MEAT & VEGGIE LASAGNA

MEAT & VEGGIE LASAGNA image

Yield 6-8 1

Number Of Ingredients 25

Ingredients

-ca. 1 lbs oven ready lasagna sheets
-4 oz shredded Mozarella
-ground Parmesan
For Meat & Veggie Sugo:
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 medium sized carrots
6 Baby Bella mushrooms
1 lbs ground beef
1 28oz can whole, peeled tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
4 tbsp heavy cream
salt & pepper
For Bechamel Sauce:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 heaped tbsp all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp granulated garlic
salt & pepper
Equipment: baking dish

Steps:

Mince onion, slice carrots and mushrooms, crush garlic cloves. In a large sauce pan at medium heat, sautee the minced onion and crushed whole garlic cloves in 1 tablespoon butter until garlic begins to brown, ca. 3 mins. Add carrots and mushrooms and sautee ca. 5 mins. Salt and pepper ground beef, add to the sauteed vegetables. Stir well to break up larger clumps of ground beef. Cook at medium heat until beef is slightly brown, ca. 5 mins. Remove stems from canned tomatoes and add to veggie meat mix, add tomato juice from the canned tomatoes. Fill the empty can with water and add to mix. Add tomato paste, stir well and add bay leaves. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat until the sugo is simmering, cover. Stirring occasionally, let the sugo simmer for ca. 1 hour. Add some water if necessary. After ca. 1 hour, begin to prepare the Bechamel sauce. In a medium sauce pan at medium heat, melt butter and whisk in flour until the base is smooth. Heat for ca. 3 minutes, but be careful not to let the mix burn. Add warm milk and whisk continuously until sauce thickens. This can take up to 15 mins. The sauce may simmer, but do not let it boil. Once the sauce is viscous, add nutmeg, garlic, salt & pepper. Set Bechamel aside. Remove bay leaves and whole garlic cloves from sugo. Add heavy cream, oregano, basil and remaining tablespoon of butter. Remove from heat. Preheat oven to 375°F. First spread a layer of sugo in the baking dish. Arrange a layer of lasagna pasta sheets to cover the sugo. Pour Bechamel on top of the lasagna sheets and sprinkle with shredded Mozarella. Add lasagna sheets to cover and top with sugo. The order is: Sugo, lasagna, Bechamel & Mozzarella, lasagna, sugo,.. repeat until dish is full. The bottom layer should be sugo, the top layer should be Bechamel. Generously sprinkle with Parmesan, and cover with tin foil (papillote). Bake lasagna for 40 minutes, remove tin foil, and bake for another 20 minutes.