Lasagne Bolognese

4 servings
Preparation 20 minutes
Cooking 30 minutes
Standing 5 minutes
480 calories per serving
Cooking dish:  19 cm x 19 cm

3-1/2 tbsp non-hydrogenated margarine
7 tbsp white all purpose flour
2 cups 2% milk, lukewarm
salt and pepper to taste
6 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
1 pinch grated nutmeg
10 over-ready type lasagna noodles
1-1/2 cups Bolognese Meat Sauce

Make the Bolognese Meat Sauce:

Ingredients

1 onions, finely chopped 200 g

1 carrots, finely chopped 100 g

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped 35 g

1 slice bacon, finely chopped 20 g

1/2 tbsp butter, unsalted 7 g

1 tbsp olive oil 15 mL

360 g ground beef, lean

1/3 cup milk, partly skimmed, 2% 85 mL

1/3 cup white wine 85 mL

1 cup canned tomatoes (diced) 260 g

2 tsp tomato paste 12 g

1 tsp dried oregano 1 g

1 pinch salt [optional] 0.2 g

ground pepper to taste [optional]

Before you start

A food processor would make chopping the vegetables easier.

Method

Finely chop the onion, carrot, garlic, celery, and bacon.

Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the vegetables and bacon, then cook until softened, 5-6 min, with some stirring. Add the meat, then salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat with a spoon until it loses its pink colour and starts browning, about 7-8 min.

Raise the heat to high, then add the milk. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has evaporated, about 3 min. Add the wine, then cook, stirring frequently, until the wine has evaporated, about 3 min.

Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and oregano, then cover and simmer gently over low heat for at least 1 h. Stir occasionally and add some water as needed to prevent the sauce from becoming too dry. Season with additional salt and pepper. It is important to simmer all the ingredients until the sauce is thick and the beef very tender. (If you are using a pressure cooker, the cooking time is reduced to 15 min from the time it starts to spatter).

Observations

The sauce can be stored up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 2 months in the freezer.

Make the bechamel:

Heat the margarine in a heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then add the flour and cook the roux over low heat, with whisking, for 3 minutes.  Add the milk in a fast stream while whisking vigorously to avoid lumps.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 6-7 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add all the grated Parmesan minus about 3 spoonsful.  Stir in the grated nutmeg.

Assemble the lasagna:

If desired, you may precook the lasagna noodles.  Working in batches, plunge 3-4 noodles at a time in a large pot of boiling salted water.  Add one spoonful of olive oil to the water to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other.  Do not cook the noodles through, but just until a bit soft, about 2-3 minutes, then drain them, pat dry and place them in one layer on a kitchen towel.

Spread a few spoonsful of bechamel sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.  Arrange some lasagna noodles over the sauce, without overlapping them (allow room for swelling during cooking), until the bottom of the dish is covered.  Spread some spoonsful of bechamel and Bolognese meat sauce over the noodles, then cover with another layer of noodles.  Repeat the layering of sauce and noodles 4 to 6 times, depending on the serving size and the shape of the baking dish.  Top the lasagna with the reserved Parmesan.

Bake:

Preheat the over to 400F.  Bake the lasagna, uncovered, until the top is golden-brown and the sauce is bubbling, about 30-35 minutes (or about 20-25 minutes if the noodles have been precooked).  Let stand 5-10 minutes at room temperature before cutting and serving.



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