Lasagne - NOT lasagna!
Ingredients for the sauce:
2 onions: 1 brown, 1 white
1 glove of garlic
1 leek
2 celery sticks
300 gr. lean pork
100 gr. of chicken
300 gr ground beef
some parsley
extra virgin olive oil
pinch of oregano
1 nutmeg
2 cans tomato pulp
1 can tomato sauce
a sage leaf
rosemary
a bay leaf
Ingredients for the Béchamel Sauce:
1.5 litre of milk
1 nutmeg
salt and pepper
50 gr. butter
200 gm. cornflour
PREPARATION of the sauce:
1. Finely chop the onion, garlic, leek, celery and parsley. Lightly fry them in the oil with the sage, bay leaf and rosemary. Once the vegetables are browned remove the herbs.
2. Finely mince the meat. Add the meat to the vegetables and cook the combined ingredients for a further 20 minutes.
3. Add the tomatos, remaining herbs and a bay leaf and continue cooking the sauce over a medium heat for approximately 2 hours.
PREPARATION of the béchamel sauce:
4. Heat aprox 2 cups of milk and the butter until almost boiling - but don't let it boil!
5. Take off from heat and add the cornflour stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
6. Put back on heat and slowly add the rest of the milk stirring constantly over a medium heat until it begins to thicken. Allow the sauce to thicken for a further 5 mins reducing the heat to low.
FINAL PREPARATION:
7. Cook the lasagne in a saucepan of salted boiling water.( I find that the no cook lasagne is just as good..barilla makes some excellent no boil lasagne)
8. Cover the base of a greased baking dish with a thin layer of meat sauce, then add a slither of bechamel sauce, and a layer of lasagne. (You can also add some parmesan cheese.) Repeat this process until all the ingredients have been used, finishing off with the bechamel on the top. Cover with aluminum foil
9. Cook the lasagne in a preheated oven for 1/2 hour at 180°.
10. For the last 10 minutes, take off the foil and add grated parmisan cheese and put back in the oven