Paras lasagne
This lasagna is not fast food, but its great taste makes the effort worthwhile.
Ingredients · Servings 8
- 600 g minced beef
- 200 g minced pork
- 1 large carrot (2 dl diced)
- 1 large onion (2 dl diced)
- 2 stalks of celery (1½ dl cubes)
- 60 g celeriac (1 dl cubes)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- black pepper
- ½ dl tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 cans (400 g each) whole canned tomatoes
- 2 dl water
- 1 dl red or white wine
- 1 meat stock cube
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 dl red milk
- 1 l red milk
- 60g butter
- 1 dl wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 500 g dry lasagna sheets
- 150 g parmesan
- 250 g mozzarella (2 balls)
Method · 30 min
- Make the minced meat sauce. Bring the meat to room temperature.
- Peel the onion, carrot and celeriac. Wash the celery. Chop everything into even-sized cubes, about ½ cm on each side. Peel and mince the garlic cloves as well.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan or large frying pan with a rim. Add the diced vegetables and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic towards the end to prevent it from burning.
- Pour the vegetables into a bowl and add oil to the pan. Brown the minced meat in a few batches, depending on the size of the pan. Season with salt and black pepper. Use a spatula to expose the bottom of the pan and pour in a small drizzle of oil and add the tomato puree and sugar. Fry the puree for a minute and then add all the browned minced meat and sautéed vegetables to the pan. Pour in the tomatoes and chop them up with a spatula. Add the water, wine, stock cube and bay leaves. Put the lid on and simmer gently for 2–4 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Add milk during the last hour.
- Remove the bay leaves from the finished sauce.
- While the meat sauce is simmering, do the other preparations. Either make the pasta yourself (make a 3-egg pasta dough) or pre-cook the dry lasagna sheets. Bring water to the boil in a large saucepan and add salt (3 l water / 2 tbsp coarse sea salt). Cook five lasagna sheets at a time for one minute. Use tongs to lift the sheets onto a kitchen towel so that they are not touching each other. Continue until all the sheets are pre-cooked.
- Start making the béchamel. Heat the milk in a saucepan, this will make the sauce easier to make.
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour to the butter and stir for a moment. Add the milk, a glass at a time, and whisk vigorously until smooth. Then add the rest of the milk, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, until it thickens, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and nutmeg (it is best to grate the nutmeg from a whole nut).
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and grease a baking dish (capacity approx. 2½–3 l). Spread a thin layer of minced meat sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place the lasagna sheets next to each other, you can cut the pre-cooked sheets if necessary. Depending on the size of the dish, spread about a quarter of the minced meat mixture over the sheets and pour the béchamel sauce on top. Grate a thin layer of parmesan on top. Repeat this for the next 3 layers. Finally, add the lasagna sheets and the rest of the béchamel sauce and tear the mozzarella on top.
- Bake the lasagna on the middle rack of the oven for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbling nicely. Let the lasagna stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. Serve the lasagna with lettuce leaves and a tangy vinaigrette.
