Lasagne Alla Bolognese

If you order Lasagne in northern Italy, what you'll get is quite different form what we are accustomed to eating in the states. Lasagne, Bolognese style is repared with a Bèshamel sauce that gives the dish a creamy, rich flavor. This easy to make classic gives the illusion of being difficult to prepare and will feed the whole family.

Ingredients

1lb ground beef
1 medium red onion diced
1 carrot diced
2 celery stalks diced
¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons olive oil (the best you can get)
Two 28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes
¼ cup red wine
½ stick of butter
2¼ cups milk (use whole milk to make sauce creamier)
3½ tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper (to taste)
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
One 16 oz. box lasagna

Bolognese Tomato Sauce Directions

1. Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a saucepan.
2. Add onion, carrot, celery and parsley and sauté on medium flame, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes .
3. Heat an empty frying pan for about 2 minutes (get the pan really hot), add ground beef and brown for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Pour ¼ cup of red wine over the meat and turn flame to high. Let wine evaporate (approximately 2 minutes.)
5. Add meat and two cans of whole peeled tomatoes to the sautéed vegetables in the saucepan.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on low for at least one hour.
   

Bèshamel Sauce Directions

1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt butter over a low flame.
2. Slowly add flour continuously mixing so that the flour is quickly dissolved into the butter with no lumps .
3. Add cold milk all at once and stir well.
4. Bring to boil over medium-low flame stirring frequently .
5. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes, stirring frequently .
6. When done, the sauce should be not too thick and not too liquid (a bit thicker than pancake mix.)
7. If too thick, add milk, if too liquid, add a mixture of butter and flour (make the butter and flour mixture in a separate pan before adding.)
   

Pasta Directions

1. Cook lasagna according to package directions and drain.
2. Separate the lasagna and lay flat on a sheet of wax paper to keep them from sticking together.
   

Assembly and Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Grease baking pan.
3. Form of layer of lasagna at the bottom of the baking pan, barely overlapping each piece with the next.
4. Spread a layer of Bolognese sauce over the lasagna (layer should not be too thick.)
5. Spread a layer of Béchamel sauce over the sauce (layer should be close to but not quite as thick as the tomato sauce.)
6. Repeat these three layers until the baking pan is full. Reverse the last two layers so that the top layer is tomato sauce.
7. Sprinkle the top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for ½ hour.
9. Serve hot.

Tips

• Try adding a layer of cooked spinach or broccoli.
• For vegetarian version, replace the Bolognese sauce with our Vegetable Marinara Sauce