I base my lasagna recipe on Neil Perry’s but have made some tweaks for efficiency, taste and budget. Here’s how I do it …
Pip’s Lasagna
Pip’s recipe – adapted from Neil Perry’s recipe
Ingredients
9 instant lasagne sheets
200g of bocconcini (or double if you prefer!)
100g grated parmesan
Sauce
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
250g pork mince
2500g beef mince
700ml tomato passata
400g canned diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of plain flour
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper
Béchamel sauce
700ml full cream milk
50g unsalted butter
4 tablespoons of plain flour
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Sauce
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until softened then add garlic and fry for a minute or two. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the meats and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, for 4 minutes or until it loses its raw colour but is not browned. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
Add the vinegar and cook for a minute or two, then add the paprika, oregano, sugar, tomato passata and canned tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Note: You want the sauce to be quite wet, to help cook the pasta. If it’s not loose enough, add some water. It should be a little bit soupy. Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed, then stir in the basil and set the meat sauce aside.
Bechamel
To make the béchamel, melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the milk all at once, whisking constantly, to avoid any lumps. Return the pan to the heat and keep whisking, until the sauce boils and thickens. Remove from the heat, taste and season.
Assembling the lasagna
Spread the bottom of the oiled rectangular baking dish with dried lasagna sheets. Add a few spoonfuls of the meat sauce. Dot with around a third of the bocconcini.
Cover sauce and bocconcini with more lasagna sheets. Spread another few spoonfuls of the sauce over the pasta, then another third or so of the bocconcini.
Continue layering the pasta, meat sauce and bocconcini.
Spoon the béchamel sauce evenly over the final layer of sauce/bocconcini, then sprinkle with the parmesan.
Cook the lasagne for 30 – 35 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the sauce is bubbling up around the sides. Allow the lasagne stand for five to ten minutes before cutting and serving.
