Family Size Lasagne

My family loves lasagne but I often find it a bit time-consuming. I now make up a batch of tomato sauce (see previous instructable) and freeze that in portions to save some time.

I'm also starting to try and make extra white sauce to freeze that too but always seem to end up using it all!

Step 1: Ingredients

500g beef mince (I sometimes use a mix of beef and pork mince)

1 quantity of tomato sauce

1 pack prosciutto (or smoked bacon or pancetta)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

200 ml beef stock

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp dried oregano

fresh lasagne sheets

125g mozzarella

freshly grated parmesan

75g butter

75g flour

750ml milk (I find that skimmed milk is just too thin, but any other variety works well)

Step 2: Meat Sauce

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius

Brown off the mince in a large pan, depending on the fat content of the meat, you may or may not need a little oil.

Drain the mince onto some paper towel to remove any oil and then place back in the pan

Add 4 slices of chopped prosciutto (or bacon/pancetta) and fry for a few minutes

Add beef stock, tomato sauce, nutmeg, bayleaf and oregano.

Simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Step 3: White Sauce

Melt the butter in a large pan.

Add the flour and beat until you get a smooth paste.

Gradually add the milk and keep beating to prevent lumps.

(Any lumps can be beaten out with a stick blender at the end if necessary)

Season to taste.

I tend to add some strong cheddar, or fresh parmesan and a little dijon mustard but it's not essential.

Keep simmering and stirring until you get a thick sauce

Step 4: Build!

Put about 1/3 of the meat mixture into a large ovenproof serving dish (about 20x30cm)

Cover with a single layer of lasagne sheets. (I somehow managed to find lasagne sheet the exact same size as my dish!)

Cover with 1/3 of white sauce.

Repeat until you have 3 layers, finishing with a layer of white sauce

Step 5: Bake!

Shred the mozzarella and sprinkle over the top with freshly grated parmesan and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Serve with garlic bread.

Comments

[mpulliam1]

Looks great! I am a lasagne newbie, only making one before (a crock pot recipe from this site that turned out amazing, but too small). My grandmas lasagna did not have a white sauce, instead she layered cottage cheese, spinach, and/or ricotta. I am curious about those additions with your recipe. Any input from author or others?

Regardless, we are gathering ingredients for this recipe and will be posting with results in a week! =)

[Penolopy Bulnick]

So many layers of deliciousness!