The Townsend’s Ricotta Beef Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those timeless meals, that never go out of style. Whether it’s summer or winter, lasagna is perfect and full of veggies and the good stuff.

We love the taste of ricotta so me and my husband decided to add it to the white sauce. Wow, what a difference it makes. It changes the whole flavour profile, so creamy and not too sweet.

This is the recipe from Fattis and Monis. We changed the cheese sauce into a ricotta cheese sauce. It’s so delicious!

250g lasagna sheets

Meat Sauce

3 tbsp cooking oil

125g streaky bacon/bacon pieces, finely chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed (I use 2 tsp ready-crushed fresh garlic)

1 carrot, scraped and finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

400g beef or lamb mince

1 x 410g tin tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 x 160g tin tomato paste

1 cup white wine

1 cup chicken or beef stock

1 tsp oreganum

1 tsp sweet basil

2 bay leaves

Salt & pepper to taste

White Sauce

100g butter/margarine

1/2 cup flour

4 cups (1 litre) milk

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup of cheese for on top of the lasagna

1 cup of ricotta cheese mixed with the white sauce

Method

Heat oil in a large pot and fry bacon, onion, garlic, carrot and celery for 5 minutes. Add mince and brown, breaking up with a fork until crumbling.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, stock, herbs, bay leaves and seasoning. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour, adding more water if mixture cooks dry.

Make a white sauce by heating milk with butter in a jug in the microwave. Add flour when butter is melted, whisk till smooth. Heat in short bursts until thick. Add ricotta cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until smooth.

In an oven proof dish, layer white sauce, lasagna, meat sauce and lasagna. Continue in this fashion, ending with a thick layer of white sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and paprika and leftover sauce from lasagna mince. Stand for 20 minutes before baking to settle. In a preheated oven at 180ºC bake for 30 minutes, until cheese is crisp and golden.

Remove from the oven when done, set aside to cooldown for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!