Classic lasagna is a dish I often prepare on festive days, especially on the best occasions.
It is mainly found in the central regions of Italy, like Lazio and Abruzzo.
At my house, there is certainly no shortage of opportunities to prepare it for a Sunday lunch with friends or to please my children who often request it.
If I can, I often prepare lasagna in larger quantities so I can freeze a couple of trays for later use.
I don’t love plain pasta, but if lasagna, cannelloni, or better yet ravioli are offered to me, I can’t say no!!!
If you make this or other recipes on my blog, send me the photos and I will post them on my page with your name.
Approximately 750 Kcal per person
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Day 6 Hours
- Portions: Lasagna for about 6 people
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make the Classic Lasagna
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups semolina flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
- 1 3/4 lbs mixed ground veal and pork
- 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup béchamel sauce
- 3.5 oz mozzarella
- 3 lbs 5 oz of peeled tomatoes for the simple sauce and 1 lb 1 oz for the ragù
- meat ragù made with the ground meat mentioned above
- to taste salt
- 4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- to taste nutmeg
- 1 onion
Preparation of Classic Lasagna
Let’s start by preparing the simple sauce by sautéing 1/2 minced onion with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then add the peeled tomatoes passed through a food mill, adjust the salt, stir and let it cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
In another pot, prepare the meat ragù, sauté 1/2 onion with the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then add the ground meat, adjust the salt and stir well.
Add the nutmeg, add the peeled tomatoes passed through a food mill, stir well, and let it cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally.
At this point, start preparing the pasta, take a bowl and add the eggs, mix a little, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt; gradually add the flours until the dough is firm enough to place on a floured surface and continue working it, adding flour until it is not sticky.
Knead the dough well for a few minutes, then prepare the sheets with the pasta machine.
Take the pasta machine and take pieces of dough from the ball, starting to work it with the machine (at the widest setting) to form sheets, the last step you will do at the machine’s thickness so that 3 holes remain uncovered, but this is subjective because not all machines are the same, so you will have to adjust yourself and especially the thickness also varies according to your taste.
Each sheet you make must be floured on both sides and spread out on a surface.
Meanwhile, I advise you to put a wide enough pot to boil to blanch the sheets and add a drizzle of olive oil to the cooking water to prevent the sheets from sticking during cooking.
Prepare a bowl with a colander placed inside one another and start blanching the sheets one at a time, cooking it for about 30 seconds, just enough to blanch them a bit; then take out the first one, using kitchen tongs, and place it in the colander, if you cook them all together, I recommend laying them out on a clean tea towel.
Be very careful because the sheets are very delicate and tend to break.
Repeat the process for each sheet.
Be very careful because the sheets are very delicate and tend to break.
Repeat the process for each sheet.
Now take a non-stick baking pan where we will assemble the lasagna and start adding about 2 tablespoons of simple sauce to the bottom and a splash of water to prevent it from sticking too much during cooking, then a layer with the sheet necessary to cover the bottom (you can cut the sheets according to the width and length of the dish, as you can reuse the scraps along the way), then add a layer of meat ragù spread out a bit, then some normal sauce, some béchamel, chopped mozzarella, and a light sprinkle of Parmesan.
Now make the second and third layers, or more if you wish, repeating the same process for each layer.
When you add the last layer, top it with simple sauce and, if you want, with some ragù, then cover with a layer of Parmesan.
Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for about 1 hour at 428 °F, when you see that the lasagna is almost done, uncover it and let it cook for another 10 minutes so that a little crust forms.
Once cooked, take it out of the oven and wait 5 minutes before cutting it, so it has time to firm up and will cut much better.
You should still check the cooking from time to time because ovens are not all the same.
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