Ground beef cooked down with a blended sofrito of onion, bell pepper, garlic and tomato paste, layered with pre-cooked pasta, bechamel and mozzarella. Three layers and half an hour in the oven.
The sofrito goes in the blender
This is the step that separates a Colombian lasagna from an Italian one, and it takes thirty seconds.
Onion, red bell pepper, garlic and tomato paste all go into the blender together and come out as a smooth base. That base is poured over the browned beef rather than being sweated in the pan first.
What you get is a sauce that is smooth rather than chunky, sweeter from the bell pepper, and ready in fifteen minutes instead of two hours. It is how a great many things are cooked in Colombia and it is why the whole dish fits inside an afternoon.
The bechamel has to actually thicken
The recipe as published asked for one tablespoon of flour to thicken a cup of milk plus half a cup of water. That is not enough by a factor of three, and a bechamel made to that ratio never sets.
It matters more here than in most dishes. A thin bechamel does not stay between the layers: it runs to the bottom of the dish during the thirty minutes in the oven, so the base turns to soup and the top sheet of pasta bakes dry and hard because there was nothing left to soften it.
Three tablespoons of flour to a cup and a half of liquid is the working ratio, and the test is visual: it should coat the back of a spoon and hold a line when you draw a finger through it.
Pre-cooked sheets need liquid
The pasta in this recipe never goes into a pot of water. It softens in the oven, and the only moisture available is what is already in the dish.
So do not drain the meat sauce, and be generous with the bechamel between the layers. The commonest failure with pre-cooked sheets is a lasagna that comes out with hard edges and a crunchy top, and it is always the same cause.
The top layer is the most exposed, which is why the last step covers it generously rather than sprinkling.
Let it stand
Ten minutes out of the oven before the knife goes in.
Hot from the oven the cheese and bechamel are liquid and the whole thing slides off the spatula in pieces. Ten minutes and it sets enough to lift a square that holds its shape.
It is the difference between a plate that looks like the photograph and one that does not, and it costs nothing.
More things with ground beef
- Sopa de albóndigas — the same meat, in broth.
- Bechamel sauce — on its own, with the right ratio.
- Papas rellenas — another use for the beef.
- Colombian empanadas — and another.
Colombian Lasagna FAQ
The sauce, mostly. It starts from a blended sofrito of onion, red bell pepper, garlic and tomato paste rather than a long-simmered Italian ragù, and it is seasoned with oregano, thyme and bay rather than with basil. It is quicker and the flavour is rounder and sweeter.
Not enough flour. One tablespoon to a cup and a half of liquid, which is what this recipe used to say, cannot thicken. Three tablespoons is the right amount, and it should coat the back of a spoon before it goes into the dish.
No. This uses pre-cooked lasagna sheets, which soften in the oven using the moisture from the sauces around them. That is why you should not drain the meat sauce and should be generous with the bechamel.
350°F (180°C) for 30 minutes. The recipe previously said 355°F, which is the exact conversion of 180°C but is not a setting on any oven dial.
Three, finished with a fourth sheet of pasta covered in bechamel and parmesan. One box of pre-cooked sheets is about right.
Yes, and it is better for it. The sheets soften overnight in the fridge and the finished lasagna cuts more cleanly. Add ten minutes to the baking time from cold.
Because a lasagna straight out of the oven is molten and slides apart on the spatula. Ten minutes on the counter is enough for it to set into squares.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef (900 g)
- 2 onions (one for the sauce, one for the bechamel)
- 1 small red bell pepper
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 garlic cloves
- Oregano, thyme and bay leaves
- 1 lb mozzarella cheese (sliced)
- 1 box of pre-cooked lasagna pasta (about 9 oz, enough for four layers)
- ½ cup parmesan cheese (grated, for the top)
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons wheat flour (for the bechamel)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon butter
Notas
Instructions
- Blend one onion, the bell pepper, the garlic and the tomato paste.
- Season the ground beef and brown it in a hot skillet with oil.
- Once browned, add the blended mixture along with a couple of bay leaves, a pinch of thyme and oregano.
- When it starts to boil, lower to medium heat and cook for 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
- Separately, make the bechamel. Boil the milk with ½ cup of water or chicken broth, the other onion, the butter, salt and pepper. When it boils, dissolve the flour in a little cold milk or water and pour it in, stirring continuously so it does not go lumpy. Keep stirring until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- To assemble, spread a little of the meat sauce over the base of an ovenproof dish. Lay down a sheet of pasta, then more meat sauce, some bechamel and slices of mozzarella. Add another layer of pasta and repeat until you have three layers.
- Finish with a sheet of pasta and cover it generously with bechamel. Scatter the parmesan on top and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 30 minutes.
- Serve hot.
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