Every time the delicious South West asparagus came to a halt, usually in November, I was sad because the imported stuff after that just didn’t cut it.
Well hooray, the Boston family has grown asparagus in the Gascoyne and supply the marketplace (us) from November to about May each year. It’s all over Perth, just ask for it, it’s yum.
Make this dish with it then you’ll know what I mean. Cook the lasagne sheet, but if you are lazy use pre-cooked, but make sure you make all the ingredients a little more wet.
Asparagus Lasagna
Ingredients for a tin approximately 25cm x 25cm x 6cm
Ingredients
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil EVOO
- 800 g lamb mince
- 100 g diced onion
- 200 g diced asparagus trimmings
- 4 cloves garlic fine chopped
- 4 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil
- 600 ml tomato puree not the paste
- 1 kg thin asparagus Gascoyne W.A.
- 750 ml béchamel sauce
- 100 g parmesan
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Sauté onion in olive oil until soft. Add the lamb mince plus diced asparagus and cook, stirring for 10 minutes.
- Next add garlic, basil, parsley and tomato puree, mixing well and cook for 45 minutes on a gentle heat, stirring occasionally. Add a little water if it looks like drying out. Test for salt and pepper then set aside and rest.
- Now oil the baking tin and put enough béchamel to cover the bottom thinly. Now add your cooked or pre-cooked lasagne sheets on top of the béchamel. Cover the sheets with some meat mix, then cover the meat mix with a full layer of crisscross asparagus (trimmed) to cover all the meat mix.
- Now repeat béchamel, lasagne sheets, meat mix, asparagus layers until the dish is full or you run out of ingredients.
- Try to finish on the meat mix decorated with béchamel strips and parmesan cheese. Now bake at 180°C for 40 to 50 minutes. Decorate with asparagus tips raw or blanched. Enjoy the Gascoyne.
Vince is the ambassador for Mondos Butchers located at 824 Beaufort Street, Inglewood.
They are open Tuesday to Friday 9am – 5.30pm Saturday 9am to 2pm.
Phone 9371 6350 or visit www.mondo.net.au
