Lasagna

Photo by Breville USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Description

Lasagna is a baked pasta dish built in layers: flat sheets of pasta alternating with a slow-cooked meat sauce, a milky bechamel, and enough cheese to hold the whole thing together. It comes out of the oven as one solid slab and slices into neat squares once it has rested.

The sauce is where the time goes. An hour of gentle simmering is the difference between a sauce that tastes of tinned tomato and one that tastes of dinner, so start it before you do anything else. Everything after that is assembly.

Ingredients

• 500 g dried lasagna sheets
• 500 g ground beef
• 250 g ground pork
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tins (800 g) chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 250 ml whole milk
• 60 g butter
• 60 g plain flour
• 600 ml whole milk, for the bechamel
• 200 g mozzarella, torn
• 100 g parmesan, grated
• Olive oil, salt, black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Fresh nutmeg, for grating

Steps

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the onion, carrot and celery with a pinch of salt for about 10 minutes, until soft and sweet but not browned.
2. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute, then turn the heat up and add the beef and pork. Break the meat apart and let it brown properly. Do not rush this.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and cook it out for two minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, and 250 ml of milk. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Turn the heat down and simmer uncovered for at least an hour, stirring now and then, until the sauce is thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
5. Make the bechamel. Melt the butter in a saucepan, whisk in the flour, and cook for two minutes. Add the 600 ml of milk a little at a time, whisking constantly, until smooth and thick. Season with salt and a grating of nutmeg.
6. Heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Spread a thin layer of meat sauce in a large baking dish, then cover it with pasta sheets.
7. Layer in this order until you run out: meat sauce, bechamel, torn mozzarella, pasta sheets. Finish with a layer of bechamel and all of the parmesan.
8. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is browned and the edges are bubbling.
9. Rest the lasagna for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Skipping this step is how you get lasagna soup.