Beef Lasagna

Name: Beef Lasagna
Total time: 14400 s
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1 Tbsp olive oil; 1 large white onion, finely chopped; 1 kg beef mince; 540 g tomato puree; 3 Tbsp tomato paste; 250 ml Rosé (or red wine); 1500 ml beef stock; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp pepper; 70 g butter; 70 g AP flour; 1 ltr whole milk; 1/2 tsp nutmeg; 70 g cheddar cheese (or parmesan); 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp white pepper; 500 g fresh lasagna sheets; 250 g shredded mozzarella

Bianca Mwale @bianca_eatsy

Zomba, Malawi

I challenged myself to make homemade lasagna sheets for my beef lasagna and cook ragu the semi-Italian way. I must say, it uses up a lot of electricity, but it’s totally worth it. For the ragu, I cheated a little with the wine, I used a rosé instead of red, but it added a nice depth of flavor with a subtle fruitiness. The slow cooking process let all the flavors meld beautifully and announced the creation of a ccomforting dish in my opinion 😂.

I’ll share making the lasagna sheets from scratch in another post. But yhoooo 🙌🏻 it was a labor of love. Rolling, cutting, and layering them gave the dish a rustic, homemade feel that store-bought pasta just wouldn’t match. The texture was as you can see in my main photo was tender yet sturdy enough to hold up to the layers of rich meat sauce and creamy béchamel.

Though it took time (and quite a bit of electricity!), the end result was absolutely worth it. A homemade lasagna not even slightly shy of flavor, made from scratch and with love. This was definitely a meal to remember if l do say so myself. #april2026

Bianca Mwale @bianca_eatsy

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Ingredients

4 hrs

8 servings

RAGU (meat sauce)
1 Tbspolive oil
1large white onion, finely chopped
1 kgbeef mince
540 gtomato puree
3 Tbsptomato paste
250 mlRosé (or red wine)
1500 mlbeef stock
2bay leaves
1 tspsalt
1 tsppepper
BECHAMEL SAUCE (white sauce)
70 gbutter
70 gAP flour
1 ltrwhole milk
1/2 tspnutmeg
70 gcheddar cheese (or parmesan)
1 tspsalt
1 tspwhite pepper
lasagna
500 gfresh lasagna sheets
Pasta Fresca per Lasagne (Egg Pasta)
250 gshredded mozzarella

Saved

Steps

4 hrs

1

Ragu: heat the olive oil and saute the onions in a large sauce pan until soft. Add the beef and cook until browned. Add the wine and let cookdown to half
2

Stir in the tomato puree, tomato paste, bay leaves, beef stock (reserving atleast 500ml) and season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil then leave to simmer on a low heat for 2 hours uncovered. Add the rest of the beef stock half way through and cookdown until sauce thickens. Set aside to cool
3

Bechamel: heat the butter in a saucepan and cook until melted and bubbling. Stir in the floor to form a paste and let it cook for 1 minute longer
4

Slowly whisk in half of the milk, constantly whisking to break any lumps. Once it has started to thicken add the rest of the milk, nutmeg, cheese and seasoning. Cook stirring until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat and set aside
5

Lasagna: Preheat the oven to 180C
6

To assemble the lasagna, spread a small amount of ragu on the bottom of the baking dish. Place an even layer of pasta sheets on top, then spread enough ragu to fully cover the pasta. Pour over two ladles of white sauce, ensuring an even layer
7

Repeat the layers of pasta, ragu, and béchamel sauce until all the ingredients are used up, ensuring you reserve enough béchamel for the top layer. I had upto 4 layers of pasta
8

Sprinkle the top with mozzarella and bake for 45minutes or until bubbling and golden
9

Let it cool slightly for 10 minutes before serving for cleaner slices