As you know, a few weeks ago I shared my lasagne recipe with you as I think it's pretty good. Well, on the scale of good lasagne, I have been totally blown out of the water by our friends Emilie and Geoffroy, who made lasagne for us last night. I mean, theirs was just ridiculously good. And of course, wouldn't you know it, they would have to be from FRANCE.



They use a totally different structure to what we're used to- whereas we tend to use the basis of meat sauce, noodles, ricotta, and mozzarella, they use meat sauce, noodles, and bechamel. So you have to make meat sauce, and bechamel, and use fresh pasta so in some ways it's trickier and in some ways it's easier. It's also cheaper their way, because you don't have to buy so much fancy Italian cheese.

So, I give them props- and what do they give me? Recipes in French, or recipes like my own- no measurements or times or specifics. I humbly do my best here to share with you their methods.

The meat sauce is from Geoffroy's head and hopefully I remember what he explained to me after a few glasses of wine. One thing that should have been a no brainer for me is that he puts bacon in the meat sauce. I mean, how did I not think of that! Of course that's a great idea!

The bechamel recipe is from a French cooking site they swear by, which you can find here. Luckily I know enough food-related French to work it out, but if you no parlez Francais then you probably won't enjoy the website very much. Also, stuff is in grams. I know, I know. But I don't sympathize. I love the metric system.

I didn't take a picture because, meh, it just LOOKED like regular lasagne. But it tasted like a little bit of heaven.

Geoffroy's Lasagne
Emilie is a great cook and usually the one who prepares meals at their house- but in this instance, Geoffroy insisted he get the credit for his artistry.

Ingredients:

• bechamel sauce (recipe below)
• meat sauce (recipe below)
• about 1 lb. fresh lasagna noodles

Method:

• In a 9X13 pan, layer noodles, meat sauce, bechamel, and repeat until done.
• Cook at some undisclosed heat for some undisclosed amount of time. You know, until it's perfectly done as your French maman taught you.
• If I had to guess, I'd say 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Bechamel Sauce
If it doesn't work for you, just claim it's because my French isn't as good as it used to be and I mistraslated. I imagine you'd want to double this recipe for the lasagne. If you add grated cheddar or jack cheese to this sauce at the end, you get yummy cheese sauce to put on broccoli or cauliflower, like my non-French mom taught me.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• around 500 ml warm milk (that's basically, 2 cups)
• a little bit of heavy cream (that's what it says! un peu!)
• juice from one wedge of lemon
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Put the butter in a pan and melt it.
• When bubbling but not brown, add the flour and mix well just until smooth (a small whisk works best.)
• Add the milk little by little while whisking until it's all gone.
• Let simmer around 10 minutes while continuing to whisk, then add the cream and the lemon juice.
• It is basically impossibe ("quasi impossible", en Francais) to determine the exact quantity of liquid necessary to make it the right texture. So it should be like a thick creamy sauce.

Geoffroy's Bacon-Rich Meat Sauce
Bacon. YESSSSS! There are going to basically be no useful amounts in this recipe, I'm making them up completely, so if you're adventurous and confident, you should try it. But if it doesn't work don't blame me, blame Geoffroy. Or yourself. Anyone but me.

Ingredients:

• tomatoes (5?)
• carrots, cut into small cubes (3? 4?)
• chopped onions (1?)
• garlic (couple cloves?)
• chopped basil (10-20 leaves?)
• mushrooms, sliced (a basket?)
• ground beef (a pound?)
• bacon, cut in small pieces (8 slices?)
• red wine
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
  

Method:

• Heat a small pot of boiling water. Meanwhile, make a small X with a knife in the top of each tomato, just to score the skin.
• Using tongs, dip the whole tomatoes in for about 30 seconds, until the peel starts to come off at the X. Remove from heat and peel the skin off with your fingers.
• Heat some olive oil (a couple tablespoons) in a big pot and add the whole tomatoes. Smash the tomatoes down and cook on low for about 45 minutes (I just made that up! I have no idea how long!)
• Add the mushrooms to the tomatoes and cook another 15 minutes or so. (?!?!?!?!)
  
• Meanwhile, in a separate pan, cook the bacon. Drain the fat and add the ground beef. Cook until done and set aside.
• In another pan, heat some olive oil and cook the onions until brown, then add the carrots and the garlic and cook around another 10 minutes. Add some wine, I have no idea how much, I'm going to say, around a cup. Cook the wine off.
• An hour before you need it, put the meat and the onion/carrot mixture into the big pot with the tomatoes. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and cook on low for about an hour.
• Good luck with this, and let me know how it turns out if you try it!