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Lasagne

I think the page numbers refer to the Sainsbury’s cookbook.

Ragu (page 213)

  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2lbs ground beef
  • 1-2 onions, finely chopped
  • 1-2 carrots, finely chopped
  • 1-2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • Large (28oz) can chopped tomatoes
  • 500ml red wine (carton from NoBo liquor is perfect size)
  • 300 ml milk
  • 2 rounded tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper

In a dutch oven heat the oil and butter over medium then add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook until softened and just starting to brown. Add the garlic and stir in. Add ground beef and break it up well, mixing with the vegetables. Cook until it’s mostly browned off. Pour in the wine and crank up the heat until it boils and starts to evaporate. Original recipe suggests it will evaporate in a few minutes but this just isn’t so. Maybe in the giant frying pan it would work? Add the milk and return everything to a boil. Again it’s supposed to evaporate but didn’t. Add the tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves, nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir it all together. Once it’s all bubbling vigorously reduce the heat, partially cover and leave it to cook. Check it hourly. It needs 2-3 hours. If all that wine and milk and tomato juice finally evaporates before time is up you can put the lid fully on. Somewhen between 2 and 3 hours it should all come together as a nice sauce with tender beef. Adjust seasoning if required.

Bechamel sauce (page 196)

  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 4 tbsp flour
  • 2 (UK) pints milk — about 4.8 US cups / 1.2 US quarts
  • 40 black peppercorns
  • 4 bayleaves
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Put the milk into a saucepan along with 40 black peppercorns, 4 bayleaves, and a 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Bring to a boil, remove, cover and leave to stand for 12 minutes.

In another saucepan make a roux with the butter and flour, remove from heat and pour in the milk, straining through a sieve to keep out the peppercorns and bayleaves. Return to the heat and whisk continuously as you bring the sauce to a boil and wait for it to thicken. Reduce heat and simmer a few minutes longer then season with salt and pepper.

Could make it cheesy by stirring in parmesan (per original recipe 16oz, which seems a lot!) Says to do this after making the sauce, then removing from heat and not to reheat or it can go “stringy”.

Lasagna (page 84)

  • 8 - 10 lasagna sheets. Cook if required.
  • Grated parmesan
  • Ragu and béchamel sauces as above

Grease baking dish with butter.

Layer of meat. Layer of lasagna sheets. Layer of meat. Layer of béchamel sauce. Generous sprinkle of parmesan.

Repeat, with top layer being just a thick layer of béchamel sauce and parmesan.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Notes for next time

  1. Really only need 6 sheets of pasta — or a bigger dish. I used 7 — 2 per layer for the first two payers and then three for the top layer torn to size to more perfectly cover everything. Could do that for all layers maybe in which case.
  2. Ragu was maybe a bit watery. Probably due to the wine/milk/evaporation debacle. Cook more with the lid off?
  3. Ragu was a bit lumpy — cut carrots and onion smaller and definitely break up the beef better too.
  4. Ragu could stand more garlic. And salt.
  5. I’d like more cheese flavor, so maybe I wasn’t generous enough with the parmesan and/or I should have stirred some into the béchamel sauce.
  6. Pasta sheets bubble madly, use the large stockpot to stop spills when cooking them.
  7. Bechamel takes quite a while to thicken.

Nutrition

Estimated, per serving

  • Servings: 8
  • Serving size: 1 slice (about 1/8 of the pan)
  • Calories: 1040
  • Protein: 44 g
  • Carbs: 82 g
  • Fat: 54 g
  • Saturated fat: 24 g
  • Fiber: 4 g
  • Total sugar: 15 g
  • Sodium: 1090 mg