Lasagna

It's autumn! Lasagna is a great hearty dish to have in those cold nights. It doesn't really take much work once you are used to make it. Once all the sauces are ready, it's a matter of putting it together, bake and voila!!!.

My recipe is pretty much my mum's. My mum includes a layer of Mozzarella cheese and a layer of ham besides the usual ones. The dish is made with two sauces: Bechamel sauce and Bolognese sauce.

For one Lasagna: This recipe serves approx. 8 people.

Ingredients:

For the Bolognese sauce:

- 500 g of beef mince.
- 500g of veal mince.
- 2 brown onions
- 5 gloves of garlic
- 5 bay leaves
- 4 to 5 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 cup of finely cut basil and parsley.
- 500 ml of vegetable stock.
- 1 can of tomatoes or 5 ripe tomatoes.
- 1/4 red capsicum roughly chopped.
- 1 teaspoon of nutmeg.
- Salt and pepper to taste.

For the Bechamel sauce:

- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 3 tablespoons of plain flour.
- 1 liter of milk
- 5 peppercorns, if desired.

For the construction of the Lasagna:

- Lasagna pasta sheets
- 500 g of shaved Leg ham
- 500 g of Mozzarella cheese
- 250 g of parmesan cheese
- Olive oil

Preparation of the Bolognese sauce:

• Finely cut the brown onions and garlic.
• Heat a large pan with high border three to four tablespoons of Olive oil.
• Mix the meat together and add salt and pepper.
• Add the onions and garlic to the heated pan, once caramelized add the meats. Cook on a medium heat until the meats are brown.
• In a blender, blend together tomatoes, capsicum and vegetable stock. Add to pan and let it simmer for 20 min.
• Add tomato paste, bay leaves, nutmeg and fresh herbs. Let it simmer for 35 min.
• Retire from heat and let it rest covered. Add salt and pepper to taste.

At this point I start pre heating my oven at 175C fan forced.

Preparation of the Bechamel sauce:

• Heat milk and peppercorns together, don't let it boil. Drain the milk and put aside.
• In a saucepan, melt butter and add flour mix well.
• Stir in milk, continue stirring until sauce pops =).
• Set aside

Construction of the Lasagna:

• In an oiled tray, add bechamel sauce to cover the bottom of the tray then lasagna pasta sheets then bolognese sauce then ham then mozzarella cheese.
• Repeat the process until the top is reached, the last layer is bechamel sauce and parmesan cheese.
• Cook the lasagna in the oven covered with AL foil for 20 minutes. It's important to cover well the pasta sheets with sauce so they cook properly.
• Remove the AL foil and cook uncovered for 15 min until the parmesan cheese is golden brown.
• Let it rest and serve.