Lasagna (Oven Ready Sausage Meat Sauce and Béchamel Cheese Sauce)

lasagnanocooknoodlesms This is our ultimate lasagna for both flavour and ease of prep. We make this dish often and to great acclaim. It has two fillings, a meat sauce that's made with both Italian sausage and ground beef simmered in tomato sauce. The second filling is a cheesy mixture of provolone and Parmigiano-Reggiano speckled with basil. Each shines on its own, but together they soar like an aria between layers of lasagna noodles. Once you have your ingredients and equipment assembled, making this lasagna is a straightforward process. The recipe requires about 45 minutes of prep and 1 hour 10 minutes to bake.

1 recipe Meat Sauce (Sausage and Peppers Slow-Cooker)
1 recipe Béchamel and Cheese Sauce (Italian Besciamella)
2 cups (½ lb) provolone or mozzarella, freshly shredded (225 g)
1½ cups Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated (4 oz)
12 sheets oven-ready lasagne, such as Molisana

Garnish:
freshly chopped herbs, such as parsley or basil

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4). Line a 9x13" ceramic baking dish with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Make the Red Sauce, when done turn the slow-cooker to WARM and start the White Sauce.

Spread a ½ cup of meat sauce evenly on the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange 4 lasagna noodles over the sauce (space noodles evenly, overlapping slightly).

Spread 2 cups of the meat mixture evenly over the noodles. Spread a ½ cup of provolone cheese on top of the red sauce. Top with 4 more noodles.

Spread 2 cups white sauce over the noodles. Spread a ½ cup of provolone cheese on top of the white sauce. Top with 4 more noodles.

Repeat layering of meat and cheese mixtures between noodles twice more, ending with the red sauce.

Sprinkle evenly with remaining ½ cup provolone and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Loosely cover with parchment part then with aluminum foil and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake until noodles are tender (easily pierced with the tip of a knife), 30-45 minutes. Uncover; continue baking until bubbly and puffed slightly along the edges and golden brown in places on top, 20-25 minutes more. (There may appear to be a lot of liquid in the dish. It will be absorbed as the lasagna cools.)

Transfer the dish to a wire rack. garnish with fresh herbs, if desired and let it cool slightly, about 20 minutes; cut into squares to serve.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Cook's Notes:

Extra Sauce: You may have some meat sauce leftover after you assemble the lasagna. Save it. Try tossing it with pasta for a quick supper, sandwiching it between potato buns for sloppy Joes, or serving it with fried eggs for breakfast.
No-Boil Lasagne Noodles: Using no-boil noodles speeds up the process of making the lasagna (no boiling needed, no extra pan to clean). This recipe includes covering the lasagna while it bakes, which means there's no need to pre-cook the pasta sheets.
Make-Ahead: This lasagna can be assembled and stored in the refrigerator up to a day in advance, then baked for serving.

Storage:

Leftovers: Cover any leftover lasagna before refrigerating. If there are only a couple of portions left, wrap them in parchment paper then foil and store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for ease of reheating. (They will also take up less space in your refrigerator that way.)
Freezing: Leftovers also hold up well in the freezer. Package individual slices in parchment then foil and store in a freezer bag for up to a month.
Reheat: Bake, still wrapped in the parchment-lined foil, at 375°F (190°C/170°C fan, Gas Mark 5) for about 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Does authentic lasagna have ricotta or béchamel? Whether authentic lasagna has ricotta or béchamel depends who you ask. Traditional lasagna from the north of Italy, such as from Bologna, is made with béchamel sauce. Some versions made in the South use a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella rather than béchamel.
Is it better to cover lasagna while baking? Yes, often it is better to cover lasagna while it is baking but not for the entire cook time. This recipe calls for covering the dish for most but not all of its baking. The parchment-and-foil cover is removed for the last third of the time so that the top of the lasagna has time to brown and develop those delicious crispy edges.
Is it better to cook lasagna in glass or metal pan? We prefer to cook lasagna in a ceramic pan rather than a glass or metal pan. A ceramic pan is our go-to for all kinds of baked pasta dishes. If we don't have a ceramic pan, we would use an enameled cast-iron pan, but we would not use other types of metal pans for lasagna. We also prefer ceramic or enameled cast iron over a glass baking pan for this dish.
Do you put meat sauce at the bottom of lasagna? Yes, we do put meat sauce at the bottom of the lasagna pan when we assemble the dish. An even layer of sauce across the bottom of the dish is essential whether it's a meat sauce or a marinara sauce. If you put the lasagna noodles directly in the pan without the sauce, they will stick to the pan as they bake.
How many layers should lasagna have? The number of layers in lasagna varies according to different recipes and personal tastes. We recommend having three layers of each element of the filling when making our lasagna with meat sauce. This results in a rich layered lasagna that is still easy to cut and get from the baking dish to the plate without collapsing. If a lasagna gets too tall, it will be difficult to get portions out of the baking dish in one piece.