Italian Grandma’s Lasagna Recipe

Attention! Recipe from our Italian grandmother! I must admit that I’ve never eaten a more delicious lasagna! ?

Our lasagna recipe begins with the sauce! This sauce is used for lasagna and other recipes as well. In Italian, this sauce is called Ragù alla Bolognese! This recipe is usually made from a mixture of ground pork and beef, but it’s entirely possible to prepare this sauce using only beef.

You will need:

• 1/4 Onion
• 1 Garlic clove
• 1/2 Celery stalk
• Parsley
• 500g Ground beef
• 200g Ground pork
• 200ml White wine
• Olive oil
• Butter
• 500g Tomato sauce
• 250g Fresh tomatoes
• Basil

To start, finely chop the onion, parsley, carrot, garlic, and celery. Chop them finely and sauté them in a saucepan with olive oil.

Then, add the ground meat and about 15g of butter, and sauté them together for a bit.

Add the wine, and as soon as the wine evaporates, add the tomatoes and basil. Cook the sauce over low heat for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Add salt after adding the tomatoes. If you add it earlier, the meat will release too much liquid.

The sauce should be thick but not dry or watery.

Tips:

If desired, you can add 200ml of milk 5 minutes before the sauce is ready, especially if you find that your sauce has become too dry.

If you like, you can also add 200g of ground bacon to the meat.

Now, the Béchamel sauce recipe. I must admit, I don’t add Béchamel to the meat lasagna, but I’ll share the recipe with you.

You will need:

• 1 liter of milk
• 100g of butter
• 100g of flour
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of nutmeg

Place the butter in a small saucepan and melt it over low heat.

Add the flour and quickly stir it well while keeping it on the heat.

Cook the resulting mixture until it becomes golden brown.

Gradually add warm milk, stirring constantly with a whisk. Place it over medium heat and continue stirring until the mixture becomes smooth and thickens.

Now, add nutmeg and salt, and mix well.

⭐️ If your béchamel sauce forms lumps, don’t worry. Take a sieve and strain your béchamel through it. This way, you’ll get rid of any lumps that have formed.

Cover the béchamel with plastic wrap. It should tightly adhere to the surface of the béchamel. This is necessary to prevent the formation of a skin and to create a tight film on top.

Tips:

If your Béchamel sauce forms lumps in the end, don’t worry. Take a sieve and strain your Béchamel through it. This way, you will get rid of all the formed lumps.

Fresh Pasta Recipe for Lasagna.

You will need:

• 5 Eggs
• 400g Hard flour for pasta
• 100g Flour (You can use only 500g of flour. Proportion: for every 100g of flour, use 1 egg)

1. To start, in a high-capacity container, mix the flour and eggs, gradually adding the flour to the eggs.
2. Then, place the dough on a work surface and continue kneading vigorously for about 10 minutes!
3. Now, cover the dough and leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes.
4. Next, cut it into small, flat pieces (as shown in the video) and start passing the dough through a pasta machine. Begin with the largest size and gradually move to thinner settings. Finish on the second-to-last size on the machine.

Tips:

• The dough and pasta sheets should not heat up too much, and always lightly dust each sheet with flour on both sides.

Now, let’s move on to the final stage of preparation!

You will need:

• Bolognese sauce
• Béchamel sauce (optional)
• 2-3 Mozzarella cheese
• 250g Parmesan cheese
• Butter
• 21 pasta sheets (store-bought)

1. To start, bring water to a boil and cook each pasta sheet for 2-3 minutes (if using dry pasta) or 1/2-1 minute for fresh pasta. Cool the cooked pasta in cold water and lay it out on a clean towel.
2. Now, on the bottom of a baking dish, spread a little sauce and a bit of butter or béchamel.
3. Then, layer the pasta to cover the bottom.
4. Next, add sauce, béchamel (if desired), a small amount of mozzarella, and top it with grated Parmesan cheese. ❗️In this dish, the sauce and Parmesan play the main role. The pasta should be fully coated with sauce, and don’t skimp on the Parmesan. Pay attention to the edges of the pasta; they tend to dry out first.
5. Alternate layers of pasta, sauce, béchamel, Parmesan, and a bit of mozzarella.
6. The final top layer does not include mozzarella, only Parmesan. If you’re not using béchamel, use a bit of butter following our grandmother’s recipe (see the video and photos).
7. Bake the lasagna at 180 degrees Celsius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) for 45-55 minutes. But as soon as the lasagna’s color turns golden brown, cover it with a baking paper sheet and continue baking. You can reduce the temperature to 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit).
8. Remove the lasagna and let it cool to room temperature.

Titles:

• Lasagna is one of those dishes that you can prepare in advance.
• You can make lasagna and bake it the next day.
• If you are using all fresh ingredients, you can freeze the lasagna without baking it. Thaw the lasagna for 24 hours and bake it as specified in the recipe.

I apologize if the video has a Russian title and lacks translation, but I highly recommend taking a look to see all the steps.