LASAGNE WITH SAUSAGE RAGU & GARLIC KALE

LASAGNE WITH SAUSAGE RAGU & GARLIC KALE image

Categories Pasta Bake Casserole/Gratin Winter

Yield 8 people

Number Of Ingredients 20

Ingredients

400 gram (14 oz) chopped kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
400 g (14 oz) dried egg lasagna sheets
200 g (7 oz) taleggio or fontina cheese, chopped
100 g (3 1/2 z/1 cup) coarsely grated Parmesan
chopped flat leaf parsley leaves for garnish
Sausage ragu:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
pinch of chili flakes
3 lb 8 z tinned whole roma tomatoes, pureed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 lb Italian or pork sausages, casings removed broken into chunks
Bechamel:
2 1/2 oz butter, chopped
1 1/2 oz plain four
3 cups milk

Steps:

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the kale and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain again and squeeze out excess water with your hands. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Add the kale, season with salt and pepper, stir to combine and set aside. Sausage ragu: Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, fennel seed and chili flakes, season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the pureed tomato and tomato paste, over with a splatter screen or lid and cook for 15 minutes. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the sausage meat and cook for 5 minutes or until browned. Don't break the meat up too much as you want to keep it quite chunky. Add to the tomato mixture and cook for 3-4 minutes or until thickened slightly. Set aside. Bechamel: melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir continuously with a whisk for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes slightly coloured. Pour in the milk and whisk quickly until there are no lumps. Continue whisking for another 5 minutes or until the bechamel thickens. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Preheat oven to 350. To assemble the lasagna, spread a little ragu over the base of a 36X36X7 capacity baking dish. Cover with a layer of lasagna sheets. Spread over one-third each of the bechamel, then ragu, kale. taleggio and Parmesan. Repeat 2 more times, finishing with a layer of Parmesan. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Remove and stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Sprinkle over parsley to serve.