lasagne al ragù
lasagne with ragù
Don't say 'lasagna', it's 'lasagne' - ('lazan-yeh'). Don't serve it with salad. And the 'pragmatic pasta' bit - don't bother making your own béchamel - no one's ever going to be able to tell whether you bought it ready made or not. Just buy a good quality prepared version from the chiller cabinet and maybe add some extra black pepper, nutmeg and pecorino...
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO
(scroll down for the full method)
prepare the ingredients
make the 'red' ragù
assemble the lasagne
bake the lasagne
lasagne with ragù
INGREDIENTS
FOR 4-5 PEOPLE
500g 5% fat beef mince
1 stick celery
2 salt carrots
2 small onions
1 small clove garlic
1 chicken stock cube
600g tomato polpa
2 fresh mozzarella balls
nutmeg
fresh basil
milk
butter
black pepper
white wine
400g bechamel sauce
PASTA
400g dry/fresh lasagne sheets
METHOD
Chop the garlic, onion, celery and carrots reasonably finely - I normally dice everything by hand to about 5mm cubed size or thereabouts. This is what you'll see referred to as the 'soffritto', which is just a mix of those vegetables, lightly fried in EVO for around 15 mins, on a low heat. Don't colour or burn the vegetables at all. While the soffritto is going I normally dry fry the meat, or sometimes with a splash of EVO, in a separate pan. A separate pan because once it's all begun to change colour I turn the heat up briefly, add a splash of wine, and then continue cooking until it evaporates, or until you can't smell it strongly any more with your face over the pan.
Next add the meat to the vegetables, stir and cook together for a few minutes, then add the polpa, and bring back to a simmer. At this point you can crumble the stock cube into the sauce and throw in half a dozen fresh basil leaves. After 10 minutes or so of simmering, when the cube has melted, check for seasoning and add salt / ground black pepper and freshly ground nutmeg.
I like to have an obvious hint of nutmeg as it's more of a Tuscan hallmark than in other regions of Italy. Let the ragù continue to cook gently, maybe adding some extra water if it starts to dry up too much, for anything from 60-90 mins.
You may have heard of some people cooking ragùs for ridiculously long periods of time like 4-6 hours.... I'm yet to be convinced that you need more than 1.5 - 2 hrs to create a perfectly acceptable sauce with mince.
When the flavours of the ragù are starting to taste good for you, add a splash of milk and a tablespoon of butter and stir through the sauce. Take it off the heat and set it aside. You can watch a video of me making a red ragù here.
Next you need to start assembling the lasagne in an oven proof dish. I use one where I can get one dry rectangular lasagna sheet placed vertically next to two placed horizontally.
Begin by greasing the bottom of the dish with butter, then spreading a thin layer of sauce across the bottom of the dish before adding the first layer of pasta in this way. On top of the pasta, a thin layer of ragù, few blobs of béchamel, one or two pieces of torn mozzarella. Move on to the next layer, alternating between left and right where you place the vertical sheet. Before you add the same ingredients again, place your hands gently on the new layer of pasta and push down carefully. Do this each time you have added a new layer of sauce, béchamel and mozzarella.
On the very top layer I normally add minimal rags and make it more cheesy - but don't overdo the béchamel. A mix of béchamel, mozzarella and lots of grated parmesan is a good choice to create a crunchy, cheesy top.
Follow the packet instructions for cooking but check how cooked the pasta is at various points and adjust cooking time / oven temperature accordingly. Remember to let the cooked lasagne rest for at least 10 mins out of the oven before serving. And don't serve it like a peasant with salad.
NUTRITION per serving
KCAL: we're working on it!
Fat (g): TBC
Sat Fat (g): TBC
Carb (g): TBC
Sug (g): TBC
Fibre(g): TBC
Prot (g): TBC
Salt (g): TBC
