Italy / Main
Lasagne alla bolognese
Layers of pasta, ragù and béchamel. The ragù simmers three hours on milk and wine rather than tomato.
Ingredients
- Minced beef500 g
- Minced pork300 g
- Pancetta100 g
- Onion, carrot, celery, finely diced300 g
- Milk300 ml
- Dry white wine200 ml
- Tomato paste2 tbsp
- Stock500 ml
- Lasagne sheets400 g
- Butter80 g
- Plain flour80 g
- Milk for the béchamel1 l
- Parmesan, grated150 g
- Nutmeg1 pinch
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 7 steps
Render the pancetta, add the soffritto and sweat it twenty minutes over a low flame until completely soft. There is no hurrying this: the vegetables have to dissolve.
Add both minces and cook over a high flame, breaking up the lumps, until every drop of water has gone and the meat starts to brown.
Pour in the milk and let it cook away entirely, about twenty minutes. Then the wine, likewise to dryness.
Add the tomato paste and the stock, bring it to the boil and simmer three hours on the lowest heat, topping up with water as needed.
Make the béchamel: melt the butter, whisk in the flour, cook it a minute and pour in warm milk in a thin stream, whisking. Cook to the thickness of cream and season with nutmeg.
Build the layers: béchamel, pasta, ragù, béchamel, parmesan — six times over. The top layer is béchamel with parmesan.
Bake at 180 °C for forty minutes, the last ten uncovered. Let it stand twenty minutes before cutting.

