Lasagne Nostrane - Our Lasagna

Lasagne are one of the best baked pasta dishes ever created, it is the proper Italian comfort food. Warm, saucy, cheesy mmmmmm!! Amanda & myself certainly love the most common version, the ones with a rich tomato based meat sauce and a silky smooth home-made white sauce. You can , obviously, use the stuff from jars that have been produced wherever, whenever and most importantly using a lot of preservatives to keep them in the jar for ages, but nothing beats a delicious freshly made meat sauce and/or white sauce. I have been meaning to put our take on the classic lasagne for ages so here it is and as I said it is quite rich so we nearly always have leftovers which Amanda and myself have for lunch the following day. You can also leave the lasagne to cool down and divide it into portions and freeze them to whenever you need them. Our take on lasagne is heavily influenced by Amanda's mother, I can remember that whenever she used to prepare it for us, I always (without fail) asked for seconds. Please try and do your own meat and béchamel sauces as they are so tasty and surely more genuine. Give it a go, you will need...

For the meat sauce

• 500g lean beef mince
• 500ml tomato passata
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste dissolved in 200ml boiling water
• Worcestershire sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Knorr beef stock pot or Oxo cube
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil

For the white sauce

• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 700ml whole milk, at room temperature
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 200g ham, chopped
• 200g Edam or Cheddar cheese grated
• Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped (optional)

• 12-15 sheets uncooked lasagne

1. Start preparing the meat sauce by heating some oil in a saucepan along with the garlic. As soon as the garlic turns golden add the mince, Worcestershire sauce and some freshly ground black pepper and cook the mince until brown, drain excess fat in a bowl or leave all fat to evaporate and mince is dry, about 10-15 minutes. Now add the passata, tomato paste in boiling water, sugar and stock pot or cube and give it a good stir. Simmer covered on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside.
2. Now it's time for the white sauce, melt the butter and add the flour on low heat. Stir constantly until you get a golden but not brown roux. Now, start adding the milk to the roux gradually, make sure you keep stirring all the time so as not to get any lumps. Keep stirring until you use all the milk and until you get a thick silky sauce. Season with some black pepper. Now add most of the grated cheese (leaving some aside), chopped ham and parsley (if using) and stir well always on low heat until the cheese is melted. Take off the heat and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
4. To assemble the lasagne, get an oven dish (preferably rectangular) and spread some meat sauce, lay 3 lasagne sheets and then cover with white sauce, sprinkle some grated cheese, repeat the process until you use all the sauces, cheese and lasagne sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden. Serve hot!

Enjoy!!

R&A