Classic lasagna is a delicious and hearty Italian dish. This type of pasta appeared in the 13th century in Naples and established itself as a national dish. The lasagna recipe necessarily includes the stage of preparing two important and very tasty sauces: Bolognese and Bechamel. Today, there are those who experiment with sauces for this pasta, and prepare them using other ingredients.
The complete process of making Italian lasagna is not complicated, but quite long. But if desired, even a novice culinary specialist will get this delicious dish, which you can surprise your loved ones and friends with.
The first sauce - "Bolognese" or "Meat sauce"
For cooking you will need:
- 2 tbsp. olive oil;
- 1 small onion;
- 1 stalk of celery;
- 2 heads of garlic;
- 1 carrot;
- 500 g minced meat;
- 1 tsp salt;
- ground black pepper to taste;
- 2 tbsp. dry red wine;
- pulp from two tomatoes.
Step 1. In a food processor or blender, chop the onion, garlic, celery and carrots as finely as possible.
Step 2. In a saucepan or frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, add chopped vegetables. Fry for one minute, then add minced meat, salt and black pepper. Cook for 20 minutes.
Step 3. Pour in 2 tbsp. red wine, add pulp from the tomatoes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat. The Bolognese sauce is ready.
Second sauce - "Bechamel" or "White sauce"
In order to prepare this sauce, you will need:
- 4 tablespoons butter;
- 2 heads of garlic;
- ½ tsp salt;
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper;
- 2 tbsp. wheat flour;
- 1 glass of milk;
- 1 glass of cream.
Step 1. Finely chop the garlic. Melt butter in a saucepan or skillet over medium heat, add chopped garlic. Saute for 30 seconds, until the garlic is golden brown.
Step 2. Mix flour, salt and black pepper and pour into a saucepan.
Step 3. Pour milk and cream into a saucepan. Stir the sauce thoroughly until smooth, breaking the lumps of flour and bubbles that appear with a spatula. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. The Bechamel sauce is ready.
Another lasagna sauce is tomato
To make tomato lasagna sauce, you will need:
- 2 tbsp. olive oil;
- pulp from 5-6 tomatoes;
- 1 head of garlic;
- 1 tsp Sahara;
- 1 tsp salt;
- ½ tsp ground black pepper;
- ¼ glass of fresh basil.
Step 1. Grind the basil very finely in a food processor or blender. Finely chop the garlic.
Step 2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, fry the garlic in it until golden brown. Add tomato pulp, sugar, salt, black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chopped basil. The tomato sauce is ready.
How to prepare a classic lasagna with two sauces step by step?
This dish will take 1 hour 40 minutes + 1 hour for sauces. Homemade baked lasagna can be frozen, saving time later on preparing family dinners.
Required ingredients for 6 servings:
- tomato and white sauce (according to the recipe above);
- packaging with lasagna sheets (300 g);
- 2 tbsp. olive oil;
- 750 g minced meat. If the minced meat is lean, for example, beef, you can additionally add 100 g of bacon, cut into a thin layer.
- 200 ml of hot meat broth;
- a little ground nutmeg;
- 125 g mozzarella or any other cheese.
- baking dish 20x30 cm.
Step 1. First you need to prepare the tomato sauce according to the recipe above.
Step 2. Preparing the Bolognese sauce. To do this, pour 2 tablespoons. olive oil in a large skillet, add minced meat. If the pan is small, you can divide the minced meat preparation in two steps. Fry over medium heat for 7-10 minutes. Optionally add chopped bacon and leave a little to garnish the lasagna.
Step 3. Pour the tomato sauce and 200 ml of meat broth into the prepared minced meat. Add salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and black pepper. Cook for 30 minutes over low heat.
Step 4. Prepare white Bechamel sauce according to the above recipe.
Step 5. Prepare a baking dish. Place a layer of minced meat. Then put the sheets of lasagna. Brush with white sauce. Layer the minced meat again. Then - sheets of lasagna and again cover with white sauce. Repeat this one more time. Sprinkle the last layer of white sauce with mozzarella or other cheese. Bake in the oven at 200 ° C for 45 minutes.
Classic lasagna is served for dinner with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. This dish goes well with green beans, mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, salad, or fried vegetables.
Calorie content per 100 g of a dish: 200 kcal, proteins - 10 g, fats - 7 g, carbohydrates - 17 g.
Step-by-step lasagna recipe with ricotta and basil sauce
Two sauces are traditionally used in the preparation of Italian lasagna. However, today many culinary experts are moving away from the classics of cooking and often experiment with ingredients.
This lasagna uses its own sauce, which can add variety to a traditional recipe. You will need:
- 1 package with lasagna sheets;
- 2 cups fresh spinach;
- some grated mozzarella or parmesan cheese for topping.
For the meat sauce:
- 2 tbsp. olive oil;
- 500 g of bacon, salami or homemade sausage;
- 1 medium onion;
- 2-3 cloves of garlic;
- 2 tsp dried oregano;
- ¼ tsp dried red pepper;
- pulp from 6-7 tomatoes. Adding 1 tbsp. tomato paste will improve the taste of the sauce.
For the cheese sauce:
- 1.5 cups fresh basil leaves;
- 200 g ricotta cheese;
- 170 g mozzarella cheese;
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (50 g);
- 2 egg yolks or 1 large egg;
- ½ tsp salt;
-¼ tsp ground black pepper.
Step 1. Chop the onion and garlic cloves.
Step 2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add sliced bacon or sausage slices. Fry the meat product, adding onions, garlic, oregano spices, red pepper. Keep on fire for 10 minutes.
Step 3. Add tomato pulp to meat. Boil. Reduce heat and hold for another 5 minutes. Add salt and ground black pepper. Remove from heat.
Step 4. Grate mozzarella and parmesan cheese on a fine grater.
Step 5. In a food processor, until smooth, mix the ricotta cheese, basil, 2 egg yolks (or one egg), salt and ground black pepper.
Step 6. Place the spinach in boiling water for 1 minute. Pull out, squeeze through cheesecloth. Put in a bowl and season with salt.
Step 7. We collect lasagna. Preheat oven to 180 ° C. Lightly grease a baking dish with olive oil. Lay out the meat layer, on top of which lay three lasagna sheets. Brush with cheese sauce and sprinkle with spinach and grated mozzarella. Repeat twice more. Sprinkle topping with grated cheese.
Step 8. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until golden brown.
Delicious recipe for lasagna from your own dough with sour cream and garlic sauce
You can make your own lasagna sheets. It is enough to cook the dough and roll it out in layers.
For a light sauce when serving: Mix 120 g sour cream and chopped garlic clove. Spices can be added if desired.
The test will require:
- 1 large egg;
- ¾ glasses of sour cream;
- 8 tbsp. softened butter;
- 1 clove of garlic (minced);
- 1 tsp salt;
- 2-2.5 cups flour.
For the filling you will need:
- 1 kg of potatoes;
- salt to taste;
- ground black pepper to taste;
- 1 glass of hot heavy cream;
- 50 g diced butter;
- 2 tbsp. olive oil;
- 400-500 g of chopped bacon;
- 2 onions, cut into rings;
- 1, 5 cups of grated hard cheese;
- 1, 5 cups of mozzarella.
Step 1. Preparation of the dough. Whisk together the egg, sour cream, soft butter, finely chopped garlic, salt. Add flour and knead the dough. Place it in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours to 2 days.
Step 2. Cooking the filling. Peel the potatoes, cut into large wedges and boil in salted water until tender. Drain the water. Add heavy hot cream and cold butter, make mashed potatoes. Spice up.
Step 3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the bacon and fry over medium heat for 10 minutes. Place the bacon on a plate.
Step 4. In the same frying pan, fry the onion slices until golden brown.
Step 5. Make lasagna sheets. Divide the dough into 9-12 pieces. Roll out each piece in the form of a rectangular strip measuring 10x20 cm and 3 mm thick.
Step 6. We collect lasagna. In greased with olive oil, put a layer of dough on the bottom of a baking dish, then potato mass, then fried bacon, onions and grated cheese. Repeat all layers.
Step 7. Bake in the oven at 180 ° C until the lasagne is lightly browned. Drizzle with sour cream and garlic sauce.
