Grandma’s lasagna with meat sauce is always the best; maybe because they objectively are, or maybe because grandmas are always grandmas. In this recipe, I offer you one of grandma’s ways to prepare the “sauce” for lasagna. Lasagna is one of my favorite main courses. They can be made with dry sheets or fresh egg ones, and without; they can be filled and seasoned in many different ways: with meat, fish, vegetables, vegan, vegetarian, and so on. They are rich, fragrant, and suitable for celebrating important moments, occasions, Carnival, etc… The wonderful aroma of lasagna instantly creates a festive atmosphere at home, and the more succulent the lasagna, the more our guests will enjoy them. By the way, the quantities are generous because grandma’s portions are always abundant.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 10/12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring, Carnival
Ingredients
- 1 package fresh pasta sheets for lasagna
- 1 provola cheese (fresh or aged)
- to taste mix of grated Parmesan and Pecorino cheese
- 26 oz ground veal
- 1 liter tomato sauce
- 1 leaf bay leaf
- 12 oz peas (canned)
- 1 carrot
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- to taste fine salt
- to taste ground pepper
- 1/2 cup water
Tools
- 1 Baking dish
Preparation
We can use a disposable aluminum baking dish for 6 or 8 servings; or a pan of another material measuring 10 x 12 inches.
Let’s prepare the meat sauce. In a very large pot, sauté finely chopped onion, carrot, and celery stalk over low heat. When the mix is completely wilted, raise the heat, add the meat and the bay leaf, and let it brown perfectly, stirring often (about ten minutes). The meat should be perfectly browned, with no liquid remaining.
After that, pour in the wine and let the alcohol evaporate. Finally, season with salt and pepper, add the peas (already drained from the preserving liquid and rinsed under running water), tomato sauce, and the half cup of water (which we will have poured into the empty sauce bottle to get all the tomato out) and continue cooking for about 35/40 minutes at most, on low heat, covered.
If we use dry pasta sheets, I recommend a slightly more liquid sauce, so don’t let it thicken too much.
I prefer to add hot sauce to lasagna sheets (both fresh pasta and dry ones); this way the pasta will cook much faster.
Meanwhile, cut the provola into small pieces (or slice it very thinly) and grate the two cheeses.
Preheat the oven to 392°F.
Pour a ladle of hot sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Make a first layer of lasagna sheets, season with provola, another bit of sauce, and a sprinkle of the grated cheese mix.
Form a second layer of pasta, laying the sheets in the opposite direction than the previous layer and season as above. Make a third layer of pasta and continue until all the ingredients are used up. Pour what remains of grandma’s sauce over our lasagna and sprinkle with some grated cheese and a few more pieces of provola.
Bake the lasagna in the lowest rack for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Pass them under the grill for a few minutes to form a crust. Take them out of the oven and serve. They will be even tastier the next day.
Extra idea. This is the official version of grandma’s lasagna with meat sauce. Sometimes, though, I also add a bit of homemade béchamel sauce (just a little, I swear) between one layer of lasagna and another, but don’t tell grandma.
