March 28, 2010

Lasagna Bolognese


I'm in a lobby of an old apartment building where a homicide just happened. A wife was stabbed exactly 100 times by her husband. I'm assigned to go up to that apartment and examine the wife's body.

Inside the elevator I go. The walls, floor and the ceiling are splashed with blood. Light is dimmed. All focused on the shinny bloody red control panel, I use the key to activate the elevator. I try very hard to push the key in as the keyhole is stuck with dried blood.

I'm too scared to get off the elevator as the doors open. Then one of the detectives comes in and says, "I think I have seen the wife walked by." Before I'm able to feel what I'm supposed to feel, I wake up.

Outside my bedroom window, the trees are as silent as they are on a painting. Shaken, I realize I just had a nightmare. Probably because the crappy bloody martial art movie I saw recently. I just don't understand one thing though. I did watch "An Education" before I went to bed that night, how come God didn't give me a better dream of a wealthy handsome English man who falls for me at first sight and brings me to Paris to spend the most romantic vacation of my life! 

(serves 6 - 8)
Ingredients:
For Bolognese Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 28-oz can whole or chopped tomatoes
1 cup low-sodium beef stock
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

For Bechamel Sauce
2 cups milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

For Lasagna
16 sheets lasagna noodles (enough to makes 4 layers)
3 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used mozzarella as I ran out of Parmesan cheese. It turned out fine and cheesier!)

Directions: 
Combine olive oil, onion, celery and carrot in a saute pan with butter and cook over medium heat until onion turns pale gold, but not brown.

Add beef, and increase heat to high. Cook until browned. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Stir in tomatoes, stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then turn down the heat, cover the pan and let cook for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

To prepare bechamel sauce. Warm milk in microwave until almost boiling. In a sauce pan melt the butter with flour over low heat. Stir rapidly with a whisk and cook for 1 min.

Slowly add in the hot milk while stirring. Reduce heat to low, and keep cooking until the sauce begins to thicken.

Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking and stirring until the right consistency has developed and lump free. Remove from heat.

Preheat over to 350F. Cook the lasagna in boiling water with a little bit oil for about 8 mins, until al dente.

Lightly grease the baking pan. Put a layer of lasagna noodles down first, then layer on a third of the bolognese sauce, then a third of the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Repeat two more times. Top with a final layer of noodles and sprinkle with cheese.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil, and bake in the over for 45 mins, until the sauce is bubbling. Remove the aluminum foil, cook for another 8 mins until the top begins to get lightly browned. Remove from over and let cool for 5 mins before serving.

19 comments:

Belinda @zomppa said...

WHAT??????????? Lay off the cupcakes before bed! =) I thought it was a true story for a minute...bolognese is one of my favorites so THANK YOU for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

OMG. You did scare me though it was weird that you got assigned to check out the dead body. lol. good one! your lasagna looks so beautiful, but I like the rim pieces more than the middle ones:0)

CheapAppetite said...

OMG. You did scare me though it was weird that you got assigned to check out the dead body. lol. good one! your lasagna looks so beautiful, but I like the rim pieces more than the middle ones:0)

Kathleen said...

Your lasagna looks marvelous! I just bookmarked the strawberry cream cheese muffins. I LOVE your recipes.

sweetlife said...

wow you scared me...great recipe

sweetlife

Angie's Recipes said...

WHAT??? I almost thought I was reading "LAW and ORDER"..You are outrageously BRAVE!
I love your lasagna...every layer is a piece of heaven!

Angie's Recipes said...

LOL....when I finished the last paragraph...I then realized that you just had a nightmare!
I bet you must have watched too much criminal TV seriers. ;-)

TasteHongKong said...

The dream looks so vivid. Luckily I read this during lunch than evening. But I think I can still take a few more bites of this lasagna now.
Have a nice dream!

Memória said...

I can't believe you talked about murder and blood in the same post as lasagne bolognese....with the RED tomatoes just oozing out of the noodles! Hah!

MaryMoh said...

My children's favourite dish. I like it too. Your nightmare is scary! Hope you have a wonderful dream to share with us very soon.

Home elevator said...

woh! thats scary way to tell a recipe

Unknown said...

This is a stunner. Looks so homey and delicious. Hopefully it made you forget that horrid dream daaaahling.
*kisses* HH

Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction said...

I definitely thought your story was true there for a second. Glad it was just a dream! On the other hand, your Lasagna Bolognese looks incredible.

Andrea@WellnessNotes said...

What a nightmare!!!

The lasagna looks & sounds awesome!

Blessed Homemaker said...

You gave me the creeps! And I was wondering if you are an inspector or an undertaker :P

Coincidentally, we had lasagna for dinner last night. I can't get nice cuts like yours and lifting them out from the pan was really messy. Maybe because I was plain lazy and didn't cut them into smaller portions and I've used a spatula that's not even big enough to lift them up :P

EcoMeg said...

Freaky dream, GREAT recipe. Makes me want to toss the salmon and brown rice I'm cooking right now. Will have to do that lasagna tomorrow night!

Valen said...

What a horrible dream! The lasagna looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

LOL! That certainly was a nightmare. Why can't we ALL dream about tall handsome, wealthy English guys who fall for us take us to France? Actually for me it would be tall handsome wealthy Italian guy who will whisk me off to Italy. I'd make him your recipe that very moment. ;-)

Paz

My Little Space said...

What! You scared me off.. I thought you've changed your job! hahaha.... Working for the FBI or what! hahaha... And the last paragraph isn't a good dream for you either. You should have dream of your Ethan instead! Happy Easter Day to you your family, dear! Enjoy & have a great weekend.
Blessing,
Kristy