My grandmother used to say “lasagna is only as good as its bolognese” and after a lot of failed attempts, we know it’s true! This recipe calls for layers of tender noodles, beef, and creamy béchamel baked together into a classic, crowd-pleasing meal! With a lot of cheese, what can go wrong, right?
Ingredients:
- 1 peeled and roughly chopped yellow onion
- 4 peeled and roughly chopped carrots
- 4 roughly chopped stalks of celery
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 ½ pound of ground pork
- 1 ½ pound of ground beef
- 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 ½ tsp sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 1 pack of oven-ready lasagna sheets
- 10 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
- 6 cups of whole milk
- 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 9 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
- pinch of ground nutmeg
- sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Procedure:
- Cook the lasagna sheets according to package instructions.
- Preheat oven at 400°F and prepare a 9” x 13” baking dish
- Make the Bolognese Sauce. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic to a food processor and pulse on high speed until it is finely minced (If a food processor is not available, you may finely mince it with a knife). Next, add the olive oil to a large pot over medium heat and add in the minced vegetables and sweat for 4 to 6 minutes. Add the ground pork and ground beef and cook until browned and cooked throughout about 15 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes and nutmeg, season with salt and pepper. Mix and cook for 90 minutes on low heat. Keep warm.
- Make the Bechamel Sauce. Melt the butter in another heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don’t let it brown approximately 2 minutes. Add the milk, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste, lower the heat, and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more. In the last minute, add in the grated cheese
- Arrange the lasagna layers in the baking dish. Start by placing a small amount of bechamel sauce to the bottom of a lasagna pan to form one layer. Next, make a layer of cooked noodles followed by a layer of Bolognese and a layer of grated cheese. Repeat layers until the baking dish is about ¾ full. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan on top
- Cover with aluminium foil and bake at 400°F for 35 – 40 minutes. Remove the foil and broil/bake for another 5 minutes just to lightly brown the cheese and crisp the corners.
Stay home and try something new! Let me know your thoughts! Comment down below!