CLASSIC LASAGNE
Lasagne’s classic recipe is the foundation of Italian cuisine.
Italians cook this iconic dish for important occasions, like Christmas or special dinners.
It takes time and passion for cooking to prepare it. Therefore, Your guests will surely be grateful to you!
Every person, every family, every region has a preferred version with some variation. Lasagne come with ragù, or pesto, vegetarian and also with salmon.
Here, I propose the Classic Lasagne dish, the one my family has prepared for generations according to our tradition. It might look like a complex preparation, but when you’ve done it once, it’ll come it easy.
I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Lasagne: many layers
Lasagna is composed of many Layers of ingredients:
- Meat and Tomato sauce called Ragù
- Lasagna, a kind of flat sheet of pasta
- Besciamella, a creamy milk sauce
- Mozzarella cheese
- Grated Parmigiano
Ragù Tomato Sauce and Besciamella Sauce are more complex preparations. They need to be cooked first.
Once they are ready, we’ll proceed with the layers that create the final Lasagne dish.
how to make lasagne
the Ingredients
CHECK ALSO THE GROCERY LIST AT THE END OF THE PAGE !
let's cook lasagne together
step by step
YOU'LL NEED:
“IL SOFFRITO”
The Sauteed Vegetables also called Mirepoix
- Cut the onion, celery, garlic, and carrots into tiny pieces.
- Put the finely chopped veggies into a giant high pan
- Add Extra Virgin Olive Oil generously ( about 6 spoons)
- Attach 2 pieces of Clover to a piece of carrot
- Add 3 Juniper Berries, Salt, Black Pepper
- Cook slowly until goldish
YOU'LL NEED:
“RAGU”
Mixed Minced Meat
- Add the minced meat
- Cook, it until done and well mixed with the veggies
- Taste it
- Add salt and pepper until balances in sapidity and taste
Tomato Cans
- Once the meat is cooked add the tomato cans and with a long spoon mix everything.
- Taste it. Add salt and pepper again if necessary
- Add the piece of bacon and remove it just at the end. ( to be removed at the end or chopped with the meat as preferred )
RAGU’ COOKING TIME
Ragù needs to cook for 3/4 hours. The ingredients should mix well with the tomato sauce. The meat should “soften.” The final result is a juicy sauce, where the tomato sauce tastes like meat and all the other ingredients.
RAGU’: LITTLE SECRET
Add a glass of milk and let it boil inside the ragù to add more balance to the sauce. Let it cook 20 minutes more after this.
YOU ARE THE CHEF
In general, the chef adjusts according to his taste. There’s not a unique recipe. Every family and person has his favorite version.
YOU'LL NEED:
“BESCIAMELLA”: THE MILK SAUCE
- Put a big piece of butter into a high pan.
- Add nutmeg powder ( I like one full teaspoon)
- Once the butter has melted, add enough flour to form a ball ( it must be soft but not breaking apart)
- Add 1 liter of milk ( slowly) and never stop pouring (or it will attach to the pan and burn)
- Add salt. ( taste it!)
Please turn off the stove once it becomes soft, creamy, and slightly consistent.
YOU'LL NEED:
MAKE THE LASAGNE: THE LAYERS
HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN ADD YOUR OWN STYLE TO THE LASAGNE.
- Take one big rectangular casserole dish.
- But some flakes of butter or olive oil and spread it all over the casserole
- Put the first layer of dry Lasagna Pasta and cover the bottom. This is the base of the lasagna.
- Start with the layers:
- Pasta (the first one is the base)
- Besciamella
- Ragu
- Mozzarella
- Parmesan
- And then again pasta…
Continue layer after layer until you finish the ingredients
The last layer should be of ragu and parmesan only.
LASAGNE: COOKING TIME
Put the oven at 180/ 200 degrees. Cover the casserole with aluminum paper to keep the humidity inside for the initial part, and let the lasagna cooks for 35 minutes. After this time, check with a fork, if the lasagna has softened inside. If ready – soft, remove the aluminum and let it cook for 15 minutes more without aluminum and 10 more minutes without the pasta cover- protection.
ADJUST TO YOUR TASTE
Keep in mind that Parmesan is a fundamental ingredient to build the final taste of the dish so spread generously at every layer.
The same applies to mozzarella.
YOU ARE THE CHEF
In general, the chef adjusts according to his taste. There’s not a unique recipe. Every family and person has his favorite version.
LITTLE SECRET 1
Cover the last layer with a “roof/ protection cover” made of dry lasagna pasta. Why? Once in the oven, the lasagna must cook so that the humidity of the ragu softens the lasagna. During this process, the last layer of the lasagna with the ragu on the top, if not protected, can burn. Therefore, this cover will protect the dish from burning.
NEVER FORGET
Ragù needs to cook for 3/4 hours. The ingredients should melt and mix well with the tomato sauce. The meat should “melt and soften.”
LITTLE SECRET 2
Add a glass of milk and let it boil inside the ragù to add more balance to the sauce. Let it cook 20 minutes more after this.
THE GROCERY LIST
RAGU’ FOR 6
- 6 tomato cans (800 GR)
- Mixed Minced meat ( pork 40% – beef 60%) ( 600/800 gr total) – I put1 kg because I like the ragu more solid and meaty.
- Tiny piece of Bacon (100 / 200 gr)
- Celery – 4/5 legs ( 50/ 80 gr)
- Carrots – 2 big or 3 medium (50/ 80gr)
- Onions – 1 big white ( 30/ 50 gr)
- Garlic – 3 cloves
SPICES
- Clover (2)
- Salt and pepper
- Gyn beams
- Butter & olive oil
FOR THE BESCIAMELLA
- Flour 00 (100gr)
- Butter (100gr)
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Whole Fat Milk ( 1 liter)
- If you want to prepare more besciamella use the same proportions.
LASAGNE COMPOSITION
- 8 mozzarella ( the cheapest at Bilka or Netto works perfectly) ( I would get even 10 just to be sure I don’t run out of mozzarella and have some extra to put on the top)
- 4 packs of grated parmesan ( I’d buy 2 more for extra flavors and be sure to have enough)
- 2 boxes of Egg lasagna
LOOKING FOR MORE?
CHECK HERE FOR OTHER WAYS TO COOK LASAGNE. THE RECIPES WILL BE SOON ON OUR BLOG!
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
❗ What many consumers don’t realize is something that people living millennia ago in ancient Greece took for granted; that extra virgin olive oil, all by itself, is one of the best beauty secrets. First, Olive Oil is a natural, hypoallergenic skin moisturizer.
Furthermore, virgin olive oil has the added advantage of providing potent antioxidants, including vitamin E and vitamin K. These vitamins help repair and renew skin that has been damaged from overexposure to sun, air pollution. Other modern-day environmental hazards like cigarette smoke and fast food create aging effects on the skin. The nutrients contained in olive oil have the natural ability to stimulate cells and return skin to a firmer, smoother, and healthier state.
Let’s provide a slightly more scientific explanation. The skin damage is related to the destructive activity of oxygen-related free radicals produced by skin cells. Polyphenolic components of olive oil are like the traditional antioxidants, such as tocopherols, used by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry to prevent skin damage. There are several simple and inexpensive ways to get the best skincare and beauty benefits from a single bottle of extra virgin olive oil. The rich emollients in olive oil allow just a little to go a long way.
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