In an episode of James Martin’s Saturday Morning, the chef shared “everything you want to know about lasagne”.
James claimed that the white sauce is arguably the most important to get right as it can often turn watery, but his expert method eliminates this risk.
Full-fat milk, butter and flour are staple ingredients for homemade bechamel sauce, but according to James, “the most important thing” is made up of three ingredients; bay leaf, onion and some clove.
Though not conventional ingredients for most home cooks, this method – which involves making an onion “plute” before adding the creamy ingredients, is the one professional chefs swear by.
Here’s everything you need to make James Martin’s flavoursome lasagne at home.
Method
Start by peeling and halving the white onion, then take a bay leaf and lay it over the rounded side of the onion while the flat side is face down on a chopping board. Next, take a couple of cloves and “stud” the onion with them to hold the bay leaf in place.
Transfer the onion into a saucepan, pour in the milk and a touch of the cream, the place the pan over low heat on the stove to start the sauce.
Meanwhile, turn your attention to the meat layer. Take a large non-stick frying pan and add the finely diced onion and garlic along with a splash of olive oil.
Quickly add the minced beef to the pan before the garlic and onion colours too much. Squeeze in the tomato puree and cook-out the ingredients.
Check back on the bechamel sauce, which should be warm. Remove from the heat and set aside, turning your attention back to the beef mixture.
Chop the thyme and sprinkle into the frying pan along with some rosemary, if you like, then stir everything to combine.
Pour in a little wine and 200ml of stock before adding the tinned tomatoes. Bring everything to a boil then gently simmer the mixture on low heat for around 30 minutes until nicely “stewed down”.
To finish the bechamel sauce, take 25g of butter and add to a clean non-stick pan over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt a little before adding a spoonful of plain flour and stirring together.
James said: “The important thing is the flour. Too many times people add too much flour with white sauces. If you add too much flour you end up adding more liquid in and it detracts from the flavour.”
Next, pour in some of the infused milk mixture from earlier and stir into the pan constantly over the heat. Add a little more of the milk as and when the liquid starts to thicken again, but don’t add any more flour.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and season generously with salt and pepper. James said: “Sauce done! You don’t have to do anything else with that – that’s your simple sauce.”
Now assemble the lasagne, starting with a little bit of the minced beef mixture on the bottom. Follow with a layer of lasagne sheets, then take another layer of beef, and repeat this twice more.
Top with the “lovely white sauce” by pouring it over the top of the final layer of pasta sheets. Spread to the edges of the dish and sprinkle your cheese of choice over the entire lasagne.
Cook in a preheated oven at 200C for 20 minutes.
