl. Now add the beef in batches to brown off, adding the browned meat to the veg. When all the meat is ready add all the meat and veg to the pan with the garlic. Throw in the sherry and allow it to boil for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes and stock cubes and a little water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and leave on a low heat, gently simmering for a couple of hours, topping up with water if necessary. Add the herbs after about an hour.

The cheese sauce - Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add the flout. thoroughly mix these with a wooden spoon to form a roux and cook for just two minutes. Add a splash of milk and mix like crazy, then another splash slightly larger, again mixing vigorously. ( You may want to switch to a whisk at some stage) Keep adding more and more milk until you have a smooth sauce that coats the back of a spoon. Add the grated cheese stir it in to melt and season with pepper.

Construction - In a huge tin, layer up the lasagne with alternate sauces and pasta sheets until it is full. Make sure your last layer is the cheese sauce. If you have any cheese left sprinkle it over the top then put the whole thing in the oven for 20 minutes. Place in the middle of the table with a big bowl of salad and allow your friends to tuck in.

The Match 

Hacker Pschorr Marzen Oktoberfest is a version of the original beer of the Oktoberfest. Around 1990 the beer of Oktoberfest became the light strong lager we know today as Festbier. However, before that time the beer of chpice for this event was Marzen. It is much more amber than the straw colour of the Festbier, much more like a Vienna lager. It has a lovely nose of nettles, mild spices and herbs. On the palate it is biscuity and doughy but quite rich too. It has a lovely clean finish and despite an abv of nearly 6% it is very drinkable. I chose this beer to match the lasagne because it will cut through the richness of the cheese and pasta whilst matching up to the meaty fullness of the ragu. It also has the feel that you cuold be in a pub with a really solid meal and a pint!