My best lasagne recipe (Rice & Pasta Dishes)

Member Name: clairestevens

Product:	Rice & Pasta Dishes
Date:	23/01/08 (283 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's fab

Disadvantages: Takes a while to make

There are a million recipes for the perfect lasage, but this is my tried and tested recipe that gets wheeled out time and time again....

Feel free to add other ingredients that you like or omit things you don't.

Ingredients
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For the ragu:

500g minced beef
200g chopped streaky bacon
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
2 cloved garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 cans chopped plum tomatoes
1 dessert spoon basil pesto
100ml red wine
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

100g mozzarella, cubed
fresh pasta sheets

For the white sauce:

500ml milk
1 tbsp flour
1 knob butter
200g grated cheese, plus extra for sprinkling on top

Start by frying the onions, pepper and garlic in a wok or wide saucepan until soft. Add the chopped bacon and fry for a couple more minutes. Add the mince and fry until browned. Stir in the tomato puree and pesto and then the tinned tomatoes and red wine. Simmer over a low heat for around an hour.

While that is simmering, make your white sauce. Pour the milk into a saucepan and warm over a low heat. Add the flour and butter, bring to the boil and lower the heat right down, whicking all the while until the sauce has started to thicken. When thicker, add the grated cheese.

Season and spoon a layer over the base of a 30cm x 30cm dish. Cover with lasage sheets and spoon over another layer. There should be enough sauce for three or four layers. After the sauce has run out, top with lasagne sheets and the cubed mozzarella. Pour over the white sauce and sprinkle grated cheese over the top. Bake at 170C for 45 minutes.

Don't serve straight away. Instead leave to cool completely in the oven for a few hours. Then when you're ready to serve, reheat for another forty minutes at 170C. This ensures that the lasagne is nice and firm and not sloppy.

Summary: The best way of cooking lasagne that I've found.