Meat Lasagna with Pesto Bechamel

Lasagna night.  Not often we have it since its kinda labor intensive and you always have so much.  I usually just make a basic lasagna with meat sauce but I decided to change it up a bit (like I seem to always do) by adding in a bechamel sauce.  And I couldn't stop there so why not add some pesto?  Both are super easy to make (mind you the clean up not so much) and I love pesto, it's my go to spread for so many things.  The key to a great lasagna is to make sure to have even layers throughout. 

For the Lasagna:

16 Strips of Dried Lasagna

1 Lb Ground Beef

1 - 23 oz Jar Prego Marinara Sauce (Or Your Favorite)

8 oz Ricotta

4 Cups Grated Mozzarella Cheese

2 Cups Milk

1 Cup Homemade or Store Bought Basil Pesto

3 Tbs Freshly Grated Parmagiano Reggiano Cheese

3 Tbs Unsalted Butter

3 Tbs All-purpose Flour

2 Tbs Honey

1 Dried Bay Leaf

1/4 tsp Dried Red Pepper Flakes

Freshly Grated Nutmeg

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot with a good handful of salt in it.  In a large skillet over medium high heat add the ground beef.  Season well with kosher salt and pepper.  I use 80/20 beef so no oil is needed.  Cook till lightly brown, about 6 minutes.  Drain the fat, and add the marinara sauce, honey and red pepper flakes.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, add pasta to the boiling salted water and cook according to package directions.  While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Add flour and cook for about a minute.  Slowly add milk in and whisk till no lumps remain.  Add dried bay leaf, some kosher salt and pepper and a little freshly grated nutmeg.  Simmer til thickened and can coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and add in pesto sauce, mix well.  Drain pasta when finished and prepare to assemble.

In a large baking dish pour a little bit of the pesto sauce on the bottom of the pan.  Layer some pasta noodles (about 4 should be sufficient), then spread half of the meat sauce, crumble some of the ricotta around evenly around, 1/4 of the mozzarella and then layer with 4 more pasta noodles.  This time ladle some of the pesto bechamel, evenly spread it around, and 1/4 of the mozzarella and layer 4 more noodles.  Spread the remaining meat sauce, the ricotta and 1/4 more of the mozzarella.  Layer the final 4 pasta noodles, the remaining bechamel and mozzarella.  Top with the grated parmigiano reggiano and wrap some foil on the top.  Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and slice into even serving pieces.  Serve hot.