Lasagne Bolognese
Lasagne or lasagna, what is correct? In Italian, lasagna means one sheet of pasta or noodle and lasagne is the plural. So a dish of baked lasagna noodles in the oven is called lasagne al forno. My lasagne recipe consists of a Bolognese sauce, a creamy Béchamel sauce, fresh or dried pasta sheets and some mozzarella cheese. I usually make double the amount of Bolognese sauce, one portion for lasagne and one portion for spaghetti Bolognese since the sauce freezes very well.
Ingredients
- Bolognese sauce
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 1 kg beef mince
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 Tbsp dried oregano or chopped fresh oregano
- 2 Tbsp dried thyme or fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes (400 g)
- 50 g tomato paste
- 150 ml red wine (or beef stock)
- 2 Knorr beef stock cubes
- salt and pepper
- Béchamel sauce
- 90 g butter
- 90 g flour
- 1 liter milk
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 500 g dried lasagne sheets, precooked / no-boil
- 150 g mozzarella cheese, grated
- olive oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
- Spray the bottom of your baking dish (32 cm x 24 cm) with non-stick spray.
- First make the Bolognese sauce by heating the olive oil in a large pan.
- Add the onion, carrots and celery and sweat for 10 minutes on low heat until the onion is soft.
- Take the veggies out of the pan and put aside.
- In the same pan fry the mince meat until done and crumbly.
- Put the veggies and garlic back into the pan.
- Add the oregano, thyme, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine and stock cubes and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. You might have to add some water if the sauce gets too dry.
- While the Bolognese sauce is bubbling away, you start with the Béchamel sauce.
- Melt the the butter in a large sauce pan on medium heat before you incorporate the flour with a whisk. This flour and fat mixture is called roux.
- Keep on whisking while you add half of the milk, the salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- You have to keep on whisking to avoid the sauce from burning.
- When the sauce starts to thicken, you can add the rest of the milk, still whisking continuously.
- Once the sauce starts to bubble and has a thick consistency, it is ready. Check the seasoning again before you start assembling your lasagne.
- Cover the bottom of your baking dish with a little bit of the Bolognese sauce. Then start with a single layer lasagne sheets, followed by Bolognese sauce.
- Pour a thin layer of Béchamel sauce over the meat sauce, followed by a layer of lasagne sheets. Press the lasagne sheets carefully down to compress the layers slightly.
- Repeat the layers until you have used all the sauces and pasta sheets. The top layer should be Béchamel sauce covered with the grated mozzarella cheese.
- Bake the lasagne for 30 to 35 minutes and enjoy.