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Traditional Lasagna Bolognese Sauce and Bechamel
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📋Traditional Easy No Boil Lasagna With Bechamel

This traditional lasagna bolognese sauce or Ragu and bechamel is made from scratch but with the use of the pressure cooker and no-boil lasagna sheets, it is very easy to make.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword dinner, easy, one pot
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 8 people
Calories 657kcal
Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Bolognese sauce

For the bechamel

For the lasagna

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Bolognese sauce or Ragu

  • Stir fry the onion, carrot and celery to make a soffritto, add the bacon and once cooked add the meat.
    1 lb lean minced beef, 1 onion diced, 1 carrot diced, 1 celery stalk diced, ½ cup bacon
  • Stir the meat until it is all brown, then add a ½ cup of Marsala and let it evaporate.
    ½ cup Marsala wine
  • Add the tomato sauce and the beef stock, stir and close the pressure pan.
    1 lb regular tomato sauce, 1 cube brown beef stock
  • Once the pressure is built, the sauce has to cook for only 35 minutes

Make the bechamel

  • Stir for 1 or 2 minutes the flour and the butter in a pan over low heat with a wooden spoon to create a white roux.
    2 tablespoon flour, 2 tablespoon butter
  • Remove from the heat and gradually add the warm milk making sure no lumps are formed.
    1 ¼ cup milk
  • Put back on the heat and bring to boil stirring constantly.
  • Add salt and nutmeg
    pinch freshly grated nutmeg, salt & pepper
  • Lower the heat and keep stirring, till it reaches the right consistency.

Making the lasagna

  • Add the Béchamel sauce, the basil leaves and the parmesan cheese to the Bolognese sauce. Cut the mozzarella into thin slices.
    1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, 14 oz mozzarella block
  • Oil a baking tray and spread the first layer of lasagna sheets.
    1 lb lasagna sheets, 3 tablespoon olive oil
  • Pour the sauce and lay the mozzarella over the sheets and start making the lasagna layers. Add some sliced mozzarella every 2 layers and continue until the last sheets are used.
  • In the last layer just add the mozzarella and sprinkle with olive oil.
  • Cook in a hot oven for 20 minutes at 355 F - 180 C and presto, the lasagna is ready!

Video

Notes

  • no-boil lasagne pasta sheets don’t need to be pre-cooked. They will cook directly in the oven in only 20 minutes. As long as you use enough tomato sauce and bechamel, the lasagna sheets will cook with those juices while baking and will absorb all their flavours.
  • If you want to prepare the lasagna ahead of time you can:
    • either leave it in the fridge for a few hours and cook it when you need it or;
    • cook it for 15 minutes only, and cook the remaining 5 minutes when you are ready to eat.
  • You can prepare ahead of time the bolognese sauce and the bechamel and freeze it.
  • If you don't have a pressure cooker the sauce should simmer for 2 hours.
  • The lasagna if made fresh can be frozen, not if you use ingredients that have been frozen already.
  • You can put some mozzarella between each lasagna sheet layer, but you will not be able to cover the entire surface. So I prefer to put a full covered layer in the middle and one on top so the mozzarella is well distributed. Once you serve the lasagna every serving of lasagna will have two mozzarella layers.
  • You can make white lasagna, filled with vegetables and cheese like mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, ricotta, provola. You can also make it with seafood and bechamel, no cheese.
  • Prepare the mix you want to add, just make sure there are enough juices for the no-boil sheets to cook.
  • If you are making a seafood lasagna, I would suggest you don't cook the fish before you assemble it otherwise the fish will be overcooked.

Nutrition

Calories: 657kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 898mg | Potassium: 654mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 2169IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 474mg | Iron: 3mg