The Best Lasagne EVER!!

Ok, so I've tried many a lasagne in restaurants and am pretty hard to please when it comes to taste and the amount of béchamel you get with it so was slightly dubious of making one myself in case the recipe I tried wasn't up to scratch.

I've had 'Buonissimo!' by Gino D'Acampo for years but never used it, until last week that is....I just had to try his recipe for lasagne. After all, he claims it's the number 1 lasagne and I can vouch for him and say it most certainly is!!

It is time consuming (around 3 hours) but oh so very worth it!

I was a bit doubtful regarding the celery but only because I hate the stuff....it smells like cat pee and tastes vile but I decided to put all my trust into Gino and I'm glad I did, the end result is pure bliss.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped into 1cm cubes
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 500g minced beef
• 1 glass dry red wine 
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes 
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 courgette, chopped into 1cm cubes 
• 10 basil leaves
• 9 sheets fresh lasagne 
• 50g cold salted butter, cut into 1cm cubes
• Salt & pepper

For the bèchamel sauce:

• 100g salted butter
• 100g plain flour 
• 1 litre milk 
• 100g grated fresh Parmesan
• 1/4 freshly grated nutmeg

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes. Add the minced beef and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until coloured all over. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Pour in the wine, stir well and continue to cook for about 5 minutes until the wine has evaporated. 

Add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato purée, the courgettes and the basil, lower the heat and continue to cook for 1 hour, uncovered, until you get a beautiful rich sauce. Stir occasionally. After about 30 minutes, taste for seasoning. 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4, and make the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the cold milk, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes whisking constantly. Once thickened, stir in half of the Parmesan cheese with the nutmeg, season and set aside to cool slightly. 

Spread a quarter of the béchamel sauce in the base of a deep 2.2-litre ovenproof dish. Cover with 3 lasagne sheets, cutting them if necessary to fit the dish. Spread with half the meat sauce then top with a third of the remaining béchamel sauce. Cover with 3 more sheets of lasagne and then with the remaining meat sauce. Spread over half of the remaining béchamel sauce. Add a final layer of lasagne sheets and gently spread the rest of the béchamel on top ensuring that the lasagne sheets are completely covered. 

Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and scatter over the cubed butter. Grind doe black pepper over the whole lasagne. 

Cook on the lowest shelf of the oven for 30 minutes then place the dish on the middle shelf, raise the oven temperature to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes until golden brown and crispy all over.