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You are here: Home / Recipes / Baking / BAKED LASAGNE

BAKED LASAGNE

May 25, 2012 By Manu 13 Comments

Lasagne

Today I want to share with you the recipe for one of the most iconic Italian dishes ever: lasagne.  It is a dish for special occasions or Sunday lunches spent with family and friends… so it is more time consuming than a mid-week dish.  But I can guarantee you that you will not mind the little bit of extra work involved after you taste the first bite.  This is one of the first dishes I learnt how to make.  My parents and I would work on it all together.  My mum would make the meat sauce and the béchamel sauce, my dad would make the pasta sheets and I would assemble the final dish.  I have a great memory of Saturday afternoons spent preparing lasagne for a special Sunday lunch.  I am going to include this recipe in my Regional Italian dishes series, under Emilia-Romagna, though I must admit that evey family in Italy has its own recipe for lasagne and this is my family’s version (similar but not exactly the same as the version/s of Emilia-Romagna).  Another small note before I leave you to the recipe: we do not use chicken for lasagne.  I have never eaten lasagne (or other pasta to tell you the truth) made with chicken.  You can however, use pork or veal or a mix of beef, pork and veal mince for the meat sauce.  Also, the correct name is lasagne (plural) and not lasagna (singular)… as there is more than 1 sheet of pasta in there!  I hope you make this dish, maybe together with your loved ones and that it can be a source of lovely memories for the future, as it is for me.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

For the sauce
1 kg – 2.2 lbs. beef mince
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
80 ml – 2.7 oz. red wine
1 carrot, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 celery talk, finely diced
800 ml – 27 oz. diced tomatoes
300 ml – 10 oz. tomato purée
140 gms – 5 oz. tomato concentrate
1 bay leaf
½ tbsp rosemary
¼ tbsp fennel seeds
Salt and pepper

For the layers
Egg pasta sheets (made with 3 eggs and 300 gms – 10.5 oz. flour)
1 lt – 33.8 oz. béchamel sauce
250 gms – 8.8 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced
120 gms – 4.2 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated

To make the sauce

Put the extra virgin olive oil, celery, carrot and onion (1) and sauté for a few minutes, until the vegetables are soft (2).  Add the mince (3), stir well and break all lumps with a wooden spoon.  When the meat is nicely browned, add the wine (4) and cook off the alcohol by increasing the flame.  Then add all the tomatoes (5), herbs, salt and pepper and fill with water till the brim of the pot (6).  Lower the flame to medium- low, cover and let the sauce cook for at least 1 hour, or until thick.  Keep aside.

To assemble

Put a large pot with salty water on the fire and bring to a boil.  Cook the pasta sheets in it for 1 minute.  Do this in batches (I use a shallow but large pot and I cook them in 1 layer, so I am sure they do not stick together).  Remove them with a slotted spoon and put them on a clean tea towel to cool down.

Now you are all set to start assembling your lasagne.

Start with a layer of meat sauce at the bottom of an oven proof dish (1).  Add a layer of cooled pasta sheets, making sure not to overlap them (2).  Now cover them with a layer of meat sauce (3), some béchamel sauce, sliced mozzarella and grated Parmigiano Reggiano (4).  Do this for 5 to 6 layers (5).  On the last layer (the top most layer), do not put mozzarella or it will burn and it will taste bitter (6).

Cook the lasagne in a pre heated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 20 minutes, then grill for 5 to 10 minutes until the top gets golden brown.  Serve warm.

Lasagne

NOTES:  you can make the meat sauce the day before you assemble lasagne and you can assemble them the day before you serve them.  Store them in the fridge and remember to take them out a few hours before baking them (you have to bring them back to room temperature) to make sure they do not remain cold on the inside even after they are baked.

Lasagne

Lasagne

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Related Posts:

  • LASAGNE VERDI
  • PESTO LASAGNE
  • Porcini and Taleggio Lasagne
  • Radicchio and Taleggio Lasagne
  • LASAGNE WITH ZUCCHINI PESTO, SPECK AND SMOKED SCAMORZA

Filed Under: Baking, Italian, Mains, Meat, Pasta, Regional Italian Dishes, Special Occasions Tagged With: bake, baking, bechamel, dinner, egg, egg pasta, Emilia Romagna, family, Italian, Italy, lasagne, lunch, main dish, meat, mozzarella, pasta, Regional Italian Dishes, special occasion, traditional

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Comments

  1. Asiya says

    May 26, 2012 at 8:37 am

    These looks amazing..making me very hungry!!!

    Reply
  2. Mi Vida en un Dulce says

    May 26, 2012 at 9:09 am

    Oh yes, what is more Italian than a lasagne? I love, and doesn’t matter what it has inside, I just like the smell, and the melted cheese.

    Reply
  3. [email protected] says

    May 26, 2012 at 4:36 pm

    I am bookmarking this recipe, as I have a kilo of mince in the freezer to use up. It looks divine!

    Reply
  4. [email protected] says

    May 26, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    Yum looks great manu.

    Reply
  5. Giulietta | Alterkitchen says

    May 27, 2012 at 3:30 am

    This is Italy! And it’s funny how every lasagna is different from another one 😉

    Reply
  6. Jennifer says

    May 27, 2012 at 10:14 am

    Wow! This looks fantastic. We also never ate lasagne with chicken. I can’t wait to test out this recipe.

    Reply
  7. Cristy says

    May 28, 2012 at 12:24 am

    Hi Manu! I wonder if this would be good if assembled and frozen before baking?? I’ve done it a zillion times, but only with pre-made (ew) lasagne noodles, not fresh. This time I’d like to do fresh like you. The lasagne would be frozen for about 4 weeks. Think they would hold up ok?

    Reply
    • Manu says

      May 28, 2012 at 10:38 am

      Hi Cristy! Yes!!! You can… I often do! Just defrost it and bring it back to room temperature before you bake it, or the center will remain cold. 🙂 Let me know how you like it! 🙂

      Reply
      • Cristy says

        May 28, 2012 at 10:40 am

        Wheeeeeeee!!! Thanks, Manu! Can’t wait to see what yumminess you have in store for us next! 🙂 🙂

        Reply
  8. [email protected] says

    May 28, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Nothing like a nice lasagne to start off winter..i feel a craving coming along YUM!

    Reply
  9. Nami | Just One Cookbook says

    May 28, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    Sorry I’ve been MIA but I have been following your posts through emails and this lasagne recipe made me crave for lasagne crazy!! I want to go to Italy or your home right now! 😉

    Reply
  10. Nuts about food says

    June 1, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    That is one perfect-looking lasagna!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Gnocchi alla Romana says:
    October 27, 2017 at 4:14 pm

    […] more and freeze it for later.  I freeze so many things: gnocchi (both potato and ricotta ones), lasagne (both assembled or just the pasta sheets), ravioli, tortellini, gyoza or momos, sofficini, fish […]

    Reply

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Hi! I am Manu, the author of Manu's Menu. I was born and brought up in Italy and my blog can show you how to create authentic Italian food in your own home! Read More…

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