The first time I tasted lasagna was probably 40 years ago at an Italian restaurant in Esbjerg. I was completely overwhelmed. That's probably why I still remember it. My first attempts at making it myself didn't turn out great, but I've practised in the meantime.
To make a good Lasagna al forno alla Bolognese, you need to be as true as possible to the traditions of the birthplace of lasagna, Bologna, and that means using a completely original recipe for Ragù Bolognese, which you can find below.
NB! If you'd rather make a really good "spaghetti with meat sauce", the recipe below is the closest you can get to Spaghetti alla Bolognese. Then you can just skip the rest 🙂
Lasagna al forno alla Bolognese
The first time I tasted lasagna was probably 40 years ago at an Italian restaurant in Esbjerg. I was completely overwhelmed. That's probably why I still remember it.Then Garfield became popular and lasagna was suddenly the talk of the town. I found a recipe and made it myself, but it didn't turn out as good as the first time I tasted it.I've never surrendered to the 'lasagne kits' available in the supermarket anyway, and I've also kept ready-made mornay sauce out of my kitchen. Don't feel bound by that!Now I'm trying to stay as true as possible to the traditions of the birthplace of lasagne, Bologna, which means using a completely original recipe for Ragù Bolognese, which you can find below.It needs to simmer for a long time, so to save you time, I've made the portion too big. The rest is for the freezer.In other words, you can cut the ragù itself down to 60% of the below if you don't want to have a leftover for later.
Equipment
- 1 ovenproof dish or baking tray of suitable size
- 1 food processor or mixeror good upper arms
- 1 pasta machineor rolling pin
Ingredients
Ragù alla Bolognese
- 100 g diced bacon (or pancetta)
- 1 tbsp oil
- 150 g carrots
- 150 g celery
- 150 g onion (weight after peeling)
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 3 tbsp tomato puree
- 500 g minced beef
- 500 g minced pork
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 cans of chopped, peeled tomatoes
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp wine vinegar or aceto balsamic vinegar
- 3 dl white wine
- 2 dl water
- 3-6 pcs Bay leaves, depending on the size
- 4 dl milk
- 30 g salt maybe a little more when you taste it
- freshly ground pepper
Freshly made pasta
- 300 g wheat flour, preferably 50% semolina and 50% plain wheat flour
- 3 large eggs
- 4 g salt (jeg bruger normalt ikke salt i pasta, der skal koges, da det saltes af kogevandet)
- Maybe 1-2 tbsp Cold water
Mornay sauce
- 6 dl. milk
- 35 g wheat flour
- 35 g butter
- ¼ freshly grated nutmeg
- 100 g Grated cheese, preferably freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana
- possibly. Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Finalising the lasagne
- 250 g fresh mozzarella
- Ad libitum freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana
Method
Ragù alla Bolognese
- Cut the carrots, celery and onion into very small cubes. You can also process them in a food processor to make them really fine.
- Peel the garlic and chop it finely
- Put a spacious, thick-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Melt the bacon in a tablespoon of oil until there is not much fat left on the bacon.
- Add the onions, carrots and celery and sauté until the onions are translucent.
- Add the tomato paste and garlic and simmer for a further 1-2 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, sugar, vinegar and white wine and bring to a simmer.
- At the same time:
- Heat a spacious frying pan and sear the two types of meat, one type at a time and each in a tbsp. of oil.
- Pour the meat into the pot of ragù and deglaze the pan with 2 dl of water, which is also poured into the ragù.
- Add bay leaves, 30g salt and a few grinds of freshly ground pepper.
- Simmer the dish under a lid for a couple of hours. It should be just barely "simmering".
- After an hour and 45 minutes: Add the milk and cook gently for 15 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and check that the sweetness and acidity are present without dominating. Add a little extra sugar and vinegar to taste if needed.
Freshly made pasta
- While the ragú is simmering quietly, make the pasta sheets.Mix the ingredients in a food processor or mixer. It may not all come together completely.
- Pour it out on the table and knead it until the dough is completely cohesive and smooth. This typically takes 5 minutes. It will feel harder than a regular yeast dough. If you can't get it to stick together, bring it together with 1-2 tbsp. cold water.
- If you're hardcore, or if there's an Italian present, do it all by hand:
- Pour the flour and salt onto the table in a pile. Make a groove in the centre where you crack the eggs.
- Push the flour over the eggs and gently start mixing until the flour and eggs are completely mixed and can be kneaded on the table. It shouldn't be necessary to have extra flour on the counter, but you can add 1-2 tbsp. cold water to make it come together completely. Knead for 8-10 minutes
- Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest for an hour before rolling it out into pasta sheets with your pasta machine - or a rolling pin if you're extra hardcore. On my pasta machine, the thickness fits at step 2, the second thinnest.
- Don't skimp on flour while rolling out pasta. Hang the sheets up or sprinkle them with flour to prevent them from sticking to the table.
Mornay sauce
- A mornay sauce is a bechamel with cheese.
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a not too large, thick-bottomed pan
- Add flour and whisk well and let it heat through for a few minutes. The flour needs to be ‘cooked’, but it should not be coloured.
- Add a couple of decilitres of milk and whisk thoroughly to avoid lumps.
- Add the rest of the milk and bring it to the boiling point while whisking so it doesn't burn. Let it cook gently for a few minutes on a low heat.
- Add freshly grated nutmeg and a few grinds of freshly ground pepper.
- Turn it down or take it off the heat and add the cheese, which should melt. Season to taste with salt, unless the cheese has already added enough salt.
Assembly of the Lasagne:
- Use a spacious and well-greased ovenproof dish or a deep baking tray.
- Spread a not too thick layer of ragù on the bottom.
- Cover with pasta sheets.
- Add another layer of ragù, spreading it evenly to completely moisten the pasta sheets. Add 1/3 of the mornay sauce and spread it out. Break 1/4 of your mozzarella into small pieces and spread over the surface.
- Repeat with pasta, ragù, mornay and mozzarella twice more.
- Then finish with a pasta layer, cover with a little ragù and spread the rest of the mozzarella on top.
- NB! You won't need the entire large portion of ragù, freeze the rest and serve with pasta on a busy day when you want a quick but delicious meal.
Baking and serving
- Cover the tray with aluminium foil and bake in a 190° oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes before taking the lasagne out and letting it rest, just 5-10 minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan.
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