Lasagna Bolognese

This one is a bit of a production but it makes for good kitchen therapy. I've done this on a week night but it's more of a weekend meal unless you've got nothing that's going to need your attention and you're up for standing/stirring/cleaning in the kitchen for a good 90-120 minutes.

Ingredients

Meat Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely diced

4 cloves garlic cloves, minced

1 lb ground beef mince

1 lb ground pork mince

24 ounces Passata

14 ounces crushed tomatoes

3 heaped tablespoons tomato paste w/garlic & herb

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon sugar, (if there is a lot of acid in the tomatoes)

Salt and pepper (about 1/4-1/2 tsp of each)

Parmesan Béchamel Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour, all purpose or plain

3 1/2 cups milk

1 cup fresh shredded Parmesan

Lasagna:

13 ounces (375 grams) fresh lasagna sheets*

17 ounces (500 grams) fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Cook's Psychological Well-being:

1. If you're going to spend all this time knee deep in Italian ingredients you might as well go all in, so fire up that sound system and get some opera going. It helps if you've got a glass of wine to keep you company too.

2. Grab an apron because that spluttering tomato laden meat sauce is going to do it's level best to make you look like you've become intimately familiar with the business end of a firing squad.

3. Empty the dish washer so that you can rinse pots and pans and knives and spoons as you use them and they've got somewhere to go (other than the kitchen sink).

Meat Sauce:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat, I use my wok for this because I only have 2 large pans and an even cooking surface is more important for the Béchamel that gets the straight sided saute pan.

2. Add the onion and carrots and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until softened.

3. Add in the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, until fragrant.

4. Add beef and pork and brown it until there is no pink left in the pan.

5. Pour in the Passata, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed bouillon and dried herbs.

6. Mix well to combine and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover it to help contain the spatter.

7. Do a quick taste test here and add the salt and pepper. If it needs it, add some sugar to cut the acid.

8. Cook for about 30 minutes, occasionally mixing. The sauce should be reasonably thick, not watery. While that finishes cooking start the white sauce.

Parmesan Béchamel Sauce:

1. In a saute pan, melt butter over medium heat.

2. Remove from heat; add flour and whisk for about 30 seconds, or until well blended.

3. Return to heat, reduced down to low and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the milk until well combined. (Pour milk with your left hand and stir with your right to keep up with the reaction, assuming you're right hand is dominant)

4. Slowly add the remaining milk and gradually increase the temperature up to medium. It should be a creamy consistency. Stop adding milk if starts to get thin, if it's too thick add a little more milk at the end. (6-7 minutes)

5. Add in the Parmesan cheese and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper and mix until the cheese is melted through.
   

To Assemble:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F | 180°F and get your ducks in a row.

2. This is the last opportunity to adjust the sauces so check them both and add salt/pepper/herbs to the meat sauce or milk/cheese to the white sauce if necessary.

3. Spoon about 1 cup of meat sauce on the base of a 9x13-inch baking dish, then cover with lasagna sheets. (Trim sheets to fit over the meat if needed.) 

4. Layer with 2 cups of meat sauce (or enough to cover pasta), 1 cup of white sauce and enough mozzarella to cover the sauces. You want an even distribution of all the ingredients so that you don't get lumps of dry pasta near the edges.

5. Repeat layers.

6. Pour the remaining meat sauce and white sauce over the last layer of lasagna sheets and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.

7. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbling. That gives you 25 minutes to clean the pots and pans while they're still hot (easy cleanup) so that you can enjoy dinner knowing that your well deserved food coma can play out on the couch for the rest of the evening.

8. Garnish with parsley and let stand for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

---

Retrospectives

March 4th, 2020

Yummmmmm!!

Plates were wiped clean last night (except for Connor, who is ideologically opposed to food these days).

I wish I had remembered to put a salad with it, it needs something light and fresh to go with it.

I do need to invest in an actual lasagna pan, for now we just use 2 smaller pans but it makes cutting the lasagna sheets a bit tricky. Plus now there's 2 pans to clean after.

This one also needs better photos - I don't know what I was thinking when I took these.