INGREDIENTS
Makes: 9-12
FOR THE MEAT SAUCE
- 2 large-ish onions (approx. 350g / 2¾ cups chopped)
- 3 - 4 x 15ml tablespoons olive oil
- 125 millilitres full fat milk
- 4 x 15ml tablespoons tomato puree
- 2 carrots (approx. 250g)
- 1 stick of celery
- 4 fat cloves of garlic
- 150 grams rindless pancetta (or bacon)
- A small bunch of flatleaf parsley (approx. 20g)
- 1 x 15ml tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- ⅛ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 350 grams minced beef
- 350 grams minced pork
- 250 millilitres red wine (good enough to drink) or red vermouth
- 500 millilitres beef stock
- 2 x 400 grams tins of chopped tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons sea salt flakes (or 1 teaspoon fine sea salt)
- 3 fresh bay leaves
FOR THE BÉCHAMEL
- Vegetable prep detritus from meat sauce, above
- 1 litre full fat milk plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon soft sea salt flakes (or ½ teaspoon fine sea salt)
- A good grinding of white pepper
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 100 grams unsalted butter
- 100 grams plain flour
- 3 x 15ml tablespoons (approx. 40g) freshly grated Parmesan
- FOR ASSEMBLING
- 18-20 dried lasagne sheets
- 1 ball mozzarella not bufala
- 5 x 15ml tablespoons (approx. 40g) freshly grated Parmesan
FOR ASSEMBLING
- 18-20 dried lasagne sheets
- 1 ball mozzarella not bufala
- 5 x 15ml tablespoons (approx. 40g) freshly grated Parmesan
METHOD
Chop the onions, dropping the peeled skin into a large saucepan.
In a large, heavy-based lidded casserole warm 3 tablespoons of the oil and, over medium-low heat, cook the onions for 5 minutes, turn to low, cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring every now and again until the onions are beginning to soften and colour.
While the onions are cooking, first stir the tomato purée into the 125ml / ½ cup of milk, and set aside chop carrots, celery, garlic (save peelings for the bechamel). Chop the bacon, parsley and enough thyme to give you 1 tablespoon, add this too (or use 1 teaspoon of dried thyme). Add to the onions. Cook at med-high for 5 minutes, sprinkle in chilli flakes and cook for another 5 minutes at med-low
Remove from pan and set aside. Turn up to high and brown the beef/pork, adding more oil if necessary. Return the vegetable mixture to the pan.
Add the wine (or vermouth), let it bubble up, and then pour in the beef stock, the tins of chopped tomatoes, the tomato purée and milk mixture, salt and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Check for seasoning then cover and place in oven for 1 hour at 170c
Bechamel: Add the milk to the peelings, salt, pepper, bayleaves and bring almost to the boil. Take off heat, cover with tightly fitting lid and infuse for 45 minutes. Strain into a large batter jug. Make the liquid up to 1litre by adding more milk if necessary.
Rinse out the pan, dry it well and melt the butter, then add the flour and mix together, over medium heat, for a couple of minutes, to form and cook the roux. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the milk until a smooth cream. Return to low heat and continue to whisk until thick - 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat, quickly whisk in the 3 tablespoons of Parmesan and then scrape into jug, checking for seasoning.
Remove meat sauce from oven, allow to cool slightly, check for seasoning.
Layering up. Line the dish with a couple of ladlefuls of the meat sauce, aiming to get more liquid than meat, and cover with a layer of lasagne sheets. Put a couple more ladlefuls of the liquidy bit of sauce into a jug or bowl, and set aside for now.
Put a third of your béchamel on top of the lasagne sheets and use a spatula to help spread it a little, but don't worry about making an absolutely even, edge-to-edge covering. Top with a third of your remaining meat sauce, then cover with another layer of lasagne sheets, followed by your second third of béchamel, second third of meat sauce and third layer of lasagne sheets. Add your remaining béchamel and meat sauce in order and top with a final layer of pasta sheets and then add the set-aside liquidy meat sauce to cover, pressing down if you need to make sure the top layer of pasta is, if not submerged exactly, then lightly covered. Leave now for at least 30 minutes, but longer (up to 2 days) if needed; if you're leaving it for more than about 2 hours, you will need to refrigerate it.
When you are ready to bake your lasagne, heat the oven to 200℃/180℃ Fan/400°F. Finely chop or shred the mozzarella and sprinkle over the top of the unbaked lasagne, then sprinkle over the Parmesan. Cover with foil, trying not to press it down on the top of the lasagne, and bake for 40 minutes (if it's been refrigerated it'll probably need 1 hour). Remove the foil (pull off any cheese that's stuck to it and add it back to the top of the lasagne) and cook for a further 30 minutes until it's slightly scorched in parts, the cheese gooey, the pasta swollen and runkled on top, and everything piping hot all the way through.
Leave to stand, if you can bear it, for 20-30 minutes before diving in.