Who is looking for the best lasagna with a bechamel? That would be me! After researching many traditional recipes for lasagna, I came up with a recipe that definitely provides all the flavors that I wanted. It has always been one of my tests when checking out a new Italian restaurant. One, how good is their lasagna, and two, do they use a bechamel. In my opinion, all that cheesy goodness with a hearty bolognese sauce just can’t be beaten.

I always like to make extra bolognese when making my lasagna in order to freeze some sauce for later. So don’t get too excited if you find yourself with extra in my recipe. When plating my lasagna, I may add an extra spoonful or two. I am a big fan of a meaty lasagna!

I hope you enjoy the recipe. Don’t forget to leave some comments and let me know how your lasagna turned out! As always, thanks for Spending Time in My Kitchen!

The Best Lasagna With Bechamel!

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by David Frank – Spending Time In My Kitchen

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hour

minutes

Ingredients

Meat Sauce
1 lb 1 ground pork
1 lb 1 ground beef
4 oz 4 pancetta
1/4 cup 1/4 tomato paste
1 Stalk 1 celery
1 small 1 carrot
1 Medium 1 onion, small dice
28 oz 28 San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
1 Cup 1 White wine
1 Cup 1 Milk
1/4 tsp 1/4 Nutmeg
2 cloves 2 garlic, minced
Bechamel
1/2 Cup 1/2 Flour
1/2 Cup 1/2 Butter
3 – 4 Cups 3 – 4 Milk
1/2 cup 1/2 Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 tsp 1/2 Nutmeg, powdered or fresh
1 tsp 1 Salt
Other Ingredients / other items
12 oz 12 Package of Lasagna noodles, dry / or pasta sheets if available
Mozzarella, shredded – for layering the lasagna
Parmigiano-Reggiano – for layering the lasagna
1 9 x 13 1 Lasagna dish / or your favorite bakeware pan

Directions

Bolognese Sauce
Sauté pancetta in your skillet till you have rendered most of the fat.
Add pork and beef to the skillet and cook until brown; remove meat from the skillet and place in a dutch oven. You may have to repeat the step depending on the size of your skillet.
Add tomato paste to the skillet and lightly cook over low heat for a couple of minutes to intensify the taste. Add veggies to the skillet.
Cook veggies in the skillet to al dente (still with a little bite and not completely cooked) and place them into a dutch oven.
Add wine to the skillet to deglaze the pan and to scrape any brown bits off of the bottom. Pour into the dutch oven.
Add milk and nutmeg to the dutch oven. Let sauce simmer on low for 3 hours
Add salt and pepper to the sauce to taste.
Make the Bechamel
Heat the milk on medium in a small saucepan. Take off the heat right before it begins to boil.
Add flour and butter to a larger saucepan and whisk until smooth. Do not let your roux turn brown. Slowly add the hot milk. Continue to whisk. Add cheese to the pan and whisk. Pull off the heat when the sauce is nice and smooth.
It takes about 15 minutes to make the bechamel.
Prepare the Lasagna
Set your oven to 350°
Put water in your pasta pot and set to boil. Add enough salt to the pot so the water tastes like the ocean. Add pasta sheets to the pot until al dente
Pull pasta out of the pot and place in ice water to cool down and stop the cooking process. It’s time to layer the lasagna.
The first layer; spread some bechamel on the bottom of the lasagna dish
The second layer; layer your pasta. If the pasta doesn’t fit, cut some from another to fill up the space. No problem!
The third layer; add a thin layer of sauce. Take a large spoon and drizzle a little bechamel on top. Sprinkle on top a little mozzarella.
Continue steps 5 and 6 until you reach the top. I’m always a little heavy on the mozzarella as my last layer. I like that last layer to be cheesy and nicely browned.
Place the lasagna in your heated oven. Cook until nicely brown on top.
Garnish with some chopped Italian parsley or basil.
Enjoy!!