Lasagna Italiano

First of all, lets start with making the Bolognese sauce. Prep up all the vegetables and wash the meat.

In a large vessel, heat up some olive oil with a little butter and throw in the garlic and onions. Keep stirring till the onions turn transparent and add the sugar. Now you can put in the Minced meat and keep cutting it while you stir to ensure the meat separates. If you have a Maggi Stock seasoning cube, then add one of that. After the meat browns, add in the mushrooms and cook it till the mushrooms soften a bit then add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste and keep stirring till it coats the meat and mushrooms. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and let it simmer for 15 mins or until the sauce thickens. Lastly, add the chopped parsley and leave it aside to cool.

Next we prepare the bechamel sauce. You can get ready made packets in the supermarket, however I prepare making my own sauce fresh. They say, a true chef is known for the bechamel they prepare. If it is smooth and not lumpy, go ahead ! Knight yourself as a Chef !

Put 2 tbsps of butter in a saucepan and keep it on low flame. DO NOT LET THE BUTTER BURN ! After the butter melts, add the flour and stir it slowly until all the flour and butter form a blonde paste. Slowly add in the the milk, around 3 tbsps at a time and stir it vigorously to avoid forming lumps. Once you see the texture of the sauce is silky and thick. Take it off from the heat and place a butter paper on top so that a skin doesn’t form.

Now in a large vessel, fill up water until its 3/4th full and add 5 tbsps salt and a little oil. Let it come to a rolling boil, and slowly drop in the lasagna sheets ( around 3 at a time). Don’t let it become too soft as they will break when you remove them. If you let it boil for 3 minutes, it should get done. Do remember to cook the pasta simultaneously while layering so that you can get a better picture as to how many pasta sheets you should prepare.

Now the fun part .. LAYERING ! I made only two layers for this recipe as it is easier and less time consuming. So let the fun begin !

First of all, preheat your oven for around 15 mins. In a large baking tray or PYREX (Glass) baking dish, add some butter to grease all the corners. On the bottom start placing the lasagna sheets, overlapping the sides so that the sauces don’t flow out from gaps. Then pour some of the Bolognese sauce on top and spread it out till it covers the layer of lasagna sheet. Next cover it with another layer of lasagna sheets, and then pour over the bechamel sauce and spread it out again. Sprinkle some grated cheese and cover it with a final layer of Pasta sheets. Now you can spread the rest of the cheese on top and pop the dish into the oven to bake. You have to keep checking to see that the cheese on top doesn’t burn.