The Best Lasagne. Ever.

This is one of my favourite recipes. It takes a bit of time, but is well worth it! This should be enough for at least 4 people, but I recommend you double the recipe and make two lasagnes and freeze one for next time! It tastes even better if made the day before, or even if just the mince is made the day before...

Ingredients:

For the meat sauce:

• Oil
• 1 Large white or red onion, very finely chopped
• 5 Stalks celery, finely chopped
• 2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
• 500g Extra lean beef mince
• 1 Punnet passata (or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes)
• 75 mls Tomato paste (or one small packet or tin)
• 1 punnet of button mushrooms, sliced (or 1 tin sliced mushrooms)
• 1/2 Cup Red Wine
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• About 2-3 Tbsp of your favourite fresh herbs (I like basil, Italian parsely or thyme in a meat sauce) dried ones also work ok but use no more than 2 Tbsp
• 2 Bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the Bechamel (cheese) sauce:

• Approx. 1 litre milk
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 75g Butter
• 75g White Flour
• Salt
• White pepper
• 1 Cup Grated cheddar cheese

 For the final assembly:

• 1 box (250g) of lasagne pieces, I like the spinach ones
• Grated Mozzarella cheese for the top
• Parmesan cheese to serve

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius about 30 minutes before putting you dish in.
2. Make the meat sauce first: heat a glug of oil in a non stick pan or wok, then fry the onions and celery until they start to soften. Add the garlic and fry another minute.
3. Remove the onion mix from the pan and heat some more oil until it is quite hot, then add the mince in batches to brown it. Browning the mince properly is the hardest part, because as soon as it releases its water, no further browning will occur. So make sure your oil is hot, your mince is at room temperature, and you don't brown too much at the same time... If you don't get it right it's not the end of the world, but the browning does really enhance the flavour.
4. Once all your mince is browned, you might want to drain some of the fat from the meat, then add all the mince and the onions back into the pan. Add the pasatta, tomato paste, mushrooms, paprika and sugar and reduce the heat to simmer. 
5. Add the herbs, bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Leave this to cook while you make the sauce - ideally the longer it cooks, the better the flavours develops, so you could do this the night before, or let it cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Keep an eye on it, though, and add water if it is drying out. The final product should be the consistency of bolognese sauce, not too dry and not too watery. Remove the bay leaves before assembly.

Now make the cheese sauce: this is a real art, which was taught to us by a chef couple we briefly shared a flat with in London...the trick is not to pay TOO much attention to the quantities in the recipe, rather keep an eye on the consistency as you go.

1. Heat the butter in a large pot on medium heat, until just melted. Add the flour gradually and use a whisk to mix it in with the butter. The amounts may vary from the recipe - what you are looking for it a thick and oily consistency, but not dry. if you have added too much flour by mistake, you can add a bit more butter until it seems right. After making this a few times you will get a better feel for how much sauce you actually get based on the amount of butter you start with...
2. Fry the flour for a minute or so - this is the key to a good white sauce as the heat pops the flour, removing that 'floury' taste you sometimes get.
3. Start adding the milk slowly, whisking as you go. Again, check the amount to get the right consistency - you are looking for a thinner than custard consistency, remember the cheese will help to thicken to sauce further.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste and nutmeg, and let the sauce simmer for 3 minutes, whisking frequently.
5. Finally add the grated cheese, again continually whisking. Simmer until all the cheese is melted, and the sauce is at your desired consistency, similar to that of yoghurt or custard, not too thick as it will still thicken further in the oven. Adding more cheese will thicken it further, more milk will thin it. Do not add more flour at this point as you will then get that floury taste!

Assemble your Lasagne:

1. Grab a large casserole dish - preferably a square or rectangular one as the rounded edges make the pasta more challenging! If making only one lasagne, layer half the meat sauce on the bottom of the dish (if two lasagnes, it will be a quarter and so on). Place your lasagne sheets over the meat layer, making sure they don't overlap, but covering as much of the meat as possible.
2. Now layer half of the cheese sauce over the pasta sheets, covering the entire area.
3. Repeat the three layers - meat then pasta then sauce, trying to avoid mixing them too much (this is where you don't want your sauces to be too sloppy!).
4. Finish with the grated mozzarella cheese, and sprinkling of paprika (I like to make a kind of pattern), and cover with foil (shiny side down!).
5. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, remove the foil and cook uncovered. You will know the dish is done when it
6. Serve with crusty Italian bread, salad and Parmesan cheese. Ad maybe a robust red wine!