Lasagna alla Bolognese

Now that we can buy fresh lasagna sheets here, I love making lasagna. I find those sheets you need to pre-cook a fiddly and time-consuming bore, and turn making this comforting dish into a real chore. I usually make a lasagna using vegetables or lentils ... this time, for a change, it's one I've rustled up based very loosely on a ragù alla bolognese in response to a challenge on a forum I visit sometimes. I should really have had half a kilo of beef mince here but as I only had 400g in the freezer I added some Pardina lentils to bulk the dish out. I nice addition I think that wasn't out of place at all. Ahhh! and the anchovies, I can hear some loud eeeks out there lol, please do add them if you try the recipe they really do add a wonderful depth to the sauce and you won't taste them ... I promise :)

Lasagna alla Bolognese - Serves 6 generously, or 8 with a side

for the ragù:
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 sticks celery
3 medium carrots
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp butter
400g beef mince
35g Pardina lentils, washed and picked over
3 anchovy fillets
800g tomato frito or passata
1 Tbsp tomato purée
1 bay leaf
couple of tablespoons each fresh parsley and majoram, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

for the béchamel sauce:
60g butter
50g plain flour
700ml milk
1 bay leaf
½ tspn freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper

fresh lasagna sheets
75g Mozzarella, grated
50/50 cheese of choice and parmesan, grated for topping

Put the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots in the food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Now heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan and cook the vegetables until softened. Add the mince and let brown breaking up the lumps.

Now stir through the lentils and anchovies. Mix in the tomato frito, 200ml water swirled around to get the last of the frito out of the jar, tomato purée, herbs, and season to taste. Simmer, partially covered, for about 30minutes until the lentils are soft. The sauce should be a little sloppy, it will thicken as it cools down. Set aside off the heat, in fact you can make this a day ahead if you wish.

To make the béchamel sauce. Place the butter, flour and milk in a small saucepan and stir continuously over a medium heat until the sauce starts to “plop” and thicken. Now turn the heat down to its lowest and let the sauce cook for 5 minutes giving an occasional stir. Add the bay leaf, and season to taste with nutmeg, salt and pepper. If everything goes wrong and you get lumpy sauce, don’t despair, let it cool a little and give it a blitz with a stick blender!

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Smooth a few spoonfuls of the béchamel sauce over the bottom of a large ovenproof dish measuring approximately 30 x 20 x 6cm and place a single layer of lasagna sheets on top of this. Now spoon over one third of the meat sauce, making sure the pasta is completely covered, drizzle over a little béchamel sauce, just a couple of spoonfuls, sprinkle a third of the Mozzarella on top, and follow this with a single layer of lasagna sheets. Repeat this process twice more. Spread a generous amount of béchamel sauce over this last layer of pasta followed by a really good topping of grated cheese. At this point you can let the lasagna sit for a few hours if you want to prepare it in advance. When you are ready to bake it, 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven should do it or until the top is crusty and golden. Let cool for about ten minutes before serving otherwise it will be mouth-burningly hot.

TIP: Fresh lasagna sheets keep for a long time in the freezer. When you need to use some just let them sit on the counter for about five minutes until you can gently prise them apart and take what you need. Put the rest of the packet back in the freezer in a ziplock bag.