Homemade Lasagna

Pasta is such a versatile food, and it can be used in many different countries, with their own types of sauces, and can have vegetables or meats added to it; a firm favourite and one that ticks all the boxes for the whole family is lasagne.

Ideally to make the best lasagne is to have fresh, of course you can use dried lasagne sheets too. If buying fresh then the trick is to get fresh egg lasagne, this can either be green or yellow, but the fresher the better, you may even try to make some yourself?

Typically the lasagne is made with a béchamel (white sauce), although for a truly classic Italian-American lasagne you can omit this and instead use a combination in equal parts of crumbled ricotta and thinly sliced mozzarella and cook as directed. Here is an example of a traditional homemade lasagne, serving 4 people.

12 sheets fresh or dried lasagne
6 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
2tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion
1 garlic glove
1 bay leaf
500g-(1lb) steak mince
2tbsp tomato puree
1 tin chopped tomato
1 tsp cornflour
Salt
Pepper
For the Béchamel sauce
75g-(2½ oz) butter
4½ tbsp flour
750ml-(1¼ pints) milk
Nutmeg

· Preheat the oven to 200°c (400°f), Gas mark 6.
· Cook pasta 3 sheets at a time in a large pot of boiling salted water for half the recommended time, or until it is pliable but slightly hard. Drain and place sheets in a single layer on tea towels.
· Next make the béchamel – in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat melt the butter, Whisk into this the flour and cook for roughly about a minute. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the milk in gradually, whisking at all times. Return to the heat, whisking all the time until the sauce thickens. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
· Make the meat sauce – Fry off the onion and garlic and the bay leaf for 2 minutes in the olive oil, take out the bay leaf, and add the mince. Cook till it is all browned off and add a tsp of cornflour, then add the tomatoes and the puree, cook through, you can add a little red wine or beef stock if you want to.
· In a buttered oven proof dish, put a thin layer of the béchamel sauce.
· Lay 3 sheets of lasagne over this and spread a quarter of the meat sauce on top, spread a quarter of the béchamel sauce on this and then sprinkle with a quarter of the parmesan cheese
· Starting with another layer of 3 lasagne sheets, repeat these layers making sure you finish with the parmesan.
· Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes or till golden and bubbling
· Leave to stand for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

You can make this a day in advance and leave in the refrigerator till cooking time. Alternatively freeze unbaked for up to 3 weeks, make sure to defrost overnight before cooking and eating.