Italian cuisine

Lasagne alla bolognese

Name: Lasagne alla bolognese
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 220 min
Total time: 260 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: 500 g Minced beef; 300 g Minced pork; 100 g Pancetta; 300 g Onion, carrot, celery; 300 ml Milk; 200 ml Dry white wine; 2 tbsp Tomato paste; 500 ml Stock; 400 g Lasagne sheets; 80 g Butter; 80 g Plain flour; 1 l Milk for the béchamel; 150 g Parmesan; 1 pinch Nutmeg

Layers of pasta, ragù and béchamel. The ragù simmers three hours on milk and wine rather than tomato.

Prep: 40 min
Cook: 220 min
Total: 260 min
Difficulty: Takes practice

Servings

Units

Ingredients

Minced beef500 g
Minced pork300 g
Pancetta100 g
Onion, carrot, celery — finely diced300 g
Milk300 ml
Dry white wine200 ml
Tomato paste2 tbsp
Stock500 ml
Lasagne sheets400 g
Butter80 g
Plain flour80 g
Milk for the béchamel1 l
Parmesan — grated150 g
Nutmeg1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1
Render the pancetta, add the soffritto and sweat it twenty minutes over a low flame until completely soft. There is no hurrying this: the vegetables have to dissolve.
22 min
2
Add both minces and cook over a high flame, breaking up the lumps, until every drop of water has gone and the meat starts to brown.
15 min
3
Pour in the milk and let it cook away entirely, about twenty minutes. Then the wine, likewise to dryness.
35 min
4
Add the tomato paste and the stock, bring it to the boil and simmer three hours on the lowest heat, topping up with water as needed.
180 min
5
Make the béchamel: melt the butter, whisk in the flour, cook it a minute and pour in warm milk in a thin stream, whisking. Cook to the thickness of cream and season with nutmeg.
15 min
6
Build the layers: béchamel, pasta, ragù, béchamel, parmesan — six times over. The top layer is béchamel with parmesan.
15 min
7
Bake at 180 °C for forty minutes, the last ten uncovered. Let it stand twenty minutes before cutting.
60 min

About the dish

A real ragù bolognese is meat, not tomato sauce. There is a spoon or two of tomato per kilo of mince; the base is milk and white wine simmered with the meat for hours.

The milk goes in before the wine and is cooked away completely. It softens the meat fibres and removes the sharpness the acidic wine would otherwise leave.

There should be six layers or more. A three-layer lasagne is a bake: the ratio of pasta to sauce leaves every component tasting separate, when they are meant to merge.

Worth knowing

— The ragù is better the next day. It can and should be made ahead; overnight the flavour evens out.
— There has to be enough béchamel between the layers: it supplies the moisture dry sheets need to finish in the oven.
— Cutting a hot lasagne is pointless; it slumps. The twenty minutes of rest are not negotiable.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories: 780 kcal
Protein: 42 g
Fat: 42 g
Carbs: 58 g

Useful for this recipe

Oven Temperature Converter