Lasagne/Lasagna

At times my son turns out to be very health conscious.  He gets into a strict diet plan. He is a great fan of Italian food. ‘Vanellis’ is one of his favorite joints. I really used to feel sad when he used to avoid his favorite lasagnas and pastas. The thought of his increasing weight used to scare him… lol!!!!! How does he know that it’s his chubbiness that makes him soooo cute!!!!So I decided to make him some homemade lasagna to ensure that he remains to be my cute chubby brat.. also,I thank our dearest friend Sujit for sharing this recipe with me…..For all the cuties out there!!!!!

For the Ragu

400 grams kheema (I used frozen kheema)

2 onions finely chopped

2 carrots finely chopped

4-5 chicken sausages chopped (I used frozen Sadia chicken sausages)

500 grams chopped tomatoes (I used pomi chopped tomatoes)

1 can tomato puree

4-5 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 table spoon vinegar

3 cloves garlic crushed

A pinch of nutmeg powder

1 teaspoon black pepper (can vary the amount as per your taste)
2 tablespoon chopped parsley

Salt to taste

For the béchamel

500 grams full fat milk

50 grams flour

50 grams butter

Salt to taste

A pinch of nutmeg powder

¼ tsp pepper powder

1 packet lasagna sheets

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 cup or more parmesan cheese

Method

• Cook lasagna sheets in boiling water for 8-10 minutes.
• Drain sheets and rinse with cold water and keep separate.
• Heat olive oil in a pot.
• Add chopped onion, carrot, garlic and sauté until it turns brown.
• Add chopped sausages and stir for 3-4 minutes on high flame.
• Add chicken kheema and stir for 4-5 minutes to make it brown.
• Now add the tomato puree and chopped tomatoes along with enough salt, pepper, nutmeg powder, bay leaves,oregano,vinegar and some water.
• Let it boil on low flame for 30-45 minutes. (Don’t forget to stir in between)
• After 30-45 minutes turnoff the flame and add chopped parsley.

To make béchamel

• In a pan pour milk,butter,salt pepper and nutmeg.
• Cook on low flame and once the butter melts add in the flour at once.
• Stir vigorously so as not to make lumps.
• Continue stirring until it thickens and then turnoff the flame
• To assemble, spread ragu in the bottom of a 9”baking dish.
• Arrange lasagna sheets length wise to cover all the sauce.
• Put more ragu and béchamel sauce on top of the sheets and spread plenty of grated parmesan cheese
• Repeat the procedure until you finish all the sheets.
• The top layer should be ragu, béchamel, parmesan and mozzarella.

• Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
• Finally grill with a flame on top for 10 minutes until it turns brown.