Beef Lasagne with Béchamel — Wine-Free Home Version

What you’ll need

Ingredients

Ingredient amounts make 6 servings. Nutrition below is for one serving.

• 500 g Raw ground beef, 90% lean, 10% fat
• 250 g Dry egg-free wheat lasagne sheets
• 700 g Unsalted tomato passata or puree
• 120 g Onion, peeled
• 100 g Carrot, trimmed
• 80 g Celery stalks, trimmed
• 20 g Olive oil
• 600 g Whole milk, pasteurized
• 40 g Unsalted butter
• 40 g All-purpose wheat flour, including stated dusting flour
• 80 g Parmesan-style hard cheese, finely grated
• 6 g Fine salt
• 2 g Ground black pepper
• 300 ml Water, plus extra for washing or soaking as directed

Make it

Instructions

1. 1

   Finely dice onion, carrot and celery. Soften in all oil in a heavy pot for 8 minutes. Add beef and break up while browning for 8–10 minutes, ensuring meat reaches 71°C. Add passata, 300 ml water, 4 g salt and half the pepper.

2. 2

   Simmer the ragù partly covered for 60 minutes, stirring and adding a little hot water if it dries. Keep it moist and spoonable. This version does not contain wine or pancetta.

3. 3

   For béchamel melt all butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour for 2 minutes, then gradually whisk in all milk. Simmer gently 5–8 minutes, stirring until smooth and lightly thickened. Add remaining 2 g salt and pepper. Heat oven to 180°C conventional (160°C fan).

4. 4

   Use 250 g egg-free dry lasagne sheets. Preboil if the packet requires it, in unsalted water; drain. In a 20×30 cm dish, layer a little ragù, sheets, ragù, béchamel and cheese. Repeat to use every component, ending with béchamel and cheese.

5. 5

   Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes; uncover and bake 15–20 minutes more until pasta is tender and the centre reaches 74°C. Rest 15 minutes, then cut into six equal portions.