Two Secrets to Great Lasagna

Lasagna is brilliant. The classic lasagna with its rich, tomatoey meat sauce, layers of pasta, and melted cheese is comforting and delicious. It’s a great dish to freeze so you can make it in advance or save leftovers. But a lot of people are afraid of making lasagna at home. I think it’s mostly because it can be a real pain to work with the noodles. You boil them, then they are too hot to handle and you burn your hands, but when they cool down they get sticky and are hard to work with.

Which leads me to secret number one: do not boil the lasagna noodles. You can buy “no-boil” noodles but you don’t need to. You can, in fact, use any dried lasagna noodle and skip the boiling step entirely. Not only is it much easier, the final lasagna tastes much better. That’s because instead of absorbing plain water (even if it’s salted), the uncooked noodles absorb the liquids from the filling and sauce, flavoring the pasta. The only thing to keep in mind is that you do want to make sure your filling has plenty of liquid so the dish doesn’t dry out.

The second secret is béchamel sauce which is used in the classic Italian lasagna. It’s very simple to make – it’s just butter, flour, and milk – but it makes the lasagna very creamy, even if you use skim milk in the sauce. If you are going to make lasagna, you need to include the béchamel sauce; you cannot skip this step. Period.

The other thing that I love about lasagna is that once you’ve figured out the basic recipe, there are endless possibilities for creative versions, such as sausage and sage, or crab and artichoke. Use your imagination!

Classic Lasagna (8 to 12 servings)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 6-oz. can tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 tsp. basil
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 lb. lasagna noodles
• ¾ lb. mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Sauté the onion and ground beef until the beef is cooked through. Stir in the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Add the garlic, basil, oregano, and bay leaf. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
3. To make the béchamel, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and whisk together. Cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and whisk to ensure no lumps form. Heat the milk, whisking occasionally, until it thickens.
4. Spread 1/3 of the beef and tomato mixture into a 9” x 13” baking dish. Cover with uncooked lasagna. Place 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese on the lasagna. Pour 1/3 of the béchamel on the noodles and cheese. Repeat the process two more times. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of the lasagna.
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake, uncovered, for another 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.