Crispy Topped Lasagna
I made a big dish of lasagna last weekend – it fed the whole family and there was still plenty left! That’s what I love about lasagna. It does take a bit of time to prepare, making the mince sauce, the béchamel sauce and then assembling it, but you can create a dish that will serve you for many meals.
It’s also great if you need to fill the tummies of a hungry crowd – your kids have their friends around, you have family visiting or maybe you’re hosting bookclub with the girls.
To create this lasagna, I use a 20cm x 30 cm oven dish. I assemble it to three layers, but if you think you have enough sauce to do more layers, do so! I virtually always cook from scratch, but fresh pasta is something I haven’t done, so here I have used the ready to use pasta sheets.
Oh, and make sure to be on the ball when layering your lasagna. A mild expletive may have been mumbled as I missed a béchamel sauce layer when assembling mine – aaghhh! Luckily I was able to rectify it.
Once cooked, be sure to let it sit (or ‘set’) for 5 minutes before serving for that firm, lasagna that sits well on the plate. Serve with a simple salad of lettuce, grape tomatoes, black olives, sliced red capsicum and crumbled feta.
Have fun baking and watch out for those kitchen loiterers, waiting for you to turn your back so they can steal that crispy, cheese layer on top!
Bolognese Sauce
- Generous drizzle of olive oil
- 2 brown onions, diced
- 2 medium carrots, finely diced – (optional)
- 2 stalks of celery, finely diced – (optional)
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1.5kg of grassfed beef mince (2 of our Conscious Farmer mince packs)
- 2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Heat a large frypan to a medium high heat.
Add a generous drizzle of oil to the pan, followed by the onions (and carrots and celery if you choose). After 5 minutes, add the garlic and stir until the onions (and vegetables) are tender. If they stick to the pan a little while cooking, just add a small dash of water and they will lift off.
Add the mince to the pan and stir until browned. Add the tomatoes, beef stock, thyme leaves and bay leaf. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the excess moisture has boiled off. Be sure not to dry the sauce out completely, as you will want some moisture to ensure that the lasagna sheets soften as they take it up during cooking.
Grind in black pepper and add sea salt to taste. Stir in the parsley. Remove from heat while preparing the béchamel sauce.
Béchamel sauce
- 80g butter
- 6 tablespoons plain flour
- 4 cups of milk
- ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
- Sea salt and cracked pepper
Place a large saucepan on a medium heat on the stove. Add butter to the pan and melt.
Add the flour and stir until a paste forms.
Add ½ cup of milk, whisking as you go, until the paste is incorporated. Add some more milk, whisking as you go. Bring the mixture to a boil and keep whisking until the sauce has thickened.
Stir in the parmesan cheese, salt & pepper. Set aside.
Assembling Your Lasagna
- 250g dried Lasagna sheets (more if you are able to stretch your sauces to 4 layers).
- Grated mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 180oc.
Grease a 20cm x 30cm oven dish.
Cover the bottom of the dish with lasagne sheets. Spoon over enough of the bolognaise sauce to cover the lasagne sheets. Spoon over enough béchamel sauce to cover the mince layer.
Repeat twice (or 3 times if you have enough of the sauces).
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of the final layer of béchamel sauce.
Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve
Serves – 8 to 10 generous servings or more smaller servings.
Serve with salad as mentioned above.
