Lasagne
This recipe actually belongs to Gino D’Acampo and is from his book ‘Gino’s Italian Escape’ (you can buy it here) but we have never found a better one and cook this on a regular basis! We used to struggle to make good pasta but we’ve cracked it now. Use a Magimix! Put the flour into the Magimix with the blade in it, crack the eggs on top and turn on for 30 seconds. The mixture will be like fine breadcrumbs. Tip onto a work surface and push together, kneed for 30 seconds and you have perfect pasta!
Lasagne
Calories: 3905kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 fresh Lasagne Sheets approx 10cm x 18cm – we often make our own (100g) but fresh from the supermarket is fine
- 500 g Minced Beef
- 1 large Carrot peeled and grated
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 1 Celery Stick finely chopped
- 700 ml Passata
- 1 tbsp Tomato Purée
- 2 glasses Red Wine Italian of course!
- 10 Basil Leaves we always have some basil on the kitchen window sill
- 100 g Parmesan Cheese
- 50 g Butter cold and cut in to 1cm cubes
- Salt and Pepper to taste
For the béchamel sauce
- 100 g Butter
- 100 g Plain Flour
- 1 ltr Milk full fat and cold
- ¼ Nutmeg freshly grated
Instructions
- To prepare the meat sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the onions, carrot and celery for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon
- Add in the minced beef and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes stirring continuously until coloured all over. Season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes
- Pour in the wine, stir well and continue to cook for 5 minutes until the alcohol in the wine has evaporated
- Pour in the sieved tomatoes with the tomato puree and fresh basil, lower the heat and continue to cook for 1 hour, lid off, until you get a beautiful rich sauce. Stir occasionally. (After about 30 minutes, taste for seasoning).Preheat the oven to 180º
- Meanwhile, to make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute until becomes a light brown colour. Gradually whisk in the cold milk, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes whisking constantly
- Once thickened, stir in half of the parmesan cheese and the nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to slightly cool
- Spread a quarter of the béchamel sauce on the bottom of a deep ovenproof dish measuring approx. 30x25cm
- Lay 4 lasagne sheets on top and if necessary cut them to fit the dish. It's important not to overlap the sheets or it goes claggy.
- Spread over half of the meat sauce then top with a third of the remaining béchamel sauce
- Lay 4 more sheets of lasagne on top and cover with the remaining meat sauce. Spread over half of the remaining béchamel sauce
- Add a final layer of lasagne sheets and gently spread the rest of the béchamel on top making sure that you completely cover the lasagne sheets
- Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and scatter over the cubed butter. Grind some black pepper over the top
- Cook on the bottom of the preheated oven for 30 minutes then place the dish in the middle of the oven, raise the temperature to 200º and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes until golden and crispy all over
- Remove the dish from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes
Nutrition
Calories: 3905kcal | Carbohydrates: 184g | Protein: 149g | Fat: 251g | Saturated Fat: 132g | Cholesterol: 746mg | Sodium: 3410mg | Potassium: 5775mg | Fiber: 21g | Sugar: 49g | Vitamin A: 20583IU | Vitamin C: 90mg | Calcium: 1538mg | Iron: 31mg
What no garlic, all ready meals in supermarkets include garlic which my wife hates so why do they put it in their recipes?
In my humble opinion Lasagne is not a dish that benefits from garlic.
@andy w
There’s a general rule in Italian cooking that you use either onion or garlic, not both!
According to Gino D’Acampo the garlic is to powerfull for the béchamel sauce.
Iv cooked lasagna and it tastes better with garlic and onions richer flav
ors.