There are so many different ways to make lasagne, and let’s face it, they are all delicious! I have found our family loves this version which has sausage added to the ground beef, a tangy tomato sauce, and a cheese béchamel white sauce that makes the dish cheesy, creamy and savory.
TIPS: You will need a deep rectangular dish here. You can choose to only do 3 layers of pasta, but I usually do four. You do want the tomato meat sauce to be a bit loose, not too thick, as the water helps cook the dry pasta. You could use traditional cooked pasta noodles in this recipe, but if you choose to, omit adding the water to the tomato meat sauce as you will want a less liquidly sauce. If you like other vegetables in your lasagna such as mushrooms or green peppers, cook them into the meat mixture when browning the meat. If you do not like sausage, just replace the sausage meat with ground beef. Use a lower fat ground beef in this recipe so you don’t have to drain off any grease from the cooked meat, saving you a step. Make sure you let the lasagne sit for a while after coming out of the oven, as hard as that it is, otherwise when you cut into it you will have a big runny mess!
Pam’s Lasagne
Ingredients
Meat Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced small
- 3/4 lb ground Italian sausage (mild or hot)
- 1 lb 90% ground beef
- salt and pepper
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3/4 C dry red wine
- 28 oz + 15 oz cans crushed tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
- pinch of sugar
- 1/2 C water
- 1/4 C fresh basil leaves sliced or chopped
Béchamel:
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 4 Tbsp flour
- 3 C milk
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3/4 C grated parmesan (plus a bit extra for topping)
Lasagne:
- 12 no-boil lasagne sheets (like Barilla)
- 4 C shredded mozzarella
- grated parmesan
Instructions
Make the Meat Sauce:
- Heat olive oil in a deep skillet. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the ground beef and sausage, as well as 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, and stir until meat is fully cooked, breaking up lumps as it's cooking. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Add the red wine and cook about 2-3 minutes to cook off the alcohol and reduce the wine. Stir in both cans of tomatoes and a pinch of sugar. Swirl one of the cans with 3/4 C water and add to tomato mixture. Stir well. Simmer for about 15 minutes on low to meld the flavors. Stir in the basil leaves and remove from heat. Taste to see if it needs more salt or pepper. Set aside.
Make the Béchamel Sauce:
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking often, until it forms a tan colored roux, about 4 minutes. Add milk slowly, and continue cooking, whisking often, until it comes to a simmer. Lower heat and simmer about 3-4 minutes to thicken the sauce to where it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and add in salt, pepper, nutmeg and parmesan. Set aside.
Assemble the Lasagne:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13 DEEP baking dish with cooking spray.
- Spread about 1/2 C meat sauce across the bottom of the baking dish. Place 3 no-boil lasagne noodles side by side across the dish. (It's ok if there is a little space between them as they will expand when cooked). Divide remaining meat sauce into 4 portions. Spread one portion of meat sauce across the noodles. For the next layer, spread 1/4 of the béchamel sauce over the meat sauce. Sprinkle about 1 C shredded mozzarella on top. Then, layer 3 more lasagna noodles, then meat sauce, then béchamel sauce, then shredded mozzarella. Repeat two more times, ending with the top of the lasagne topped with meat sauce, béchamel and shredded mozzarella. Make sure the sauce covers the noodles completely to ensure the pasta cooks through. Sprinkle some grated parmesan on the top of the lasagne.
- Spray the underside of a large piece of foil with cooking spray. Tightly cover the lasagne with the foil, greased side down. Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking until lasagne is bubbly and starts to brown, about 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and let sit at least 15 minutes before slicing.
- Enjoy!