Lasaña de Morcilla (Black Pudding Lasagne)

I’m sure many of you have looked at the title of this and gone “Ewwwwwww!”  Or perhaps you’re sat there going “How does that work?!”  But hopefully there are some that say “I HAVE to try that!” and to those people I would say, “YES YOU DO!”  And so should every other non-veggie out there!

This came on my culinary radar a few years ago in a small restaurant in Madrid.  I saw it on the menu and didn’t bother looking at anything else.  I mean, what was the point!?  How often do you see black pudding lasagne on a menu??  It was so good that when I got home I emailed the restaurant asking for the recipe.  I never heard back from them of course, but that wasn’t going to stop me.  With only my taste buds and memory to guide me I set about recreating this epic dish!

What You Need

Morcilla (Spanish Black Pudding – any kind (rice/onion/plain) – skin removed

Red Pepper – finely sliced

Tomato – roughly chopped

Onion – finely sliced (optional)

Garlic – crushed

Tinned Tomatoes, Tomato Frito or Passata

Cheese – grated (I’d recommend a sharp one to cut through the flavour of the morcilla)

Milk

Butter

Plain Flour

White Pepper

Lasagne Sheets

Olive Oil

Frying Pan, Saucepan & Lasagne Dish

How You Do It

Put some olive oil in your frying pan and get it on a moderate/low heat and sauté the onion, pepper and garlic.  You want them soft and NOT crispy and golden!

Add the morcilla and break it up in the pan so as it resembles minced meat.  Add the tomato.  The morcilla has lots of flavour in it so I usually find that there is no need to add salt/pepper or any other herbs and spices.  The morcilla should be centre stage!

Stir in the tinned tomatoes (break them down if you use whole ones)/tomato frito/passata and let it bubble gently and warm through, allowing the fresh tomatoes to break down.  You want a thick sauce, so don’t add loads of tinned tomatoes/tomato frito/passata.

Whilst that’s bubbling away, start on the cheese sauce.  The most important thing when making cheese sauce is to stir it CONTINUOUSLY, so make sure you have everything to hand before you start.  (Butter, flour, milk, cheese, white pepper).  Melt the butter in your saucepan and add the flour to make a something called a roux.  This is basically equal amounts of butter and flour mixed together to make a thickening agent for your cheese sauce (bechamel) and many other sauces (normally French).  Once you have a smooth, paste-like consistency start pouring in the milk.  Remember to STIR, STIR, STIR!  It will thicken very quickly as the milk warms up.  Don’t have the heat too high or too low.  As it thickens, add the cheese and remove from the heat.  Keep stirring until all the cheese has melted.  Add some ground white pepper.  Taste it to make sure it’s cheesy enough for your liking.

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–So now you should have the morcilla mixture and a delicious, creamy cheese sauce.

 

 

Time to start building your lasagne!  I buy pre-cooked lasagne sheets as they save a lot of time and messing around.  The sauces are moist enough to allow the sheets to cook whilst baking in the oven.  If your lasagne sheets aren’t the pre-cooked variety, then follow the instructions on the packet.  It usually says to soak them in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes or so.

Take your lasagne dish and start by adding a thin layer of cheese sauce.  Then lay out your lasagne sheets evenly on top.  Next you add a layer of morcilla mixture.  (Morcilla can contain quite a lot of fat which you will see swirling round your frying pan once you’ve cooked it.  If this is the case, use a slotted spoon to add the morcilla to the lasagne and this will remove some fat before putting it into your dish.  If it is really fatty then put the mixture into a sieve and let it drain over a bowl before adding it to the lasagne).  Then cheese.  Then lasagne sheets.  Then morcilla mixture.  (See a pattern!? 🙂 )  Repeat until the lasagne dish is almost full, normally about 3 layers of lasagne sheets.  Don’t overfill it as it will bubble over in the oven and make a mess.  The last layer should be lasagne sheets covered in cheese sauce.  Feel free to grate more cheese on top.  As I was using Spanish morcilla, I grated some Spanish manchego on top.

The finished lasagne should look something like this.  You can either bake it straight away or leave it to cool and refrigerate it to bake later in the day or you can even leave it to cool and then freeze it to use at a later date.

 

 

 

Oven bake it at around 180ºc for 30-40 minutes until it’s golden brown and bubbling on top.  If you have frozen it then allow it to defrost in the fridge overnight before baking, or bake for longer from frozen.

It’s delicious served with tomato jam and fresh salad with a vinaigrette dressing.