This recipe is a courtesy of Carlo Visalli. Carlo is a great friend of the Mamma di Pino’s family and he is a wonderful cook. He has shared his French Style lasagna with us on the site. Please submit your comments to Carlo.

French Style Lasagna

Serving: 6 people

We are making this recipe in 3 steps:

– Meat Sauce

– Béchamel Sauce

– Assemble the Lasagna

Meat Sauce

Ingredients

1 onion

2 carrots

1 lb Ground Sirloin Beef

1 lb Ground Sausage

2 tsp Oregano

2 lb Italian Peeled Tomatoes

1 1/2 tbsp Tomato Paste

1 cup White Wine

1 lb Peas

1 lb Mushrooms Cremini Sautéed in Olive Oil

25 oz Lasagna Pasta

Preparation for Meat Sauce

Sauté onions and carrots with olive oil until they are brown.

Add ground sirloin and ground sausage. You can make it a little spicy by adding a few hot peppers at this point.

Season the meat with salt, pepper, and oregano.

Add tomato paste and tomato sauce ( I like to blend the tomatoes first)

After the meat has sautéed for a bit – be sure the meat is fully cooked, no red spots – add the white wine

Let it cook for about 1 1/2 hour in low flame in an uncovered pan.

When the sauce is ready, add some peas and let is sit.

Slice the mushrooms and sauté it with garlic, olive oil, fresh pepper, salt and pepper.

Béchamel Sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp of All Purpose Flour

1 stick of Butter

2 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano

Nutmeg

Salt

Pepper

Preparation for Béchamel Sauce

Add the stick of butter to a medium size pan.

Add the flour, parmigiano regiano, nutmeg, salt and pepper

Turn the heat to high flame

Keep stirring the sauce always in one direction until it thickens.

Lower the flame

Assemble the Lasagna

Pre-heat the oven at 300F

Prepare a 13×9″ pan – Grease the pan with butter and sprinkle a little bread crumb at the bottom.

Layer the uncooked lasagna pasta covering the pan

Add a layer of tomato sauce

Sprinkle parmigiano regiano cheese

Add a layer of mushrooms

Add a layer of the béchamel sauce

Repeat this process about 3-4 times or until you reach the top of the pan

Cook the lasagna for about 45 minutes

Remove it from the oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes before serving

Buon Appetito!