A classic lasagne from the Emila-Romagna region. The one everyone knows!
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This is the third recipe in our series on four regional lasagne dishes. This is the one everyone knows of as "lasagne" - minced pork and beef, fresh fennel sausage in a rich tomato sugo, layered up with Béchamel.
In this series
INGREDIENTS
onion
celery
carrot
minced pork and beef
fresh Italian fennel sausage
pancetta
chopped tomatoes
tomato purée
parmesan
dry spinach lasagne
Béchamel
milk
plain flour
butter
nutmeg
pepper
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METHOD
Cook the lasagne in boiling water for around 5 minutes, then put it in ice cold water to stop it cooking
Lay the sheets out on dish cloths and cover them to dry
Dice the pancetta
Wash yer veg
Top and tail the carrot & celery, and chop very finely
Same with the onion
Slice open the sausage and scoop out the stuffing. Discard the skins
Heat olive oil in a pan and add the carrots, celery and onion
This is the sofritto
When it's softened - after about 15 minutes - add the pancetta
15 minutes later add the minced meat
Brown the meat and let the water from it evaporate
Add the sausage meat and stir through
2 tins of chopped tomatoes - clean them out with red wine
A good squish of tomato purée and mix it all through
Add about 500-700ml beef stock, oregano and chilli flakes
This is the sugo
Stir it all through and cook slowly for at least 2 hours
Béchamel
The general ratio is equal amounts butter and flour, and those two should each be 10% of the milk
So...
1 litre milk; 100g butter; 100g flour
Heat the milk, adding nutmeg and pepper. Whisk them through it
Do NOT let it boil!
Melt the butter, and add the flour, whisking it through thoroughly
It's important to incorporate ALL the flour into the roux (the paste you make with the butter and flour), otherwise you get a cooked four taste from the sauce - this is nowhere near as nice at it sounds...
Now... the classic French style is to gradually add the milk to the roux and keep whisking.
The classic Italian Béchamel procedure is to tip the roux into the milk and whisk it like mad - in a minute or two you have a thick sauce.
I prefer the Italian method.
If the sauce is too thin, make a little more roux in a pan and add it in, whisking as you go.
If the sauce is too thick, add milk - whisking as you go.
Lasagne - Assemble!!
A little Béchamel and sugo on the base of the dish
Layer of pasta
Layer of...
Sugo
Béchamel
Parmesan
Layer 2
Sugo-Béchamel-parmesan
Layer 3
Sugo-Béchamel-parmesan
Layer 4 - top layer
Sugo-Béchamel-parmesan
Add some dots of butter for colour
40 minutes at 180ºC
Leave to stand for 15 minutes before portioning
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