Lasagna Al Forno

Sinful indulgence turned easy on your waistline!! In order to make it even more "figure-friendly" you could make this dish either with Lean ground Turkey or Chicken to cut down a few more calories.
The first time I made Lasagna, I really messed up. I assumed that like any pasta, Lasagna would also need to be cooked in boiling water,but ended up with this huge lump of lasagna sheets stuck together. So please make sure you check the box for directions as some lasagna does not need to be cooked prior to baking. It gets cooked from the moisture from the sauce.
This dish is really simple to make, therefore do not get overwhelmed by seeing a long list of ingredients . The Meat sauce starts off with Mirepoix (French term for a combination of onion, carrots and celery). The meat and the wine gives it a bold flavor. Never use cooking wine. Always cook with a wine you would drink. I used Merlot and Shiraz. Lasagna was never one among my favorites just because I was not too keen about the Marinara sauce. But this recipe calls for Bechamel sauce, so I gave it a try and fell in love with Lasagna all over again. Bechamel sauce is one of my favorite white sauces and its rich, creamy, velvety spiced addition makes this dish complete.

Serves 5

Ingredients for meat sauce
1 Tsp Olive oil
1 Onion finely chopped
2 Carrot finely chopped
2 Stick celery finely chopped
4 Cloves garlic crushed
1 Lb (500gm)- Lean ground Beef or Turkey or Chicken
2/3 C (150 ml) - Red wine
4 tbsp - Tomato Ketchup
4 Tomatoes or 400 gm of canned tomatoes
1 Tsp dried Oregano
Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients for Bechamel sauce
2 Tbsp Butter
1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 C (50 gm) All purpose flour
2 C (500 ml) milk
Grated nutmeg
Pepper
6-8 Lasagna sheets
4 Tbsp Parmesan cheese grated

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Meat Sauce

• Heat oil in heavy sauce pan and add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until onions are soft.
• Add the steak mince to the pan.
• Mix well and fry until brown breaking up the lumps. 
• Stir in remaining meat sauce ingredients and cover and cook for 30 min.

Bachamel Sauce

• Melt butter in sauce pan with oil and add flour mixing well gradually stir in the milk bringing the temperature up to a simmering point whisking continuously until the sauce has thickened.
• Add the nutmeg and black pepper to taste.
• Spoon as layer the meat sauce over the base of the oven proof dish cover with a layer of lasagna followed by 1/3 of the sauce. 
• Repeat this process covering the lasagna with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for 30-35 mins or until golden brown and bubbling.

Notes and Tips

• I used store bought Lasagna sheets that dint need any precooking/ boiling