This recipe makes enough lasagna to feed 4 people

Time

• Preparation time: 15 minutes
• Cooking time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
• Total time: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Ingredients

Meat

• 1 onion
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1.2 lb of ground beef (93%)
• 1/4 cup dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 12 ounces Tomato sauce
• Salt & pepper to taste

Pasta

• Half a box of lasagna pasta from Barilla

Bechamelle sauce

• 20 g butter
• 28 g flour
• 300 mL milk
• Salt & pepper to taste

Other:

• A frying pan
• A large sauce pan for the pasta
• A sauce pan for the bechamelle sauce
• Canola oil
• A rectangular dish (L*W*H in inches = 8.5*6.5*2.25)
• Butter

Method:

Meat

1. Mince the onion and the garlic cloves
2. In a frying pan, heat a Tbsp of canola oil over medium-high heat
3. Add the onion, garlic, ground beef, parsley, oregano, basil and salt and pepper
4. Mix the ingredients in the pan continuously to avoid having big clumps of cooked meat
5. As soon as the ingredients are cooked (no more pink color from the meat), add the tomato sauce while stirring constantly for 5-10 minutes. The stirring ensures that the tomato sauce goes everywhere and prevents the formation of clumped cooked meat.
6. Set aside

Pasta

1. In a large sauce pan, boil water with coarse salt.
2. Add the pasta and cook them for 6 minutes (package says 8 minutes to cook them; we will cook them completely in the oven)
3. Drain the water and rinse each layer in cold water to prevent them from sticking to each other.
4. Set aside

Bechamelle sauce

1. Mix the flour, butter and the milk in a sauce pan and heat the pan over medium-high heat
2. Mix the preparation constantly to avoid having cooked clumps of flour and boiling milk burning at the bottom of the pan
3. When the preparation thickens, remove from heat.

Making the lasagna

1. Preheat the oven at 375°F
2. In the rectangular dish, add a thin layer of butter on the edges
3. Add a layer of pasta at the bottom of the dish
4. Add a layer of meat preparation followed by a layer of pasta
5. Repeat the previous step until ingredients are used up.
6. Add the bechamelle on top
7. Place in the oven for 25 minutes, uncovered.

Comments & suggestions for improvement

It was really good as is already.

1. Double the amount of bechamelle; add bechamelle on top of the pasta and below the meat
2. Reduce the amount of meat to 1 lb
3. Add cheese: swiss or mozarella