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1. Place a large thick-bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add a glug of olive oil and the minced beef and pork to the pot. Cook until all the liquid from the meat has evaporated, then add a good pinch of salt and continue to cook, stirring regularly, until nicely browned. Once done, transfer the meat to a bowl and set aside.
NOTE: you develop flavour by colouring the meat. Don’t worry about the water that comes out. Once this has evaporated, the colour will start to develop.
2. Put the butter in the same pan and place over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery and a pinch of salt and cook until very soft and translucent.
NOTE: By adding salt to the veg now, not only are we seasoning each step, but it will help to draw out the water content which means the veg doesn't burn or ‘catch’.
3. Return the meat to the pan, turn up the heat, and pour in the red wine. Cook over a high heat for 2 mins or until the wine no longer tastes of alcohol.
4. Put in your chopped tomatoes, 150ml of whole milk, and water or stock (a chicken or beef stock cube is absolutely fine). Turn the heat down to low. This is now your ragù.
5. Pop a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and let the ragù simmer very gently for at least 3 hours (ideally 6 hours, basically the longer the better).
NOTE: doing this evaporates the water, rehydrates the meat, and intensifies the flavour. If you're cooking it for longer and need to add a little water along the way then go for it. However, your end result should be ‘sauce-y’ and not watery. The longer the cooking time, the more tender your meat will be.
6. While the ragù cooks you can prep everything else… Put a large pan of salted water on a high heat. Add a good glug of olive oil to the water and then cook the lasagna sheets in two batches for 7-8 mins (basically a couple of mins less than the packet suggests).
NOTE: cooking lasagna sheets is the only time you should ever add olive oil to pasta-water.
7. When they’re ready, use tongs to transfer the sheets to a bowl of iced water. When cool, transfer to a clean tea towel to slightly dry.
8. For your béchamel sauce, melt 50g of butter in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Once melted, add 50g of flour and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine using a whisk, then leave to cook for 5 mins on a low heat.
9. Slowly add the remaining 600ml of milk (to avoid lumps forming, do this bit by bit so you combine the milk completely after each addition). Once your béchamel is smooth, add in the ricotta and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
10. When your ragù is done and you’re ready to assemble the lasagna…
Preheat your oven to 200°c/180°c fan. Lightly oil a large ovenproof dish and add a thin layer of the ricotta béchamel.
Spread it out, then add a layer of lasagna sheets (cutting any pieces as necessary to fit your dish). Spoon over a layer of the ragù and drizzle over some of the béchamel, sprinkle with Parmesan, and dot over the pieces of scamorza and mozzarella.
Now repeat these steps (pasta, ragù, béchamel, parmesan, scamorza and mozzarella) until the final layer which should be one of pasta topped with everything except the ragù.
NOTE: make sure you save enough béchamel to completely cover your final layer of pasta.
11. Cover with foil and bake for 30 mins. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for a further 15 mins. Remove from the oven and let the lasagna rest for 10-15 mins before serving.
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