Rodney Bower's Bolognese and Bechamel Sauce
We share the magic of a make-ahead meal with these recipes for delicious lasagna sauces!
SERVES
1
TO
2
Ingredients
For the bolognese sauce:
- 450 grams ground beef
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large carrot, ground
- 3 ribs of celery, ground
- 1 large onion, ground
- 125 millilitres of red wine
- 50 grams of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked then ground
- 2 bay leaves
- 800 grams san marzano tomatoes hand crushed
- 225 gram can of tomato paste
- 1 pinch of fresh ground nutmeg
- 250 grams butter
- 1 sprig Fresh Sage
- 2 sprigs fresh Rosemary
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
For the Bechamel sauce:
- 1 small onion, finely minced
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 300 millilitres milk
- 500 millilitres cream
- 50 grams butter
- 50 grams flour
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
Directions
For the Bolognese sauce:
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Brown off ground beef in a large pot on med-high heat then pour meat in a bowl and aside to drain. Save the pot
- In the same pot, add the olive oil and the ground carrot, celery, onion and brown these off for approximately five to six minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and cook out for two to three minutes.
- Add the red wine and reduce until almost dry.
- Add the drained meat, mushrooms, tomatoes, sage, rosemary, and thyme into the pot and bring to boil.
- Cover and simmer for a couple hours until the meat is soft and tender.
For the Bechamel sauce:
- Sautée the onion and garlic in a pot on medium heat with the butter.
- Sprinkle in the flour and stir to mix. Cook over a gentle heat for two minutes, stirring constantly.
- Slowly add the milk and cream and keep stirring until the sauce is smooth.
- Add the bay leaf and sprig of thyme.
- Cook the béchamel for five minutes over a low heat to cook out the flour and thicken.
- Remove from the heat and add the nutmeg
- Remove the bay leaf and thyme.
