Lasagne, My Way

Lasagne are so popular that they hold a special place next to the ‘Holy Italian Trinity’ of pasta, pizza and gelato. Everyone loves lasagne in all its different iterations. Like every great Italian dish, different regions in Italy argue regarding its origin and birthplace.

If you research the origin of lasagne you will come across a lot of interesting facts as well as literature mentions that date back to the middle ages. The dish has surely evolved over the centuries and there are countless versions of it: lasagne without tomato sauce, different opinions on béchamel Vs ragù ratio, different meat mix for the ragù and hundreds more.

The reality is that every region has its variants based on the weather and ingredients locally available and that is what makes this dish so special. If you think that Italy became a unified nation only in 1861 it’s intriguing to discover the pre-existing similarities across the territory.

The recipe below is the one I usually make and it’s very similar to the one my mum and grandmother used to make.

I’ll eat my greens tomorrow…

Ingredients

For the Ragù
500g ground beef (10%-15% fat)
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 clove of garlic
Olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of your pan)
1 small glass of red wine
1 can of tomato passata
5 tbsp of tomato paste
Salt & pepper
2 whole cloves
3 bay leaves
1 shot of milk

For the Pasta
300g 00 flour
3 eggs
Extra flour to dust your working surface

For the Béchamel
750g milk
75g butter
75g of all purpose flour
1 spring onion
Salt
Freshly ground nutmeg

250g grated parmesan (to be used between layers)

Step by Step

For the ragù

• Chop the onion, celery and carrots. Leave a few carrot bits a bit bigger

• Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a deep pan and warm it up. Add the veggies, garlic and sauté for 10 minutes at low heat

• Add in your meat and let it brown for a few minutes

• Add in you wine and turn the heat up until the alcohol evaporates

• Time to add your bay leaves, cloves, tomato passata and tomato paste. Mix and season

• Bring to boil and cover with a lid

• Slow cook at the lowest possible temperature and let it go for 3 to 4h. Stir frequently and check the seasoning a few times

• Towards the end add in your shot of milk and mix well. Let it cook until the mil is absorbed and your ragù is ready

For the Pasta

• Place the flour on your working surface. With your hands dig a small well in the middle of your pile of flour. Break the eggs and add them in the middle pile of flour

• With a fork, slightly beat the eggs and start mixing them with the flour. When the dough starts coming together add your tbsp of water and start kneading. Keep kneading for at least 5 minutes and until the dough becomes softer and elastic. Cover with cling film and let it rest for 30min

• Roll the dough out by hand or with the pasta machine. These are your lasagna sheets ready to use. You can cut them as long as you need based on the tin you’ll use to bake them.

For the Béchamel

• Thinly slice you spring onion

• Melt the butter in a small pot and sauté the onion in the butter

• Once ready, take the pot off the hob and slowly add in the flour. Mix until combined and lump free

• Still off the hob, add the milk little by little and mix with a whisk. Do this slowly so you can easily get rid of any little lump. Season with salt

• Once perfectly mixed, put it back on the hob and medium heat and stir until it becomes thick. Keep stirring until it almost comes to boil. It’s a thick sauce so it will bubble in a similar way as mashed potatoes would

Putting the lasagne together

• Begin by putting some béchamel at the bottom of your baking tin

• Add on a layer of lasagna sheets

• On the layer add a couple of ladles of ragù and a ladle of béchamel. It’s ok to have some gaps. Don’t cover the surface completely or you’ll get and extremely heavy lasagna. Sprinkle some parmesan on top

• Repeat the above another 3 to 4 times. You want to achieve 4 to 5 layers

• Once you’ve placed the last layer of pasta just add béchamel and grated parmesan on top. Sprinlkle with some nutmeg

• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40mins. Switch to grill and bake for a few extra minutes to get a crunchy top

Tips & Cheats

Let’s be clear: you don’t have to make the pasta if you don’t want to. If you use store bought past chose possible the fresh kind you can find in the fridge isle.

You are free to play with your ragù Vs béchamel ratio. It’s your lasagna, your taste!

If you are making your own pasta, make the sheets slightly thicker than you normally would. I use setting number 6 for mine. This will give you a very tasty chewy consistency.

Avoid using a 5% fat ground beef. You are slow-cooking the ragù and you’ll need a bit of fat to make it tasty.

You can also mix in some pork mince. I would do 60% beef 40% pork.