Italian Lasagna

This is my favourite lasagna recipe, and the one I always use. It is a compilation with my Grandmother's delicious lasagna recipe, and a traditional Italian lasagna recipe from the amazing cook book Cook Italy. Using a white sauce instead of layers of cheese within the lasagna not only cuts the cost of ingredients, but it makes for a creamier sauce and taste, and the fried zucchini and mushrooms just add a little something special.

The recipe calls for meat, but you can also adapt it to make a vegetarian lasagna simply omit the meat from the sauce and, voila! The zucchini and mushrooms already round out the recipe, and you can add some finely diced bell peppers to the tomato sauce as well to give it a little more substance.

Lasagna Components:

• Lasagna Pasta (regular or instant. If you use regular the first thing you must do is boil the noodles until just barely done, and set them aside in a bowl of cold water until you are ready to assemble the lasagna.) 
• Tomato Sauce with Meat 
• 2-3 Sliced zucchini, fried separately in oil, salt and lemon juice 
• (1-2 c) sliced mushrooms (I think I just cut them in quarters), fried separately in oil, salt & lemon juice 
• Béchamel Sauce (White Sauce) 
• Grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top before baking 

General Instructions:

1. Fry up the Zucchini & mushrooms separately with olive oil and lemon juice and set them aside. 
2. If using traditional (not instant) lasagna noodles, boil them to the package instructions and leave them in a bowl of cold water or toss them in oil and leave them in a dry bowl until ready to assemble the lasagna 
3. Make the Tomato Sauce & leave it on minimum heat while you make the béchamel sauce. 
4. Make the Béchamel Sauce. 
5. Assemble and Bake the lasagna 

For the Tomato Sauce with ground beef:

• 1 large onion, chopped finely 
• Olive Oil 
• Ground beef or pork, or a mixture of both (not too much- I think we used about 1 – 2 cups?) 
• Garlic 
• 3-4 cans (the bigger ones, not just 250 ml ea.) tinned tomatoes (I used mostly “whole tomatoes” and 1x “crushed”) 
• Some Red or White wine (we used white, I think) 
• Basil and Oregano 
• Pinch of sugar 
• Little can tomato paste 
• A little lemon juice to boost the flavour 

1. Cook the chopped onion with the olive oil over medium low heat until soft & transparent. Add the ground beef or pork and garlic & cook through. Add the tinned tomatoes and lots of basil and oregano and put on low heat and simmer for a bit, then add the wine, and cook over low to med heat for 10-20 min till it starts to smell like heaven. Then add a pinch of sugar and some tomato paste and season with salt, pepper & lemon juice. 

For the Béchamel Sauce:

• 16 tbsp or 1/4 cup butter 
• 3/4 c flour 
• 8 cups milk 
• 1 clove crushed garlic 

1. Whisk butter and flour over medium heat. Gradually add the milk, still whisking to prevent clumping, and continue stirring until the sauce has thickened. Then season with salt & pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, and some crushed garlic. 

To Assemble:

1. In the baking dish spread in a layer of white sauce, then a layer of one of the vegetables, then one of tomato sauce, then cover that with lasagna noodles, then repeat to fill the dish: white sauce, mushrooms or zucchini, tomato sauce, noodles, etc. (You will probably have enough of each sauce to make one large and one small lasagna. Don't fill your baking dishes to the very top as they could overflow.) 
2. After the last layer of noodles, spread béchamel sauce over them and cover with grated cheese. 
3. Bake in the oven for approximately 40 min until hot and bubbly. Pull off a piece of noodle and taste it to check that it's baked through if you used the instant ("Express") noodles. 

Enjoy!