Lasagna bolognese known for its rich and savory filling, layered with creamy and meaty flavors throughout. I’m not going to tell you this is a quick making lasagna, because it isn’t. This lasagna takes time, I would say this is reserved for a very special meal, but it’s worth every minute of preparing.
I made this for Christmas dinner and all I heard was “This is the best lasagna I ever had!”I have to agree with that statement.
Fresh thin pasta sheets are a must, there’s no comparison to dry noodles or dare I say no boil, none, I repeat, none! Also there’s a Bechamel sauce which replaces the ricotta which is commonly used in Italian American lasagna, like this.
Bechamel is a creamy white sauce made with butter, flour and whole milk.
But the star of the show in this lasagna is the bolognese sauce which originating from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy.
It’s a slow cooked meat sauce made typically with quality ground beef, tomatoes, onion, carrot, celery, milk, garlic and white wine, you can use red but I prefer using white. My personal opinion is that the red wine makes it too heavy tasting and the white wine is much lighter, after all there’s a lot going on here.
The nice thing about this dish is that you can make the sauce 3 days ahead of time making sure it’s slow cooked and not rushed. The flavors will develop even more as it sits, it’s an amazing sauce. The sauce will thicken up and reduce as it slowly cooks, as shown in my picture from the rim around the pot, and that’s exactly what you want.
This amazing sauce can also be used tossed with some tagliatelle pasta when you’re not making lasagna. It’s best to use a wider pasta instead of something like spaghetti, a wider pasta holds the sauce better.
Having everything prepped ahead of time makes for an easy, relaxing day on the day that you’re going to serve it.
The pan of lasagna was completely assembled the day before, covered with foil and ready and waiting in the fridge for the next day to be cooked.
NOTE: If you have a source where you can buy quality fresh, egg pasta sheets, just like homemade go ahead and do it, it will definitely shorten the prep time. I tried to do that with a brand new pasta shop that opened in my area called Poppies Pasta but ended up making my own because I didn’t have enough, and to be honest I wasn’t even sure how much I actually needed to fit my pan with all the layers.
This was a pretty big lasagna, made in a 13×9, 3-inch deep pan where I ended up doing 7 layers.
Sitting in the fridge overnight it was really cold so I made sure to take it out at least an hour before going into the oven so it could be close to room temperature.
It cut like butter with no layers imploding, it truly is a special occasion meal and a true labor of love.
You, your family and friends will be craving this special lasagna, I promise!
- For the MEAT SAUCE
- 2 lbs. grass fed lean ground beef
- 3 carrots
- 4 celery stalks
- 1 large onion
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 28 oz. can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup of milk
- 3 tablespoons each of butter and olive oil
- Parmesan rind to toss in while cooking
- YOU'LL ALSO NEED BETWEEN THE LAYERS..
- 1 LB. low moisture shredded mozzarella ( not pre-shredded in a bag)
- Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese 2 or 3 cups ( the real deal)
- BECHAMEL SAUCE...
- 12 Tablespoons, unsalted butter
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour
- 6 cups, whole milk
- a pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- FRESH PASTA DOUGH...
- 2 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- a little water to drizzle if need be to get the dough rolling
- IMPORTANT NOTES...
- Make the bolognese sauce 3 days before, make the bechamel 2 days before and the pasta on the day you assemble the lasagna all together, which would be the day before you actually cook and serve it.
- BOLOGNESE...
- Pulse in a food processor the carrots, celery, garlic and onion, you still want to see the veg don't pulverize it, or you can chop them small with a knife.
- In a heavy bottomed pan add the butter and olive oil and the pulsed veggies, cook til soft then remove.
- Add in your ground beef, cook til there's no pink.
- Deglaze with the wine and let it reduce.
- Add in the tomato paste until absorbed, then toss in the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth.
- Add the cooked veggies back into the tomato mixture.
- Stir to combine everything, get it to a boil, add the cup of milk then simmer on low.
- Pop in the cheese rind and taste for salt and pepper.
- It needs to simmer 2-3 hours on very low, you'll see it thicken up, that's when it's done.
- When cooled down cover and refrigerate
- BECHAMEL...
- Melt the butter in a sauce pan, whisk in the flour then add warm milk slowly by whisking, making sure to not have lumps, Add nutmeg and salt and pepper too taste.
- FRESH PASTA...
- I use my food processor to make my dough, it's so easy and comes together perfectly. With the metal blade on add the flour, olive oil and salt, pulse. Then add both eggs, pulse. then let it run to come together to form a dough ball, be patient it comes together, you might need to add a tiny bit of water down the shoot to help it come together.
- When it forms the dough ball, pull it out, knead it on a table till nice and smooth, maybe adding a little flour. wrap in in plastic wrap and set aside. Make it 3 times, 3 balls.
- You'll then need a pasta machine, one that you hand roll or one that has an attachment on a Kitchen Aid machine. You need to roll your dough thin, eventually on number 6, you want to see through the dough when it's rolled out.
- TIME TO ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNA...
- Butter a 13x9 3 inch deep baking dish.
- Warm up your bolognese and bechamel sauces, have your cheese's grated and ready to go.
- Put on a large pot of salted water with a tablespoon of olive oil in the water, get it to a boil then simmer.
- When rolling out your pasta sheets cut them according to the size of your pan. Doing only a couple of sheets at a time, drop them into the water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, remove gently quickly dip in ice water and place sheets on aclean linen towels to dry, pat dry on the top if need be, you don't want to layer your lasagna with wet pasta, it will be a disaster.
- THEN THE FUN BEGINS...
- First layer, smear bechamel on bottom of pan, then your dry pasta sheets, the smear bechamel all over then smear with a spoon your bolognese sauce. Lightly sprinkle the shredded mozzarella and of course your grated Parmigiano Reggiano all over, then repeat!
- Repeat until you have 6 or 7 layers of everything. The last layer top it off with the bolognese and grated cheese now dot the top with small little pats of butter
- Cover it with foil and stick it into the fridge, clean up your kitchen!, tomorrow all you have to do is take it out and bake it.
- Bake it at 350 for 45 minutes with the foil on, then remove the foil for another 20 minutes, it should crisp the top a little.(ovens vary) The middle of the lasagna should read 165 to be hot enough. Let it rest for 30 minutes before cutting into it.
- It's a labor of love for sure but it's going to be worth it, I promise!
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