A classic of Italian cuisine, from Emilia, are lasagna: sheets of egg pasta interspersed with ragù, béchamel and parmesan and then baked in the oven. Irresistible. In recent days, many people have asked me for the recipe and so here it is.
Ingredients
For the lasagna pasta
- 300 gr flour
- 3 eggs
Alternatively, you can buy ready-made pasta: Giovanni Rana’s fresh leaf is excellent (click here to find out more)
Meat sauce
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 celery
- 700 gr ground meet (pork and cow)
- 150 gr row ham (optional)
- 3 table spoons extra virgin olive oil (for a good oil tap here)
- 1/2 glass withe wine
- 300 ml tomate sauce
- 2 table spoons tomate concentrate
- salt and pepper
Besciamella sauce
- 1 liter milk
- 60 g butter or 4 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
- 80 g flour
- nutmeg
- salt and pepper
Grated parmesan
Method : Pasta
Place the flour on a work surface and break the eggs inside. Start kneading by incorporating a little flour at a time until you get an elastic and compact dough. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for 1 hour. In the meantime we prepare the ragù and the besciamella sauce.
After the rest time, take the dough and roll it out thinly with the help of a pasta machine or with the help of a rolling pin and cut out rectangular sheets of dough.
Method: besciamella sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, or warm the oil, then add all the flour, stirring with a whisk. Then pour the cold milk over the mixture all at once, continuing to mix until it begins to thicken (be careful not to form lumps). The sauce must not boil. Reduce the intensity of the flame and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly: the besciamella sauce must not have the aftertaste of flour. Remove from heat, season with salt and add a grated nutmeg or freshly ground pepper to taste.
If the besciamella is too thick, add a little milk, stirring constantly. If it is too liquid, add a floured knob of butter and continue stirring over low heat until it thickens.
Alternatively, you can prepare the besciamella using the thermomix: the result is guaranteed. (tap here for the recipe)
Method: Meat sauce – ragù
Chop the carrot, celery and onion with the mezzaluna or a chopper, then put the vegetables in a large heavy-bottomed pot with three tablespoons of oil and let it dry for a few minutes. Then add the minced meat and, if you use it, the diced bacon. Brown well, over high heat, stirring to shell the meat well. When everything is browned, season with salt and pepper and deglaze with the wine that you will let evaporate. Then add the tomato puree and the two tablespoons of concentrate, mix thoroughly, lower the heat to low and cook for at least 2 hours with a lid. Stir occasionally.
Let’s assemble the lasagna!
If we made the lasagna pasta at home, bring some water to a boil in a large saucepan, add salt and add 1 tablespoon of oil, then boil the rectangles of pasta, one at a time, turning them. when they rise to the surface we transfer them with the help of a skimmer in a bowl with cold water and then transfer them on a cloth after draining.
Take a pan, put a ladle of besciamella sauce on the bottom, then place a layer of pasta, cover with the meat sauce then spread over a layer of besciamella and a spoonful of previously grated Parmesan. We continue in this way until all the ingredients are used up, making sure to finish with a layer of besciamella sprinkled with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.
Preheat the oven in ventilated mode to 180 ° then bake the lasagna. Cook them for about 35 minutes, or in any case until they are puffy and golden on the surface. Serve warm.
