The ingredients are:
1.5 lbs ground beef (we use the organic from costco)
1 small or 1/2 a large onion
2-4 cloves of garlic (up to you how garlicky you like your meat sauce)
2 15ozs cans of peeled diced unsalted tomatoes
1/2 cup of red wine, I use Cabernet Sauvignon
1 or so cups of basic Marinara
3-4 Tbsp of butter
3-4 Tbsp of flour
3-4 cups of whole milk
10oz + shredded mozarella cheese
a few spoonfuls of shredded Parmesan cheese
Lasagna noodles, I get the kind you don't have to pre-boil
Some thyme, fresh or dry is fine
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grated nutmeg
If you have a lot of time then start the meat sauce early and let it simmer over low heat for a couple hours, the flavors will be amazing. I usually don't have that kind of time so I cook it about 45 mins total and that's that.
First sauté the chopped onion in some olive oil
When the onions are good and translucent add the garlic, I grate it. Also add the thyme, if using fresh 1 or 2 sprigs is plenty, if dry then about a teaspoon.
Stir that up and add the beef, cook until almost no pink is left then add the wine. Stir it in and cook until the liquid has reduced, about 2 mins. Add the canned tomatoes
Bring to a simmer turn the heat down and let it cook until the liquid is pretty much cooked out. The more time you have to cook it turn down the heat more, I keep it on medium low because I never have much time for it.
While the meat sauce cooks, prep your lasagna pan. Cover the bottom in a thin layer of your basic marinara sauce and put one layer of noodles over it.
After the liquid in the meat sauce starts to reduce start the bechamel sauce. Melt your butter in a medium sized pot. I never measure it to a "T" that's why it says 3-4Tbsp. Somewhere around there.
Once the butter is melted and started to brown start to add your flour 1 Tbsp at a time, stir it in well every time. It'll turn pasty
I like for this "paste" to be very dry, almost crumbly
Once you got all the flour you need in there cook it for about a minute, you need to cook that flour taste out of it. Then start adding your milk a little bit at a time, helps to prevent from too many lumps forming.
I usually end up taking a whisk to it to get the sauce smooth. Your proportions of butter/flour/milk should be about even so if you using 3Tbsp of butter then use 3Tbsp of flour and 3 cups of milk. I always eyeball it though. Once you have all the milk added the sauce will be quite thin but it'll thicken up as you continue to cook it, over medium low heat. Also once all the milk is in flavor it to taste with salt and pepper and freshly grated (preferably) nutmeg. Since I grate it fresh I've never measured it, but I'm guessing about 1/2 tsp.
You don't want to boil this sauce so if it's starting to bubble before it's reached the thickness you want then turn the heat down. The thickness should be about runny yogurt, thicker than buttermilk but not by much. Usually by the time I'm done with this the meat sauce is done too. Make sure to flavor that with salt and pepper as well, to taste. I also like to break up the tomatoes a bit with the wooden spoon. Time to start building the lasagna. I use a 13"x9" lasagna pan and end up with 2 layers of meat, so approximately put half the meat sauce into your prepped pan on top of the noodles.
Drizzle that with a little bit of the bechamel sauce
And sprinkle a little shredded mozzarella on top of that
Put another layer of noodles over that and repeat for the next layer. Cover that with noodles again and pour a generous layer of the bechamel sauce all over the top of your lasagna
Sprinkle that with a generous layer of mozzarella
And top it off with a light layer of parmesan, you can hardly see it in the picture, but I promise it's there.
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, and voila!
