Béchamel Lasagna

Bechamel lasagna is my recipe for today, I was inspired when making it by the Egyptian dish "Macaroni Bechamel" but the difference is that I used lasagna instead of penne pasta, so you can make this dish with your preferred pasta, my grandma used spaghetti sometimes in this dish. This dish is considered as one of the most popular main dishes in Egypt specially on occasions or when having a big lunch with friends or family, it's also known as "Pastitsio" or "Pastichio"  in Greece, it is typically made with penne pasta, a layer of pasta, a layer of cooked ground beef, a layer of pasta and then a layer of bechamel sauce, some people prefer to sprinkle their preferred kind of cheese shredded on the top of it, let's go see the lasagna version.

Tips:

1- Lasagna is so tender so be careful when you take it out of the water, also be careful because the slices can easily stick to each other so quickly.

2- For the best result while making bechamel use a whisk instead of a spatula or a spoon while mixing.

3- Ground beef doesn't take much time to cook so take care to not over cook.

4- It's better to prepare bechamel sauce after preparing lasagna and beef so you add it warm & fresh.

Serves: 4 people

Prep. time: 30 minutes.

Cook. time: 15 to 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

12 lasagna slices (al dente)

For The Bechamel sauce:

4 tbsp olive oil

60 gm butter

14 tbsp flour

5 cups milk

Salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg

1 egg

For the ground beef:

350 gm ground beef

1 big onion, chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tomatoes, juice

2 tbsp chopped bell pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

Directions:

Beef:

1- Place olive oil with onion onto a pan over high heat.

2- Add the beef and stir till color changes.

3- Add tomato juice and stir.

4- Keep stirring for 15 minutes or till the water is dried, then add the bell pepper and spices and some water and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, and put aside till use.

Bechamel sauce:

1- Start by placing a pan over medium heat with olive oil and butter.

2- Once the butter is milted and hot place the flour and whisk quickly till they mix well together and the color starts to change to light golden about 6 minutes, then start to add milk half a cup at a time and whisk tell mixed, then repeat till you finish the 5 cups, and here you see how bechamel texture changes till the desired one.

3- After the Bechamel is mixed well, add salt, pepper, and nutmeg and whisk till it bubbles like this.

4- Remove from heat ant stir to allow it cool just a little so you can add the egg without cooking it, then add the egg add whisk quickly till mixed well.

Bechamel Lasagna:

1- Preheat the oven to 250C, prepare a baking tray, grease it with butter and then sprinkle with flour.

2- Spread 1 cm layer of bechamel in the tray.

3- Place two slices of lasagna and spread 4 tbsp bechamel on them and repeat with more 4 slices, then add the beef on them.

4- Place the other 6 lasagna slices on the meat like step 3.

5- Spread the rest of the bechamel on top of lasagna as a top layer to cover it all, and put it into the lower oven for 10 minutes.

6- Place the lasagna in the upper oven for more 5 to 10 minutes or till you get the desired color,then remove from the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes, start to cut and serve and... Bon Apetit :)