The Best Cheesy Lasagna Bolognese
Cheesy Lasagna Bolognese
My best friend Jennie is the inspo the cheesy, bubbly, homey and delicious lasagna. Jennie has a special way of making you feeling loved and important and instantly at ease. She loves to do things for the people around her and make them feel special. She is one incredible lady. I gotta give her major creds for this lasagna recipe. I saw a this video of her lasagna and called her and said - you need to tell me how to make my lasagna look like yours. Of course she shared her tips and tricks to make lasagna irresistible. I love making lasagna because its a simple way to feel instantly comforted and happy, especially on a chilly and cloudy day in LA. Thank you to Miss Jennie Levine for teaching us the art of achieving the cheesiest and yummiest lasagna out there! In this recipe I use a béchamel sauce over using ricotta cheese. It gives the lasagna a more saucy cheesiness that we all love. Make this for any occasion and anyone and they will be happy you did. Also, this lasagna keeps so well! If you make it on a Sunday night, you can easily refrigerate or even freeze it! You can save the slices for lunch the next day or leftovers! On the flip side, this can feed a hungry family of 6! I promise you’ll absolutely love it. With love + salt
Ingredients:
1 medium onion chopped
3 stalks of celery chopped
3 carrots chopped
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound of ground beef or ground veal
3/4 cup dry red wine
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 28 oz. cans of San Marzano crushed tomatoes
Béchamel Sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups of milk
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Assembly:
1 box of lasagna noodles
1 bulb of fresh mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in large dutch oven, over medium heat.
Add in the chopped onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Sauté on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the onion has become slightly translucent.
Add in 1 tablespoon of The Italian One spice blend.
Give it a good stir and then add in your ground beef or veal.
Season the meat in the dutch oven with a teaspoon of salt and pepper.
Brown the meat with the vegetables for about 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring constantly.
Next, deglaze the pan with the red wine. Allow the wine to cook out for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to pick up all the yummy goodies.
Add in the tomato paste and cans of tomato sauce. Allow that to simmer on low as you make the béchamel sauce!
Béchamel sauce:
In a medium saucepan on medium heat, add butter and flour together. Continually whisk to cook the flour. It should turn into a thick paste.
After about 5 minutes of whisking, gradually whisk in the milk. Whisk until it becomes a thicker and creamy texture.
Now add in the cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg!
Continue to whisk until it become a nice and cheesy mixture. Set aside for lasagna assembly!
At this point the bolognese sauce should be on point and delicious! Be sure to taste to and see if it needs more seasoning!
I like to par-cook my lasagna noodles. Cook them until the are very al dente, about 7 minutes. Also, in the boiling water, add a good amount of olive oil to prevent sticking! Another trick to prevent them from sticking is to drop in the noodles one at a time with 10 seconds in between each drop. It will make a huge difference… trust me!
Time to assemble!
In a 9X12 pyrex, lay down a decent ladle or 2 full or bolognese sauce. Next add a layer of noodles. Then add another layer of bolognese and then béchamel on top of that, spreading it out evenly. Repeat with the noodles, bolognese and béchamel as many times as you would like! A good rule of thumb is at least 4 times! The more, the merrier!
Now for the very top, finish it off with fresh sliced mozzarella cheese and about 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.
Cover the beautiful lasagna you just assembled with tin foil and place in the oven at 350º for 1 hour. Make sure the tin foil isn’t touching the cheese though… it will stick to the foil!
After an hour, take the tin foil off and turn the broiler on to get the cheesy topping all bubbly and browned and delicious, it only needs about 5 minutes! If you don’t have a broiler that ok too, just turn the heat up to 500º for about 10 minutes!
Enjoy!
With love + salt,
Emily