Absolutely Morish Lasagne

Everyone knows lasagne (or lasagna), almost every family has their own take on it, as well as each restaurant. I have made over a dozen different kinds of 'classic' lasagne. This one is the latest version I have come up with and I think it is one of the best I have ever done. It incorporates all the versions I have done before as well as a few experiments.

Lasagne is actually just the flat, wide pasta sheets but has taken to mean the dish itself. It can be traced back to city of Naples in the 14th Century and is considered one of the oldest types of pasta.

This is a great family dish that can be made in bulk the day before and reheated or even frozen in portions and used for your weekly lunches. It goes great with salad and garlic bread but you can serve it with anything. Most British pubs serve it with some kind of potatoes (carb overload).

Although this is a 'classic' style lasagne, you can produce many different varieties using the same principal.

This will feed up to 10 people:-

700g Beef Mince
1 large onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, grated
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tins (400g) whole tomatoes
250ml water
1 beef stock cube
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
seasoning
5 Fresh Pasta
1 litre whole milk
1 tbsp nutmeg
150g flour
150ml oil
100g parmesan cheese
200g Edam cheese
100g Swiss cheese

Put the butter and olive oil to a fairly large pan and put over a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the mince and brown off. Now you can put the whole tomatoes, water, stock cube, basil, parsley, oregano and seasoning in. Cover and allow to simmer for an hour.

While your ragu is reducing, time to start the bechamel sauce. In another pan add the milk, nutmeg and some seasoning. Place it over a medium heat and bring slowly up to a simmer. Once it is simmering mix together the oil and flour together and whisk into the milk. It will thicken up quickly and then leave it to cook out for a couple of minutes and take of the heat. Stir in the parmesan and taste.

With your pasta cut it into 10 pieces and roll it out to about 5/6 on your machine. Put the sheets to one side and cover with a slightly damp cloth.

Check your ragu, correct the seasoning if needed. If all good, now we can assemble. Preheat your oven to 175C.

Grease up a pyrex dish and put a layer of your bechamel on the bottom. Add some cheese and then place a sheet of lasagne on top. Spoon some of the ragu on top of the pasta and spread out thinly, put a spoon or two of the bechamel and spread out too. Spread some cheese on top and add another pasta sheet. Repeat until you have 4 layers. For the last layer add the remaining bechamel and cheese.

Place your assembled lasgane into the oven and cook for around 40-45 minutes until it is nicely golden on top.

Serve immediately and watch the dish magically clean itself. This will become a family favourite and you'll never want to use dried pasta sheets again.