Mama’s Best Lasagna

There’s a little restaurant tucked away in Seattle’s Pike Place Market called The Pink Door. And when I say tucked away, I mean tucked away. There’s no big sign, no obvious entrance, nothing to announce that you’re about to walk into one of Seattle’s most beloved restaurants. You just have to find the pink door. Literally.

The Pink Door makes the MOST amazing lasagna I’ve ever had. Ever. I dream about this lasagna. What makes it so good? Two things: the noodles and the béchamel sauce.

Instead of the usual ricotta situation (blech), they use flat, probably homemade lasagna noodles and creamy béchamel. Those are layered with a rich, meaty Bolognese sauce and cheese, then the whole thing gets blasted in their salamander oven until it comes out bubbling hot and ridiculously delicious.

So when I recently stumbled across some relatively fresh, flat lasagna noodles at the store, I immediately knew what was happening. Lasagna.

I went looking for a recipe that used béchamel instead of ricotta and found this one called “Mama’s Best Lasagna.” I figured a recipe with that name had better be good.

I don’t know who Mama is, but she’s got it going on.

This lasagna was everything I was hoping for. The béchamel makes it creamy without the heaviness of ricotta, and those flat noodles were exactly what I wanted. It’s rich, cheesy, meaty and completely worth the effort.

Although, I will say, the hardest part of this recipe is the last 10 minutes.

Once you pull that beautiful lasagna out of the oven, the entire house smells amazing. It’s bubbling, golden and basically screaming, “EAT ME!”

And then the recipe has the nerve to tell you to let it sit for 10 minutes.

Ten. Whole. Minutes.

Those may have been the longest 10 minutes of my life.

Mama’s Best Lasagna

Recipe from Cafe Delites

Serves 12

Meat Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 carrot finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic cloves minced
• 24 ounces ground beef mince
• 10 ounces ground pork mince or beef
• 24 ounces Passata
• 14 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 3 tomato paste heaped tablespoons. I use garlic and herb flavored.
• 2 beef bouillon cubes or vegetable, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar if desired
• 1/4 teaspoon salt season to your tastes
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper season to your tastes
• Jenn's Note: I added about 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce to balance it out for me 

White Sauce (Béchamel):

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour all purpose or plain
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup shredded parmesan fresh

Lasagna:

• 13 ounces fresh lasagna sheets
• 17 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese shredded
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; sauté the onion and carrots for 8–10 minutes until softened, then stir in the garlic for 1 minute. Add the beef (and pork, if using) and cook while breaking it up with a spoon until browned.

Make sure your pot is well-heated before adding the vegetables so they soften evenly without steaming.

Pour in the passata, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed bouillon, and dried herbs. Season with salt, pepper (about 3/4 tsp each), and optional sugar. Cover and cook at a gentle simmer for 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender and the sauce thickens.

Taste the sauce toward the end of cooking and adjust the salt, pepper, dried herbs, or sugar to balance the acuteness and acidity to your preference.

Parmesan White Sauce:

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Remove from hot plate; add the flour and whisk for about 30 seconds, or until well blended.

Place pot back onto stove, reduce heat down to low and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the milk until well combined. Once well blended, add the remaining milk in 1 cup increments, mixing well after each addition, until all the milk is used and sauce is free from lumps. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk until it turns into a nice and creamy consistency.

Increase heat to medium and continue cooking sauce while stirring occasionally until it thickens (about 6-7 minutes) and coats the back of your wooden spoon.

Add in the parmesan cheese and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper and mix until the cheese is melted through.

To Assemble:

Preheat oven to 350°F | 200°C.

Spoon about 1 cup of meat sauce onto the base of a 9×13-inch baking dish to prevent sticking and add flavor from the bottom up.

Cover the meat sauce layer with lasagna sheets. (Trim the sheets to fit over the meat if needed).

Layer with 2 cups of meat sauce (or enough to cover the pasta), and add half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat these layers, leaving the remaining cheese for the top.

Pour the remaining meat sauce and the white sauce over the very last layer of lasagna sheets.  Top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. 

Cover the lasagna (with aluminum foil) and bake for 40 minutes. After baking, uncover the lasagna and put it back in the oven for at least 10-12 minutes more, or until golden.

You can use the grill for this step, but just for 5-6 minutes. Be careful; you don't want to burn the lasagna.

Once beautifully golden and out of the oven, garnish with fresh parsley. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving. ENJOY!