Lazy lasagna bolognese

First of all, this isn't really lasagna, but I got the base of the recipe from rachael ray, and that's what she calls it. This meal has some how become the family favorite. Well misters Favorite for sure, he requests it constantly and I have to tell him I can't make that tonight, it's a bit labor intensive, but so good. The girly loves it and almost always has seconds of it as well, which is absolutely not normal for her, in fact, I normally have to coax her into eating at all. so if your family likes pasta, this is will be a success. My family happens to love pasta, we eat a lot of it, although I know it probably doesn't look like it from this blog. but really it's about 3 times a week. 

Lasagna Bolognese

horrible picture sorry, at least it's here :)

1 box of noodles. you can use whatever you like really. I think it works best with either macaroni, or bow-tie. but rigatoni, ziti, even spaghetti broken down works well. if you are serving for guests (which this feeds an army) I would pick fancier noodles myself. 

1 carrot

1 small onion, or 1/2 a large

finally chopped, set aside.

prep 4 cloves of garlic for the garlic press.

1.5 lbs pounds of ground lean meat. (the actual recipe calls for ground lamb, but that is hard for me to find here in wyoming. beef works well, turkey would be good, a combination of meat would work too, whatever suits you)

1 tbsp oregano or marjoram

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp salt and pepper, or to your personal taste

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 cup tomato paste

3 cups of stock (I usually do 2 cups chicken broth one cup beef. you could also do 2 cups beef broth one cup dry white wine. I find though that the more beef broth you add the richer it becomes. so experiment)

Béchamel sauce

3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2.5 c milk
salt and pepper to taste
tsp nutmeg (which I measure in my hand and usually end up for taste adding closer to 2 tsp)

Cheeses

1.5 c of Ricotta mixed with 1.5 tbsp basil (again I measure in my palm, so this is a guess, but close to actual measurement)
1 c Parmesan
1/2 c Mozzarella

in a dutch oven brown the meat (drain if there is to much fat or liquid left once brown) add the carrots onions and garlic, stir and let cook down for a few minutes. start the water for the noodles (cook noodles to aldente, they will get some extra cook time so if you cook them all the way they will get to soft), add the spices, and stir all to combine. let cook for a few more minutes, add the tomato paste and stir well to combine, cook until the tomato paste becomes fragrant, 2-3 minutes. add the stock and let it simmer.

while the noodles are cooking, and the sauce is simmering, melt the 3 tbsp of butter in a sauce pan, once melted add the 2 tbsp flour and whisk to eliminate lumps. add the milk and whisk again. add salt, pepper, nutmeg, continue to whisk the sauce, it will start to thicken up. taste it and see if you need to add more spices. once the sauce is thicker than heavy cream, turn down heat. (this needs to be stirred pretty constantly or the flour binds to the bottom of the pan and doesn't not do it's job as a thickener)

drain noodles and add them to the meat sauce, combine well, make sure the sauce is mixed well into the noodles, poor the bechamel sauce over the meat sauce and noodles, do not stir. top with dollops of the ricotta cheese, the sprinkle with the parmesan and mozzarella, pop under the broiler for about 10 minutes. until the cheese is bubbly and brown, as always enjoy :)