Osso Bucco Lasagne
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings 6-8
Ingredients
Meat Sauce
300g pork mince
300g beef mince
1 kg veal osso bucco
¼ cup olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
1 carrot, grated
2 anchovies
Zest ½ lemon
4 garlic gloves
1 tbs. tomato paste
½ cup white wine
750g tomatoes, finely chopped
1 ½ bottle of passata (tomato puree)
4 sprigs of thyme
½ bunch of basil leaves
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
Lasagne sheets (or pre made ones are fine)
420g plain flour
80g semolina flour
4 eggs
Béchamel
40g butter
¼ cup flour
400ml milk
Pinch nutmeg
1 bay leaf
2 large balls of buffalo mozzarella, torn
2 cups parmesan cheese, finely grated
16 slices of good quality prosciutto
½ cup of basil leaves
8 thin slices of grilled eggplant, cut into 3 strips
Method
To make the osso bucco: In a large heavy based pot, fry the veal until well coloured. Now fry off pork mince and beef mince. Remove the meat from the pot. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, anchovies, tomato paste and lemon zest and cook until slightly soft. Add the herbs, fresh tomatoes and white wine and reduce by half. Season well with salt and pepper. Add the tomato puree and half the jar full of water. Bring to the boil then turn the heat right down and simmer for 1 hour or until the meat of the osso bucco falls off the bone. Remove the bones from the sauce and shred the meat.
To make the lasagne sheets: To make the lasagne sheets: place flour and eggs in a food processor and blend until a fine crumb develops. Pour out on to a clean surfaced bench. Knead the dough to pull it all together and so it has a nice silking and even consistency. This should take only a couple of minutes. Place in some cling wrap and leave it aside for about ½ an hour.
Place a little flour on the bench and attach the pasta machine. Cut 1/3 of the rested dough and feed through the pasta machine on the widest setting (no. 1). Start laminating by folding the pasta in half and feeding through the machine until thinner enough. Place on a clean, moist tea towel and cover until ready to use.
To make the béchamel: Heat the milk and bay leaf in a pot. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Once melted, add the flour and with a wooden spoon incorporate well by stirring for 3 minutes or until it forms a ball. Add the milk little by little, stirring constantly until there are no lumps. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat once thick, add nutmeg.
To assemble the lasagne: Scatter some of the meat sauce on the base of the baking tray. Place the first sheets of pasta down so the base is completely covered with one layer. Now, mosaic the mozzarella, parmesan, béchamel, basil, eggplant and prosciutto. Repeat the process around 3 or 4 times, ensuring the lasagne is compact and there are no air bubbles. Finish with some more parmesan and mozzarella on the top. Cover with foil and bake in the oven on 180 degrees C for 40 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 8 minutes to get golden brown.