Classic Lasagna Bolognese Recipe
Author: Veruska Anconitano, Award-Winning Food Travel Journalist, Sommelier & Outdoor Lover
About the author
Veruska Anconitano
Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience.
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Veruska Anconitano
Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience.
Website Linkedin Twitter
Italian Lasagna recipe: how many times have you seen this recipe in a restaurant? And how many times have you really eaten a genuine and traditional Italian lasagna? It’s really hard to find an authentic Italian lasagna outside Italy: most of the times, people think lasagna is just the set of as many ingredients as possible without any attention to details but the reality is completely different. Lasagna is an art that is handed down and should be respected as such.
Here is my recipe for a very Italian lasagna like we Italians use to make it: the most important thing is the “ragù”, the sauce: it has to be made in the proper way, no matter how long it takes to be cooked because nothing can beat a ragù, a proper ragù if it’s done in the very Italian way. You have to use good ingredients, good meat and good pasta, possibly freshly made but also packaged.
This is the recipe for a perfect Italian lasagna bolognese, which is not something you can buy in a store!
Yes, you will need a lot of time to make this lasagna but the flavor and smell in your kitchen will repay you for the effort!
Ingredients for 6 people
For the base
- 500 grams of egg lasagne
- Butter to grease
For the ragù
- 750 ml of tomato puree
- 100 grams of bacon
- 1/2 onion
- 1 carrot
- 800 grams of ground beef
- 1/2 glass of wine
- 500 grams of mozzarella cheese
- 30 g of Parmesan
- salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
For the bechamel sauce
- 25 grams of butter
- 25 grams of flour
- 250 ml of milk
Instructions
- Prepare the Bolognese sauce by frying in a large saucepan chopped onions, carrots and diced bacon. Add the ground meat and, when quite dried, pour in the wine to enhance the flavor.
- Add tomato puree and salt, cover with a lid and cook the Bolognese sauce over low heat for about 2 hours stirring as needed.
- Cut the mozzarella into slices squeezing to remove water. Once tight, remove the Bolognese sauce from heat and put to rest.
- Prepare the bechamel sauce by dissolving 25 grams of butter and 25 grams of flour, then add 250 ml of milk, stir and cook until boiling.
- Cook the lasagne, one sheet at a time, in a pot with salted water and adding a tablespoon of oil (it makes sure that the lasagne does not break). Remove each sheet of lasagna from the water and dry them with a cotton cloth.
- In a buttered casserole dish, pour a layer of bechamel then cover with a layer of lasagne and with a layer of Bolognese sauce. Spread the slices of mozzarella cheese, then add more bechamel sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Do this for a couple of times then finish covering the surface of the lasagna with ragù and bechamel sauce mixing it all up.
- Sprinkle with the remaining grated Parmesan cheese.
- Cook your lasagna for 30 minutes at 180° then let them cool a little bit before cutting into slices and serve.
notes
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
Total time: 2 hours
The secrets for a good Italian Lasagna
- Homemade ragù: nothing beats a homemade sauce and no jar can compete with a homemade ragù. It takes time but every effort will be paid back as soon as you’ll taste your lasagna;
- Homemade bechamel sauce: same as above. No need to explain.
- Homemade pasta: hard to make but it really makes the difference. If you’ve no time or you don’t know how to make homemade pasta sheets, at least buy a good one and make sure you slightly cook the dried pasta before it is seasoned;
- Do not overdo with seasoning but do not skimp at the same time: lasagna must be well seasoned, but it will turn into a soup if there is too much sauce.
- If you want your lasagna to be well cooked, cover it with aluminium paper when it’s half-cooked;
- Never eat your lasagna as soon as it is ready: the lasagna needs to rest for at least 10 minutes so all the ingredients will be set for good.
Buon appetito!
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