Lasagne Bolognese

I have been making this lasagne for a few years now. It's from Cooks Illustrated, and although it's a little labour-intensive, a lot of things can be done ahead of time, and it freezes (uncooked) really well too. It's quite a mild lasagne with no stringy cheese. My boyfriend really likes it, to the point where there aren't a lot of leftovers when we're done. :-) And really, isn't that what home cooking is all about?

Process a carrot, a celery stalk and half a small onion in the food processor. I don't like vegetables so I blitz the crap out of them! Brown the veg in a bit of oil until everyone is soft and mushy. Add about 800 grams of meat. I use extra-lean beef ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal if it's available. On this day, it wasn't available, so I used 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 pork. Cook for a couple of minutes (meat doesn't have to brown) making sure to break up any large lumps (as this will cause pockets in your lasagne).

Add a cup and a half of whole milk. Simmer for 20 minutes, then add a cup and a half of white wine. Simmer for another 20 minutes.


Add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste.


Blitz a large tin (793 grams) of plum tomatoes in the food processor.


Add to meat mixture and simmer until sauce is fairly thick. I also dab at the orange fat puddles during this simmering phase.


For the bechamel, melt 4 tbsp of butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/4 cup of flour and cook til combined. Slowly (like, don't pour it all at once) add 4 cups of milk, whisking enthusiastically with each addition.


Bring to a boil, add salt and pepper. Try not to let it burn on the bottom of the pan because it's tedious to clean off the pan.


Place in bowl to cool.


You can place the cooled meat sauce and bechamel sauce in the fridge at this point. Just bring 'em back to room temperature before assembling the lasagne.

When you're ready to assemble, fill a pan with hot water. Place your no-bake noodles in the hot water and swish around to prevent sticking. I leave them in for about 5 minutes.


Pat dry on pretty tea towel.


Add a half-cup of bechamel sauce to the meat sauce to lighten it.


In a lightly-greased dish, place a cup of the meat sauce.


Add three noodles. Try to ensure they're not touching. Cover the noodles with a 1 1/4 cups of meat sauce.


Drizzle 1/3 cup of bechamel over the meat sauce.

Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of parm.

Repeat the noodles-meat sauce-bechamel-parm layering until the last three noodles. Cover with remaining bechamel and half a cup of parm.


Cover with tin foil and bake in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until desired brownness is achieved. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!