Well considering that my birthday is tomorrow I already started cooking ;)And because not all the guest can come tomorrow I decided to bake a lasagne for tonight...
Here is the receipe:
4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 onions, chopped, 450 g minced beef, 225 g minced pork, 340 g fresh tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped, or a 400 g can chopped tomatoes, 3 garlic cloves, crushed, 1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano, 1 heaped teaspoon dried basil, 150-300 ml chicken or beef stock (optional), salt and freshly ground pepper, lasagne made from Fresh Egg Pasta dough, or 225 g dried lasagne, 900 ml milk, 1 bay leaf, 85 g butter, 85 g plain flour, a pinch of grated nutmeg, 450 g mozzarella, grated, 85 g Parmesan, freshly grated
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and sweat them until soft and translucent. Add the minced meats and fry until crumbly, stirring to break up lumps. Add the tomatoes to the pan with the garlic and herbs and let them soften. If they do not make enough liquid to cook the meat in, gradually add a little stock, but always a bit less than you think you might need - you can add more later if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Cook gently for about 1 hour, stirring from time to time.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F, gas mark 4.
Cook the lasagne in a large pan of boiling salted water until almost al dente. Remove, dip into a mixture of water and oil, and leave to drain on a damp cloth.
Put the milk in a small saucepan with the bay leaf and infuse over a gentle heat for a few minutes; discard the bay leaf. Make a bechamel sauce with the butter, flour and warmed milk. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
When everything is ready, assemble the lasagne in a buttered wide gratin dish or casserole: put a layer of about one-third of the meat sauce on the bottom, then add a layer of one-third of the bechamel, a layer of half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan, and a layer of half the lasagne. Add more meat sauce, more bechamel and the rest of the lasagne. Then make layers of the remaining meat sauce and bechamel, and finish with the rest of the grated cheeses.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until browned on top.
