Mary Berry Special: Meat lasagne & Bolognese sauce (2024)

By Mary Berry

Published: 00:01 BST, 2 June 2013 | Updated: 00:01 BST, 2 June 2013

The key to a good lasagne is to get the correct balance of pasta to sauce. I find two layers of lasagne sheets for this amount of Bolognese and white sauce ideal. For variety, you might like to try green lasagne sheets, which contain spinach. If I’m having a party I often serve both a meat lasagne and a vegetarian one. A recipe for vegetarian lasagne is included in my book.

SERVES 4

• butter, for greasing
• 1 quantity Bolognese sauce (recipe below)
• 50g (1¾ oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
• about 6 sheets no pre-cooking required dried lasagne

FOR THE WHITE SAUCE

• 40g (1¼ oz) butter
• 40g (1¼ oz) plain flour
• 600ml (1 pint) hot milk
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a few gratings of nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (fan 170°C/375°F/Gas 5). Grease a baking dish measuring about 25cm x 20cm (10in x 8in) and 5cm (2in) deep.
2. Make the white sauce: melt the butter in a pan placed over a medium heat until it has melted and is foaming. Sprinkle in the flour.
3. Using a hand whisk, whisk the mixture (or ‘roux’) for 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
4. Gradually add the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return to a medium heat and whisk until boiling and thickened.
5. Check the sauce is smooth and the right consistency, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
6. Pour one-third of the Bolognese sauce in the bottom of the dish, then one-third of the white sauce over the Bolognese. Sprinkle with one-third of the cheese. Cover with a layer of lasagne sheets, not overlapping them.
7. Repeat the layers of Bolognese sauce, white sauce, cheese and lasagne sheets, then repeat the layers once more, finishing with the cheese. Bake the lasagne for about 30 minutes, or until bubbling and golden brown.

KNOW-HOW: ABOUT WHITE SAUCE
White sauce, also known as béchamel, is a key ingredient in many French and Italian dishes, and is the base of many other sauces, including mornay sauce, which has the addition of cheese. The consistency of the sauce for this lasagne recipe is medium-thick. If you want a thinner sauce, use 30g (1oz) each of butter and flour, or for a thicker consistency use 50g (1¾ oz) of each. The quantities make about 600ml (1 pint)

Bolognese sauce
Named after the city of Bologna in northern Italy, Bolognese is a rich meaty sauce, or ragu, based on beef and soffrito – a finely chopped mixture of celery, onion, carrot and garlic. A good Bolognese sauce is the basis of many wonderful Italian dishes, including my lasagne, so it’s well worth mastering.

MAKES 1 QUANTITY FOR THE LASAGNE

• 1 small celery stick, trimmed
• 1 onion, peeled
• 1 carrot, peeled
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 25g (scant 1oz) butter
• 500g (1lb 2oz) minced beef
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 3 tbsp tomato purée
• 150ml (5fl oz) beef stock (for home-made see Mary Berry’s Cookery Course)
• 150ml (5fl oz) red wine
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground
• black pepper

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
a deep, heavy casserole

1 Prepare the vegetables

• Pull off and discard any tough strings from the back of the celery stick. Using a chef’s knife, finely chop the celery, onion and carrot. Crush the garlic in a garlic press.

2 Fry the vegetables and meat

• Pour the oil into the deep, heavy pan, then add the butter. Place the pan over a medium heat and leave it until the butter melts and foams. Turn the heat down to low.
• Add the vegetables to the oil and butter and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes or until softened but not browned.
• Add the meat to the softened vegetables, break it up with a wooden spoon, then cook until it loses its redness, stirring frequently. Sprinkle over the flour and stir in well.

3 Cook the sauce

• Add the tomato purée, beef stock, red wine, and tomatoes. Using a nutmeg grater held over the pan, add about 8 gratings of fresh nutmeg. Add salt and pepper.
• Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring constantly, then reduce the heat to very low so that the mixture is simmering. Partially cover the pan. Key to success: make sure steam can still escape from the pan by not covering it fully.
• Cook the sauce for about 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so to check that the mixture is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. If it is, add a little water and stir well. The sauce will be thick and glossy. Taste for seasoning. Keys to success: don’t skimp on the cooking time. This is the secret of a good Bolognese. If there is any surplus fat on the top of the sauce at the end, blot it off with kitchen paper.

KNOW-HOW: MAKE AHEAD
You can keep the sauce in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

AS A PASTA SAUCE
In my book I serve this with spaghetti, but in Italy it would be more traditional to use a chunkier pasta such as tagliatelle, penne or rigatoni. The recipe serves 6 as a sauce for pasta, allowing 500g
(1lb 2oz) spaghetti for 6 people.

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