This sounds like a wonderful recipe. I do have to ask, however- how strong is the clove flavor in this sauce? One entire clove is used? I'm not too crazy about cloves so I'm wondering if it is simply an enhancer or if you can actually taste it. Thank you.

I wanted to save this for a big Sunday dinner but here I am on Saturday and I couldn't wait. I was raised on my Mother's fabulous All-American Cheese-Laden Lasagna and couldn't believe how good this recipe sounded...without mozz! NO mozz? Unimaginable.

I followed to a "t" with two exceptions: I had no pancetta, so went with good supermarket bacon (I always buy "Bar S" bacon, which is miles above the rest)and I have no patience for boiling/draining/drying lasagne noodles so used the Oven-Ready kind. This changed the layering technique (you must have sauce on the bottom and sauce on the top in order to cook the noodles) and the cooking time (50-60").

This was the richest and most fantastic lasagne I've ever had. The bechamel was heavenly. I can't wait to share it with my Mom. She's in for a surprise!

Just wanted to say this is almost exactly the recipe my mother (born and raised in Tuscany) uses, with a few exceptions. We use beef, pork and veal in the sauce and no cinnamon, although I can't wait to try for the addition. As for now cheese, you will find that most pastas that traditional are stuffed ro layered with cheese in the southern regions of Italy are stuffed or layered with meat in the norther regions (i.e. meat ravioli, tortelline, cannelloni, etc.). In my family we do sprinkle with a combination of Parmeggiano Reggiano and Romano cheeses - not to add a layer, just to add flavor.

Thanks for the recipe and the mention of a cookbook that sounds like a must have.

By far the BEST lasagna I've ever eaten! Saw the recipe and had to try it...really easy to make, using ingredients I always have at home. My only change next time will be to add a bit more of the bechamel, maybe one and a half portions by this recipe. My husband didn't want to wait til the assembly, he just wanted a bowl of that fab meat sauce all by itself with a loaf of bread :>)

Awesome recipe! I agree with Kim in that this is the best I've ever had. I added some garlic to the soffritto, but apart from that, made it as written and it didn't disappoint. Tremendous!

I made this recipe for dinner last night...yum! (Here are some photos of the process, and the great results!) Thanks for sharing :)

I made this just the other night from this recipe and it was fabulous. Many thanks to both you, for highlighting it, and his loconess for sharing it. I'm a convert. :D

My boyfriend and I made this lasagna last night, into a 9x13 pyrex pan. We seemed to be a bit short on the meat sauce, though it was still very good.

Elise
I tried this lasagna over the holidays and it was absolutely delicious. I had the pleasure of visiting Tuscany last summer and loved their meat ragu. We would be walking around small villages at mealtime and you could hear people in their kitchens preparing food and more often than not, the smell of the food drifting out their open windows. Well, this meat sauce smelled EXACTLY the same. I could close my eyes and be transported back to Montepulciano!

I prepared it exactly as written, but I'd be curious to know if anybody has tried it with a lower fat milk, as I kept thinking about the fat content of whole milk the entire time I was eating!!!

Karen, don't sweat the fat content of the dish. It is not often that we take time out to please the palate. I prepare this lasagna twice per year, and the 4"x8" size I cook is only enough for 1 supper and 2 lunches. It is pleasing knowing smaller portions are more like satisfying treats than like regrettably large sized meals. Moreover, the good fats coming out of dairy products should not present an issue to those who maintain a well balanced diet.

An example of my meal portions follows. Be it known that I am working man on my feet 56 hours per week.

1.) Endive salad as this is meat based lasagna. I am usually light on the dressing and I never ever buy salad dressing. There's too many bad things in store bought brands. I shy from the canned olives too. I get mine in brine or oil. Also be wary of prebagged salad mixes as they are notoriously full of badness like mold, black widows, and e.coli.

2.) A small glass of mineral water.

3.) A cut of lasagna 2" tall, 4" wide, and about 2.5" long. This takes care of my starch, dairy, and meat consumption.

4.) A 4oz glass of a vine de pais like a Carlo Rossi Paisano for whopping $9 per gallon. -- to aid in digestion. Let's not waste the fine wine here. We want to taste the lasagna.

Also. One more thing. I might suggest when you go make the dough for the pasta here that you all use water strained from a head of lettuce en lieu of regular water. Its the most authentic method dating back to Ancient Greece.

I made this delicious lasagne bolognese for my family of foodies lastnight, and all agreed it was delicious! I did not miss the mozzarella or ricotta one bit. I have to say, that it is quite reminiscent of a moussaka -the spices,the onions, tomatoes,ground meat, and bechamel, all of which are classic ingredients in the traditional greek dish. I like this lasagna even better! David Rosengarten gives the suggestion of using "no-boil" lasagna, and par-boiling it for 3 minutes, then layering the lasagna and baking it.It results in a finished product and texture that is fabulous. The layers are thin, not doughy, and just perfectly complement the sumptuous rich layers of sauces. I added lots of parmigiano reggiano in between the layers.This is a new special occassion meal for me to make, I'm thrilled with it. One more change I made-Instead of clove I used allspice, and cinnamon. I also added fresh nutmeg to my bechamel sauce.Dee-licios!

Used this recipe as a roadmap with a few alterations, most notably the addition of wine and mushrooms to the sauce. WOW! Extremely decadent and undeniably, out of this world, delicious. Can't wait to make for company. Sooooo worth the time and effort. Thanks, Elise for posting, and of course, El Cocinero Loco for sharing!

I made this incredible lasagna last night for a family dinner. To feed the amount of people that came I had to double the recipe. The compliments on how wonderful the meal was was non-stop! This is an amazing entree that is certainly worth the time time and effort.

The only tweaks that I would do is to make a bit more of the bolognese sauce so that there'll be a thin layer of it on the top layer of pasta and I'll also cover the casserole dish with tin foil to retain moisture. When following the recipe that top layer got a bit too dry and wasn't easy to slice a fork through. Other than that it is amazing and quite memorable. =D

I made this with a few modifications... I substituted bacon for the pancetta, skipped the pork, used 8 oz of sausage, and added 1/3 cup of fresh basil in place of the clove. Also, when making the Béchamel, I just dumped everything together in one pot rather than going through all the steps. Worked fine for me. It took me five hours to make, but it was worth it -- definitely the best lasagna I've ever had. The dripping cream and grease make me question how healthy it is, though ;)

Excellent recipe. The results were fantastic and very close to the authentic lasagna I had throughout my numerous trips to Italy.

My only caveat (and don't we all have some?), is that most lasagna I had in Italy had spinach pasta layers. I plan to do that the next time I make this. Hopefully my pasta making skills will have improved by then.

For this version I used Barilla no-cook sheets but I soaked them in hot water for 5 minutes (from a tip I read about in Cooks Illustrated). Worked fine. That way they didn't suck up too much bechamel sauce. Be wary of adding too much clove. It can really affect the smell and taste of the whole dish. I added 1-1/2 because mine were old. It was a tad too strong but not enough to ruin the dish.

Overall rating is A+

I was very excited to make this recipe and I must say I was not dissapointed at all! It was very popular with my family and I enjoyed it way more than regular lasagna. My dad is quite a picky vegetable eater so unfortunately I was forbidden to use the celery, carrots, and onions. :( I had a little confusion on whether i was supposed to drain the canned tomatoes or not. I did drain them and then pureed them (my dad will not eat a piece of tomatoe...it must be pureed) and added them to the meat sauce. After letting it simmer for just a little less than an hour, there was not much sauce left to the meat sauce, so I stopped cooking it for fear there would be no more sauce, only meat, if I continued to cook it. Did anyone else have this problem? It ended up great though, so i'm very pleased!

I tried this recipe and it was outstanding! Never thought I could leave out garlic and mozzarella and still have a terrific dish. The only substitutions I made was using crushed tomatoes and I added more Italian sausage in place of the pork. Definitely worth the trouble! I made the ragu the day before and refrigerated. Next day, I removed the solidified fat that formed on the top and continued with the recipe. I would make this again without hesitation! Thank you for posting.

The flavors were amazing! Thanks for posting this recipe. I was a little hesitant to make a lasagne without a lot of cheese... but it was definitely worth it. =)

I made this last night for a family holiday dinner, and yes, it is as wonderful as it sounds! I used a larger pan (11"x14"), and doubled both sauces. I did not double the lasagna noodles, though, I cooked the whole 1 pound box and had 3 noodles leftover! The proportions of extra sauce were just perfect. And I used 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves and they were not at all noticable in the sauce. Terrific recipe as always, thanks Elise and Mr. Loco!

It's awesome! This lasagna looks & tastes great!

It's Awesome!
I just made it the 2nd time for my family & it was good. The first time, it got burnt a bit. The second time though, it's really good.
I can't believe there's no Mozzarella!

Well, I has posted a comment for this lasagna recipe about a year ago. I've decided to make this amazing lasagna once again. I would like to add a couple of suggestions. I feel that adding parmigiano cheese directly atop the final pasta layer, creates a dry, tough, crunchy texture, which I find unappealing. To remedy this, I made a small extra batch of bechamel sauce. (2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp flour, one cup milk, a pinch of salt and grated nutmeg.) I smeared it on top of the final pasta layer, and grated the cheese right on top of the sauce. I haven't baked it yet, but I think this will resolve that problem. The meat sauce for this dish is unreal. It is difficult not to eat spoonfuls of this rich meat sauce straight out of the pot.I can't wait to eat this tonight!