What do we need?
(makes 3-4 servings)
- 4 empanada covers (or pie dough)
- Butter
- Parmesan
- Emmental cheese (or other melting cheese)
For the bolognese
- 1/2 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ minced meat
- 1 piece of red bell pepper
- 1 tomato
- 1 splash of wine
- 1 small glass of tomato puree
- 1 glass of broth
- Oregano (a pinch)
- Laurel
- Salt, pepper and olive oil
For the white sauce
- 40g. of butter
- 40g. Of flour
- ½ liter of milk
- 1 bay leaf
- salt, pepper and nutmeg
garfield
Garfield enjoying his favorite lasagna
Step by Step
1. The Bolognese: Chop the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Sauté in olive oil until the onion is transparent. Add the meat and tomato, also chopped. Dissolve with a wooden spoon. Stir continuously until the meat is minced, well separated, and has changed color. Add the splash of wine and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring, until the alcohol smell stops coming out. Add salt, pepper, oregano and bay leaf. Add the tomato puree and broth. Stir and cover. Let it boil over medium heat for half an hour. As it is for lasagna, we will make a heavy bolognese, with less liquid than if we were making it for a pasta. Set aside and let cool uncovered before adding to the lasagna.
2. The white sauce: We will make a quick and heavy white sauce, so that it has body. First heat the milk with the bay leaf and a little pepper. Reserve. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour (all together) and stir continuously. This is called the roux. A good roux will result in a good béchamel. The flour will change color and cook so that the sauce does not taste like raw flour. We do this for a couple of minutes. Next, we add all the milk at once, which should still be hot. We stir tirelessly and with love. Little by little the milk and roux will begin to come together and our white sauce will form without a single lump. The more we cook, the thicker it will be. Season with salt and pepper and add nutmeg. Take out taking into account that when it loses heat it will thicken much more. Reserve and cool.
3. The lasagna dough: It is very important to have the dough discs at room temperature. If you just take them out of the refrigerator, put them in the microwave for a few minutes on the defrost function. We will stretch the discs one by one, with a rolling pin. If they are good at room temperature, the dough is very elastic and allows us to stretch it with our hands! Taking it by the tip and pulling gently until it forms a square shape (or almost…). This step is also important because we want the discs to be thinner so they cook better. Once we have the 4 discs stretched, we will assemble the lasagna.
4. Assembling the lasagna: Place butter in a baking dish, you will appreciate this when serving it. Place a disc of stretched empanada dough. On the disk, a good amount of bolognese. On the bolognese, a very good amount of white sauce. On the white sauce, grated emmental cheese (or similar). Place the next layer of dough on top of the cheese. Repeat the operation until you finish with a last layer of dough. On this last layer put more béchamel and on the béchamel, more grated emmental and, finally, grated parmesan. This will make it crispy on top.
5. Baking the lasagna: This step is important: we are going to cover the lasagna with aluminum foil. This is because we need the dough to cook before it browns on top. We put it in a medium oven for about 20 minutes. After these 20 minutes we are going to remove the aluminum foil and leave it in the oven until the top looks golden. Ready! You now know how to make lasagna without complicating your life.