Filipino-Style Lasagna
Filipino-Style Lasagna
Filipinos have their take on lasagna, just like spaghetti. The meat sauce for the lasagna is made the same way as the spaghetti sauce: with ground beef and diced Filipino red hotdogs; with banana ketchup in the tomato sauce to give it the distinct sweetness that makes the lasagna Filipino in flavor. The noodles are layered with meat sauce and a bechamel sauce, then finely topped off with cheese. The lasagna will take 30-40 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Most importantly, let the lasagna rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting into it or you’ll have a plate of slop instead of a nicely layered tower of goodness.
Servings: 8
Equipment
- 9”x13” baking pan; at least 3” deep
Ingredients
- 1 package lasagna noodles prepared according to box
- 1 cup cheddar jack cheese
Meat Sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 16 oz Filipino hotdogs sliced
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 red or green bell pepper diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 24 oz tomato sauce
- 12 oz banana ketchup
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Bechamel Sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Instructions
Meat Sauce
- Heat up cooking oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Sauté the hot dogs for 3-4 minutes until browned. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add in the ground beef, breaking up all of the clumps. Cook for 10 minutes. Drain any remaining grease.
- Add in the tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, banana ketchup, beef broth, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cover. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the hotdogs . Cover and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Bechamel Sauce
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until there are no remaining lumps. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Whisk in the milk, salt, and white pepper.
- Continuously whisk for 7-8 minutes until the sauce is thick and can coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat.
Lasagna Assembly
- Grease the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish that’s at least 3” deep. Ladle a thin layer of the meat sauce on the bottom.
- Take 4 lasagna noodles and lay them horizontally across the pan; slightly overlapping each other.
- Ladle 1/3 of the meat sauce over the noodles.
- Pour half of the cream sauce over the meat sauce.
- Repeat these steps one more time. Once you are done layering the lasagna, there shoulad be the rest of the meat sauce on top. Cover that with the cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes; until the cheese is melted and slightly browned on top.
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