I am so thankful that most of the kids who are coming home for Thanksgiving this year made it safe and sound. We still have one more little person (Ashton) who will arrive from North Carolina today. He’s flying all by himself. What a big boy. Little Riley is Hannah’s new playmate although I’m not sure that Riley is digging it. Pancho is just covering his eyes and pretending that none of this is really happening.

I made this lasagna on Sunday and put in the fridge uncooked.  All I had to do last night when I got home was pour a glass of wine, pop the lasagna in the oven, open a bag of salad mix and put the garlic bread in while the lasagna took a little rest and cooled off a bit. Most importantly, this left me with lot of time to just sit and look at all these beautiful children of ours.

And oh my, this lasagna is delicious! It is decadent, filling and the ultimate comfort food. Give it a shot, you will be so happy when you see the results. Jonathan couldn’t move the rest of the night and has been in a coma for the past 8 hours. Filling these kids up is pretty much what I live for.

We’re using my bolognese sauce here. I know I picked it up from somewhere but it’s been so long that I can’t tell you who I swiped it from. I like to give credit where credit is due but on this one we’ll just have to call it mine. Please don’t try to use a jar of spaghetti sauce in this lasagna. You will miss out on the essential taste of the dish and I don’t want that to happen to you. As for the bechamel sauce, I use Mario Batali’s simply because the recipe makes the perfect amount for a nice, big, gooey lasagna. If I’m making the bolognese to serve over a simple pasta then I add a little heavy cream at the end.  The lasagna is creamy enough though so hold the cream!

Bolognese:

6 TBSP. butter
1/2 lb. sliced bacon cut into strips
1  onion chopped
2 1/2 lb. ground round
4 cloves of garlic minced
3 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine (or red if that’s what you have open)
6  TBSP. tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2  tsp. salt
3/4  tsp. pepper

Bechamel:

5 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt

* To prepare bechamel, melt your butter until golden, whisk in the flour until pasty. Add milk and whisk. Start stirring with a wooden spoon until thick and creamy – about 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Lasagna:

1 pkg. uncooked lasagna noodles
1 large pkg. shredded  Kraft mozarella  cheese (don’t get chintzy and buy the cheap store brand)
1 cup parmesan cheese
olive oil

Instructions:

Prepare bolognese sauce in a large dutch oven by cooking the bacon first until barely brown, add beef, onion and garlic and let cook until the beef has just lost it’s pink and the onion and garlic are soft and smelling like heaven.

Add the rest of the ingredients, let simmer for somewhere around 30 minutes until reduced, add cream and turn off heat. You’ll know it’s time to add the cream and turn it off when the sauce begins to thicken – it shouldn’t be soupy! You can always turn up the heat to speed up the process but slow and low is always best so allow yourself some time to make the sauce.

Prepare bechamel sauce, butter your baking dish and begin by ladling meat sauce in the bottom. Cover with uncooked lasagna noodles.

Ladle more bolognese sauce. Pour bechamel sauce over the meat sauce and top with lots of cheese. Continue layering noodles, bolognese, bechamel and cheese (ending with cheese).

When you’re ready to bake, top the lasagna with 1 cup shredded parm and drizzle with olive oil. If the casserole is cold from the fridge you’ll bake at 400F for 1 hour. If it’s room temperature about 30-40 minutes. Be sure to use a lined baking sheet for spill over – this lasagna is very bubbly (this is a good thing) so you’ll need something underneath it.

 

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