Lasagne al Forno

Along with pizza and spaghetti Bolognese, lasagne is probably one of the most famous of all Italian dishes, and has won admirers all over the world. It is a firm favourite in pub lunches up and down the UK. It is a surprisingly simple dish to make and is absolutely worth the time it takes to prepare, as the taste is amazing!

Lasagne al forno (simply lasagne in the oven) comes from the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, where the world renowned Bolognese sauce was also created in... (shock horror) Bologna!!! Lasagne al forno borrows this ragù alla bolognese as one of it's three alternating layers, with the others being bechamel sauce, a white sauce made from milk and flour, and sheets of dried pasta or lasagne!

Ingredients

For the ragù:

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 stick of celery

350g minced beef

350g minced pork

100g pancetta or spek blocks

1 Tb tomato puree

400ml passata or 2 400g tins of plum tomatoes

1 glass red wine

2 Tb olive oil

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

5 fresh basil leaves or 2 tsp dried basil

50g chicken livers (optional)

For the bechamel sauce:

50g unsalted butter

50g plain flour

750ml milk

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 bay leaf
1 onion, halved
50g grated Cheddar cheese

For the lasagne and topping:

1 packet dried lasagne strips

100g grated Parmesan cheese (Parmigiana Reggiano)

1 pack of fresh Mozzarella cheese

50g grated Cheddar cheese
1 tomato, sliced

Method

Ragù:

Finely chop the onion, garlic and celery. Gently fry the onion in olive oil in a large high-sided pan. When it is soft and translucent add the diced pancetta, the garlic and celery and fry for a further 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the minced beef and pork and brown thoroughly. Add the chicken livers if using, and continue to cook, stirring well to ensure all the minced meat is cooked through completely.

Pour in the glass of red wine (if you drank it already pour in another one!) and the passata or plum tomatoes, the tomato puree, oregano and basil. Season with salt and pepper and simmer with the lid on. Authentic bolognese sauce takes at least 2-3 hours to works its magic, but if you don't have so much time, simmer for at least 45 minutes. You won't get the same rich flavours and velvety texture, but you will still get a decent enough ragù. It should not be too wet.

Ideally you want the ragù to have cooled significantly before assembling the lasagne so that the pasta sheets do not start cooking while you are still putting together the dish. Best to make sure you have about half a day free!!!

Preheat your oven to 200 C.

Bechamel Sauce:

Add the milk to a pan and add the half onion, nutmeg and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and then leave for 30 minutes to infuse. Remove the onion and bay leaf.

Melt the butter in a pan on a low heat, and mix in the flour, whisking as you go. Try not to get any lumps of flour forming. After 2 minutes whisk in the infused milk. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently, stirring continuously. When the sauce is starting to thicken add the grated Cheddar and stir well. Season with black pepper.

Assembling the Lasagne:

Grease a large baking tray using butter or a little olive oil. Cover the tray with a layer of ragù. A lot of people start with a layer of pasta sheets first, but an Italian chef on one of these daytime cookery programmes mentioned that the Italians always start with a layer of ragù. When in Rome, as they say!

Follow the layer of ragù with a layer of lasagne sheets. You may need to break some of them to cover completely and avoid overlapping.

Next add a layer of bechamel sauce. Use a ladle to pour the sauce and a spatula or knife to spread it evenly over the lasagne sheets.

Repeat with a layer of ragù again. Then the lasagne sheets, then the bechamel sauce. You should aim to have finished the ragù while still having enough bechamel for one last layer on top.

After adding the final layer of bechamel, top with alternate slices of mozzarella and tomato, the grated Cheddar and Parmesan.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown. The lasagne sheets should have softened but not gone all mushy.

Serve with a rucola salad and a nice glass of Italian red wine: a Montepulciano, Valpolicella or Chianti Classico.

Buon appetito! Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?

There is some confusion about the correct spelling of lasagne - should it be LASAGNE OR LASAGNA? Well, lasagnA is the singular, so if you are only using one sheet of pasta this would be correct. But as you are using multiple sheets you would use the plural form - LasagnE!!!