Lasagna
Homemade lasagna is one of my favorite dishes to have on a chilly fall or winter evening. It’s something people of all ages enjoy because of it’s simple ingredients and nostalgic feel. To me, every bite is a throw back to simpler happy times with friends and family. So I urge you to try putting this dish together for your next dinner party. I will admit it is very time consuming especially if you’re going to make pasta from scratch as well so using store bought noodles is a great way to cut down on time and effort.
Serves: 8
Time: 4 hours (making your own pasta)
~ 2.5 hours (using store bought pasta)
Ingredients
For the Meat:
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 Large Carrot
1 Celery Stock
1 Yellow Onion
5 Garlic Cloves
1 can small tomato paste
Salt
Black pepper
1 cup Fresh Basil
1 cup Water
For the Bechamel:
2 cups Whole Milk
3 Bay Leaves
Half stick of Unsalted Butter
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Nutmeg
For the Pasta & Lasagna Assembly:
1.75 cup AP Flour
1 Cup Fine Semolina
6 Eggs
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt to taste
2 cups Shredded Mozzarella
1 cup Fresh Parsley
Instructions
To make the pasta mix the AP flour and semolina together and form into a bowl. Add the eggs and salt and begin slowly beating the eggs and incorporating bits of flour until you have a shaggy dough. Then dive in with your hands and mix until a dough forms. Knead until it becomes nice and smooth. Then cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.Cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll thin. Use a pasta machine to roll your dough out until it’s about 1/8 inch thick which is either the lowest or 2nd lowest setting on most machines. Repeat until all dough has been rolled out into long sheets. Then cut into the appropriate size, lightly flour, and keep to the side. The lasagna sheets can be stored in the fridge over night by lightly flouring and separating each sheet with parchment paper.
Next make the bechamel sauce by adding the whole milk and bay leaves to a pot. Bring to a light simmer and let it ride for 20 minutes. Then remove from the heat and let it cool completely then into the fridge.
Melt a stick of butter in a medium pot. Slowly add the AP flour and mix well with the butter. Once you see the butter separating from the flour slowly add the the milk and whisk continuously. Continue until all the milk is incorporate and you have a thick fluffy bechamel. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg and mix well. Then cover and keep to the side to cool.
Next make the meat sauce by dicing up the yellow onion, garlic, carrot, and celery. Place a large pot on high heat for 2 minutes then add the olive oil and chopped veggies. Saute for 3-5 minutes. Then add crushed garlic and saute until fragrant.
Add the ground beef and cook until most of the fat is rendered out.
Then add a small can of tomato paste, salt, black pepper, fresh basil, and water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and let it ride for 60 minutes.
Finally assemble the lasagna by layering the pasta sheets, meat sauce, bechamel, and mozzarella. Fit as many layers as you like into your baking dish. Top with lots of mozzarella and into a 375F oven for 45 minutes. If you like, broil for 5 minutes to brown the cheese on top.
Plate and garnish with fresh parsley, parmegano reggiano, and red pepper.
