Today I present to you the Lasagna with Bacon, Smoked Cheese, and Walnuts Recipe, the perfect winter lasagna! The spinach dough will make this main course even richer and tastier! The Lasagna with bacon and smoked cheese is prepared very quickly, in a simple way and with few steps that you can also follow in the video recipe on the YouTube Channel that you find below the photo. One more way to help you prepare this recipe! I thought of a main course that could be served to guests for Sunday Lunch, maybe even for Christmas Lunch. A simple dish but rich in flavors, from the crispy bacon sautéed in the pan, to the freshly opened walnuts ending with the smoked cheese!
I almost forgot, I made the béchamel myself! The recipe for the Homemade Béchamel with Butter is from Grandma Licia, perfect for all types of lasagna! Indeed, below you will find the various recipes I have proposed over the years and, of course, the link to read the homemade béchamel recipe! If you want, you can use the homemade béchamel also in the preparation of Spinach and Robiola Cannelloni!
Now I will reveal a secret or rather, the story of consultations behind this recipe. For about ten days, the idea of proposing a new lasagna recipe with bacon was swirling in my head, but I wasn’t convinced about the other ingredients to pair with it. So I talked about it with a colleague at work, Vivianne, and with my friend Isa, and last night the recipe for the lasagna with smoked cheese and walnuts was decided! As a base, the egg pasta with spinach, obviously ready-made, I don’t know how to make it at home yet. Then the crispy bacon prepared in a pan, the smoked cheese cut into cubes, and the walnuts. In short, this tasty winter lasagna couldn’t be richer than that. Delicious like the Radicchio Lasagna and creamy like the Marchigiani Vincisgrassi. You absolutely must try this recipe!
Let’s move on to the Lasagna with Bacon, Walnuts, and Smoked Cheese Recipe, I remind you that I await you every morning in the Bea’s Recipes group with the Good Morning and the Recipe of the Day. At the end of the recipe, you will find all the links to subscribe to the social channels of my cooking blog so as not to miss any content and new recipe!
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
- Energy 1,210.01 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 84.10 (g) of which sugars 16.30 (g)
- Proteins 49.32 (g)
- Fat 74.79 (g) of which saturated 12.49 (g)of which unsaturated 13.43 (g)
- Fibers 5.13 (g)
- Sodium 2,986.27 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Lasagna with Bacon, Smoked Cheese, and Walnuts
- 7.05 oz lasagna dough (in my case with spinach)
- 10 slices bacon
- 5.29 oz smoked cheese
- 20 walnuts
- 3.5 oz béchamel (homemade with Grandma Licia's recipe)
- 1.76 oz cheese (grated)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
Tools for the Lasagna with Bacon, Smoked Cheese Recipe
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Plate
- 2 Small Bowls
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Pan
- 1 Pot
- 1 Baking Dish
- 1 Oven
- 1 Nutcracker
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Slotted Spoon
- 1 Tongs
Steps for the Lasagna with Bacon, Smoked Cheese, and Walnuts Recipe
The béchamel must be prepared in advance, it should be cold or at least lukewarm before being used for our homemade lasagna recipe. Here is the list of necessary ingredients and the step-by-step explanation on how to easily prepare the homemade béchamel with butter using grandma’s recipe.
500 ml milk – even 400 ml of milk may be enough
50 g butter
50 g flour
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of nutmeg
then do the following:
Take the saucepan and melt the butter taken directly from the fridge.
Once the butter is melted, add the flour and, using a hand whisk (which you can buy by clicking here), begin to stir, being careful not to create lumps and especially that the flame is not too high to darken the flour and butter. This step, in many recipes, is called “how to prepare the Roux” my Grandma Licia of course never called it that, I don’t think she even knew that step she had been performing for years had a name. So don’t be frightened and proceed with cooking the Roux, which is then the base of our homemade béchamel with butter.
Add the milk gradually, initially half of the recommended amount, and continue stirring for about 5 minutes.
During this time, add the pinch of salt and the pinch of nutmeg, the quantities are “to taste”, according to your preference. We like nutmeg a lot and I always add quite a bit in my homemade béchamel.
Continue to stir well with the hand whisk, avoiding the béchamel sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. When the béchamel is well thickened and free of lumps, we will let it rest in the saucepan for a few minutes before using it in other preparations where its use is necessary.
Let’s start preparing the lasagna with smoked cheese and walnuts by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil to blanch the pasta sheets. Meanwhile, let’s focus on the other ingredients. Proceed by cutting the smoked cheese into not too large cubes, and then crack the walnuts with a nutcracker. Mine is from Grandma Licia, a real family heirloom. Place the smoked cheese cubes in one small bowl and the walnuts in another.
Now let’s take a large non-stick pan and turn on the stove with high heat. Place the bacon slices and cook them until they become nice and crispy. Then place them on a small plate.
Prepare a bowl with cold water next to the stove. Now take the spinach dough, or the classic one if you prefer, and blanch it for a few seconds per sheet, then place them in a bowl with cold water to stop the cooking. Now we have all the necessary ingredients ready to fill the various layers of lasagna with bacon, smoked cheese, and walnuts!
Move back to the work surface where we have placed all the plates and bowls with ingredients, including the cheese flakes or grated cheese if you prefer. Turn on the oven and set it to 180 degrees Celsius (356°F) in static mode, so it will have time to heat up well.
Take a baking dish and pour two tablespoons of homemade béchamel on the bottom, then place the first layer of fresh spinach dough that we blanched a little while ago. Now arrange the ingredients: smoked cheese, walnuts, cheese flakes, and crispy bacon, a bit of béchamel, and cover with another sheet. Continue this way until all the ingredients are used. My winter lasagna had four layers nicely filled and delicious with all the ingredients. Bake the lasagna with bacon, walnuts, and smoked cheese for about 25 to 30 minutes. I thoroughly sprinkled the last layer with Parmesan flakes and a generous dose of béchamel to get a nice crispy and tasty crust that my family always fights over.
Serve the winter lasagna piping hot and gooey, the smoked cheese is perfect for this recipe, and the classic ‘telephone effect’ is guaranteed! I just have to remind you that I await you here on my cooking blog with many more easy, quick, and economical recipes! I wish you bon appétit and invite you to click follow on the social channels you find below after the photo!
Recipe Variations:
You can replace the bacon with speck cut into not-too-thin slices or with salty prosciutto. As I mentioned earlier with my colleague Michela, who doesn’t eat smoked cheese, you can replace it with classic and always perfect mozzarella. You will therefore need a melting cheese for this recipe. You can also use stracchino or crescenza, or squacquerone.
