Nick's Lasagna

Ingredients

Per il Ragu
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1-2 red/yellow bell peppers, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 carrots, shredded (optional)
2 stalks celery, diced (optional)
1 lb. lean ground beef
36 oz. plain tomato sauce
dried or fresh basil, to taste
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

La Besciamela
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
4 Tbsp flour
2-3 cups of milk, enough to make a creamy sauce
salt, to taste
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1-2 packages Barilla no boil lasagna noodles
freshly grated Parmiagiano, Pecorino Romano, Mozzarella, and Asiago cheeses


Directions

1. To prepare il ragu, heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Sauté yellow onion and bell peppers (and optional carrots or celery). When soft, add ground beef and brown. Drain grease. Add tomato sauce and season with basil, salt, pepper, red crushed pepper. Let simmer, up to six hours. (Can also simmer in a crock pot.)

2. To prepare la besciamela, melt butter in large sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in flour until a thick paste forms. Turn heat down to low-medium and add milk to make a creamy sauce. Season with salt and nutmeg. Keep warm while making lasagna.

3. To assemble the lasagna, place a little ragu and olive oil on bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Put down a non-overlapping layer of pasta. Next a layer of ragu, then a sparse layer of besciamela, then a thin layer of cheese. Repeat as many times until reaching the top, alternating direction of pasta each layer. Be sure to get final sauce layer to cover all edges of pasta to avoid any crunchy edges. Be generous with top layer of cheese.

4. Bake around 375 for 40 min with foil lightly covering, 10-15 min with foil removed.
Buon appetito!


We often fill a 9 x 13 as well as a smaller baking dish. This also freezes well when frozen uncooked.