Meat Lasagna with Basil and Yellow Cheese – Gluten-free version

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Meat sauce

1. 1
   Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

   ⚙ Preheating the OvenOven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
2. 2
   Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStovePot
3. 3
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
5. 5
   Raise the heat to medium-high and add the meat. Press it flat over the bottom and leave it for 2–3 minutes without stirring, until a brown crust forms.

   Stove

   💡Brown ground beef in the pot without pressing it: leave it as one 'cake' for a few minutes until a brown crust forms, then break it into chunks. Deep browning = deep flavor.
6. 6
   Break it up with a wooden spoon and fry for 5–7 more minutes, stirring, until no pink is left and the meat browns.

   StoveWooden spoon
7. 7
   Add the tomato sauce, oregano and basil, season with salt and black pepper and bring to a boil.

   Stove

   💡Add a pinch of sugar or half a grated carrot to a tomato sauce. The natural sugar balances the acidity. Do not add baking soda: it changes the texture and the taste.
8. 8
   Serve hot 0.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡The slower the sauce cooks, the thicker it gets and the better the flavors blend. 20–30 minutes make a quick meat sauce; an hour and a half to two hours over low heat make a rich Bolognese.

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.

For the Béchamel

1. 9
   Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat, add the gluten-free flour blend and stir 1–2 minutes, until a smooth roux forms and starts to bubble.

   StovePot
2. 10
   Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly, and cook 5–8 minutes, until the sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon.

   StoveWhisk

   💡Add the milk slowly, whisking constantly, so no lumps form. For gluten-free pasta, the common ratio is about 7 g gluten-free flour blend per 100 ml milk (4 tablespoons gluten-free flour blend to 2 cups): more gluten-free flour blend gives a thick béchamel, for moussaka; less gluten-free flour blend gives a soft béchamel, for a sauce.

To assemble

1. 11
   Layer in a baking pan: the meat sauce, the gluten-free pasta sheets, béchamel and yellow cheese, and repeat the layers 3 times. Finish with a layer of béchamel and sprinkle the rest of the yellow cheese on top.

   Baking pan
2. 12
   Bake 40–45 minutes, until the gluten-free pasta turns golden.

   ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
3. 13
   Leave the gluten-free pasta out of the oven 10 minutes, and only then cut.