Welcome back to another lactose free recipe. This recipe showcases two new lactose free cheese products from the brand Liddells. When I was going to test these products one dish came to mind instantly and that is lasagna. Now this recipe is tried and true. I normally make it with the original Liddells cheese, so it was remarkably interesting to use the new Parmesan and pizza blend and compare the differences.
The purpose of this website is to show that you can create amazing recipes with lactose free and safe products. From now I will be writing what specific lactose free products I use in each recipe. Unfortunately, there are some products out there that just do not work well. For example, when we compare Nuttelex original & Nuttelex Reduced Fat.
When I was making this lasagna recipe, I had to melt down the margarine to start the sauce. The original version melted down well whereas the reduced fat margarine was very watery. I would not recommend using the reduced version for sauces and a lot of other baking recipes.
Overall, the Parmesan and the pizza blend are definitely approved in this recipe. They both have quite a sharp flavour that works quite brilliantly in the sauce. I do find that once the cheese had melted down on top of the lasagna it produced a lot of oil that pooled at the top. I do not particularly like this, so I always grab a few pieces of paper towel, fold it up. Use a pair of tongs to hold the paper and dip it into the pools of oil to soak it up. It is an amazingly simple and quick fix.
These are the specific lactose free products that I used.
- Liddells full break milk
- Liddells shredded pizza blend
- Liddells Parmesan
- Nuttelex original
This recipe comes from the one and only Gordon Ramsay who let’s face it, is a cooking god. I have of course adapted and changed it to work with lactose free products.
Bolognese
Ingredients
- 2 Onions
- 3 Carrots
- 5 Garlic cloves
- Tbsp Oregano
- 2 Cans diced tinned tomatoes
- 800g Minced beef
- 2tbsp Tomato paste
- 1tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 200ml Lactose free milk
Steps
Grate the onions, carrots, and garlic. Food processors make this quick.
Preheat your frying pan and add a tablespoon of oil. Add the onions, garlic, and carrots. Stir the vegetables so they mix.
Keep cooking the vegetables until the moisture cooks off and the vegetables look like a puree.
Add the oregano and the mince. Cook until the mince browns.
Create a little well in the centre off the beef.
Add the tomato puree into the centre off the well along with the Worcestershire sauce.
Stir for a minute of two.
Add the milk to the centre with the tomato puree and mix.
Mix it all together.
Add the tomato tins and mix it all together.
Leave the mixture to simmer for ten minutes.
Leave the Bolognese to simmer and keep warm while you prepare the cheese sauce.
Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 75g Lactose free margarine
- 75g Plain flour
- 900ml Lactose free milk
- 180g Lactose free cheese
- 90g Lactose free Parmesan
- Lasagna sheets (you will need enough to make three layers that fit the size of your oven dish)
Steps
Melt the margarine in a large saucepan.
Add the flour and stir so it forms a thick paste.
Add a small amount of milk to the paste and mix.
Add another small amount of milk and mix so it forms a smooth but thick mixture.
The mix will be added in small increments throughout the cooking process. Think 1/3 of a cup added each time.
Put the mixture onto a medium heat.
Keep adding small amounts of milk and stirring.
When you have finished adding all the milk the mixture should be smooth but thick like a normal sauce.
Add the cheese and stir so it melts through the sauce.
Stir well so the cheese is fully incorporated into the sauce.
Assembly
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
Get your oven safe baking dish and liberally coat it with oil.
Line the bottom of the dish with the lasagna sheets. It should cover the entire bottom of the pan. There is no need to worry if they overlap.
Spoon some of the mince onto the top of the pasta sheets so it is around 1cm thick and covers it completely.
Grab the cheese sauce and cover the mince with the sauce. It should be a thin layer the just covers the mince.
Cover the sauce with another later of pasta sheets.
Repeat the last few steps. Add the mince and cheese sauce.
Add the last layer of paste sheets and add the remaining cheese sauce. The amount of cheese sauce that you can add to the dish depends on the size of your baking dish.
Sprinkle the top of the cheese sauce with cheese.
Cover the top of the lasagna with a oven safe lid or alfoil (making sure it doesn’t touch the top of the cheese)
Bake the lasagna for 35 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes.
The unfortunate part of working with this particular cheese is that when it melts it produces a lot of excess oil that just ends up pooling on the top. I do not particularly like this, so I always grab a few pieces of paper towel, fold it up. Use a pair of tongs to hold the paper and dip it into the pools of oil to soak it up. A little bit of oil is perfectly normal but large swimming pools are not.
Set the lasagna aside to cool down slightly and sprinkle the top with some chopped parsley.
Slice, serve and enjoy.
