Lasagne alla Bari
Slow-cooked ragù, plenty of béchamel and closely packed layers of pasta. The name comes from the memory of a good lasagne in Bari. Our version has a Bolognese influence. The name does not describe a separate regional classic.
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SAPIDUS · Flavour. Curiosity. Joy of food.
Lasagne alla Bari
4 people · About 3½–4 hours, including slow cooking and resting
Equipment: Wide casserole, saucepan and ovenproof dish suited to the quantity
Quantities follow your selection; time and temperature do not scale automatically.
Ingredients
Ragù
- 333 g beef mince
- 167 g pork mince
- ⅔ yellow onion, finely chopped
- ⅔ carrot, finely chopped
- ⅔ celery stalk, finely chopped
- 1⅓ tbsp olive oil
- 1⅓ tbsp tomato purée
- 0.5–0.6667 dl red wine
- 467 g whole peeled tinned tomatoes with their juice
- 0.6667–1 dl stock, plus a little extra as needed
- 0.6667 dl whole milk
- ⅔ bay leaf
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Béchamel
- 53 g butter
- 53 g plain flour
- approx. 5.3–5.7 dl whole milk
- ⅙ tsp grated nutmeg, or to taste
- Salt and a little black pepper to taste
For the layers
- 167–200 g dried lasagne sheets, preferably egg pasta
- 80 g finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- A little butter for the dish
Allergens: Wheat/gluten, milk and celery. Egg if the pasta sheets contain egg. Red wine may contain sulphites; also check the stock.
Method
Give the vegetables time
Heat olive oil in a wide casserole. Cook onion, carrot and celery over medium-low heat for 10–15 minutes. They should become soft and sweet without a dark crust. Set aside while browning the meat.
Brown the meat in batches
Increase the heat and brown beef and pork in two–three batches. Let the meat colour before breaking it into small pieces. A crowded casserole collects liquid and browns less effectively. Return all meat and vegetables to the casserole.
Reduce the wine
Stir in tomato purée and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in red wine and scrape up the browned flavour from the bottom. Let the wine reduce almost completely before adding tomatoes. This gives a milder wine character in the sauce.
Simmer the ragù
Crush tomatoes and add with their juice, the smaller stock quantity and the bay leaf. Simmer gently for 1½–2 hours with the lid ajar. Stir occasionally and add a little stock or water if it becomes dry. Add the milk to the ragù for the final half hour. Season with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaf. The ragù should be juicy and easy to spread, not a dry mass of meat.
Make béchamel
Melt the béchamel butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour and cook gently for about 2 minutes without browning. Gradually whisk in milk, starting with the smaller amount. Simmer, stirring, for 5–8 minutes and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Use the remaining milk if too firm: it should pour and spread rather than sit like dough.
Build close, juicy layers
Heat the oven to 180 °C conventional and butter the dish. Spread a thin layer of ragù on the bottom. Continue with pasta, ragù, béchamel and a little Parmesan. Repeat for about 4–5 pasta layers, depending on the dish. Cover the entire surface with pasta, cutting pieces to fit and overlapping joins by only 5–10 mm. Stagger joins between layers. All sheets must touch sauce; reserve plenty of béchamel and Parmesan for the top.
Cover first, brown at the end
Cover with foil without pressing it into the sauce. Bake in the middle of the oven, covered for the first 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about another 20–30 minutes until golden and a thin knife passes easily through the pasta in the centre. Also follow the pasta packet. If more time is needed, cover again when the top has enough colour.
Let the lasagne settle
Rest the dish for about 30 minutes before cutting. The sauce distributes better and portions hold their shape. Serve with a simple green salad if desired.
https://sapidus.no/en/oppskrifter/lasagne-alla-bari
About portions and timing
Cuisine: Italian-inspired
Estimated timing: about 25 min preparation · about 170 min cooking · about 30 min resting. These times are estimates for the basic method and have not been measured in the kitchen. Follow the method and any time ranges above.
Tick ingredients as you prepare them and steps as you finish them.
0 items checkedMethod
Heat olive oil in a wide casserole. Cook onion, carrot and celery over medium-low heat for 10–15 minutes. They should become soft and sweet without a dark crust. Set aside while browning the meat.
Increase the heat and brown beef and pork in two–three batches. Let the meat colour before breaking it into small pieces. A crowded casserole collects liquid and browns less effectively. Return all meat and vegetables to the casserole.
Stir in tomato purée and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in red wine and scrape up the browned flavour from the bottom. Let the wine reduce almost completely before adding tomatoes. This gives a milder wine character in the sauce.
Crush tomatoes and add with their juice, the smaller stock quantity and the bay leaf. Simmer gently for 1½–2 hours with the lid ajar. Stir occasionally and add a little stock or water if it becomes dry. Add the milk to the ragù for the final half hour. Season with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaf. The ragù should be juicy and easy to spread, not a dry mass of meat.
Melt the béchamel butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour and cook gently for about 2 minutes without browning. Gradually whisk in milk, starting with the smaller amount. Simmer, stirring, for 5–8 minutes and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Use the remaining milk if too firm: it should pour and spread rather than sit like dough.
Heat the oven to 180 °C conventional and butter the dish. Spread a thin layer of ragù on the bottom. Continue with pasta, ragù, béchamel and a little Parmesan. Repeat for about 4–5 pasta layers, depending on the dish. Cover the entire surface with pasta, cutting pieces to fit and overlapping joins by only 5–10 mm. Stagger joins between layers. All sheets must touch sauce; reserve plenty of béchamel and Parmesan for the top.
Cover with foil without pressing it into the sauce. Bake in the middle of the oven, covered for the first 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about another 20–30 minutes until golden and a thin knife passes easily through the pasta in the centre. Also follow the pasta packet. If more time is needed, cover again when the top has enough colour.
Rest the dish for about 30 minutes before cutting. The sauce distributes better and portions hold their shape. Serve with a simple green salad if desired.
Get to know the spices in this dish
About this version
Adjusted after the first kitchen test to make the lasagne juicier. This new version has not yet been fully tested.
Good to know before you cook
Juicy ragù matters more than extra cheese
Dry pasta sheets need liquid. If the ragù sits in a firm heap on the spoon, add a little warm stock or water before assembling. It should spread readily. Browning and slow cooking provide the meat flavour; it need not be cooked dry.
Make the béchamel last through every layer
Work out roughly how much sauce each layer gets before starting, and keep plenty for the top. Use the amounts for your chosen number of portions. If the sauce thickens while standing, whisk in a small splash of milk so it spreads easily again.
The dish is part of the recipe
A large roasting tin spreads the same sauce too thinly. Use a deep, medium-sized dish and stop before completely full. Four well-covered layers are better than six dry ones. You do not need to use all the pasta sheets.
Keep the flavour simple
In this version, meat, soffritto, tomato, milk and Parmesan do the work. It contains no garlic, oregano, basil, chilli or added sugar. We do not use mozzarella between the layers either.