After coming across a lamb lasagne a few months ago I thought I’d give one a go. We were having an Italian night and it seemed like a good excuse. Slow cooking a lamb shoulder and adding it to a ragu mean you get less fat from the lamb. You could easily eat the ragu with any pasta, doesn’t need to be a lasagne.
Serves: 6 as a main
Cooking time: 5 hours
Ingredients
- Lamb shoulder, 1.5kg bone-in
- Dried oregano, 3 tbsp
- 1 onion, chopped into chunks
- 2 garlic cloves
- Sprigs of rosemary
For the ragu
- 3 onions, 3 chopped
- 4 carrots, chopped (roughly 250g)
- Pancetta, 150g
- Bottle of red wine
- 5 cloves garlic
- Passata, 300ml
- 6 tomatoes, chopped
- 4 bay leaves
- Tomato puree, 1 tbsp
- Lamb (or beef) stock, ~400ml
- Lasagna sheets
For the cheese sauce
- White flour, 45g
- Butter, 45g
- Milk, 500ml
- Parmesan cheese, 100g
- Gruyere cheese, 100g
- Cheddar cheese, 75g
- Dijon mustard, 3 tsp
Method
Start with the lamb – heat the over to 1500C. Dab the lamb dry and rub a little olive oil into the flesh. Make several incisions into the lamb flesh and push in a slice of garlic and a sprig of rosemary. Season all over with the oregano, salt and black pepper. Place the lamb into a roasting dish on top of a roughly chunked onion. Cover with foil and cook for around 4 hours.
I like to cook the ragu for as long as the lamb. Cook the onions and carrots for around 10mins, until soft. Add the pancetta and brown. Next, reduce the wine to around one-third of the original volume, add it in 3 lots if it’s easier. Once reduced add the passata, tomatoes, stock and bay leaves. Let this simmer away whilst the lamb cooks, you may need to top up with water from time to time.
When the lamb is ready shred the meat off the bone using 2 folks and add it to the ragu.
To make the cheese sauce warm the milk in a pan and keep on the hob. Make a roux by melting the butter in a pan and mixing in the flour. Add the warm milk to the roux whisking well as you go. When the sauce is just bubbling add the cheeses and mustard. Check the seasoning and set aside.
To make the lasagne layer pasta sheets, ragu and then cheese sauce and repeat. you want around 3-4 layers depending on the shape of your dish. If you like it extra cheesy you can grate cheddar cheese on top before placing into an oven (1800C) for 35mins.
