Content

• Resources
• Steps
• Advice
• Warning
• What you need

One of the main dishes and specialties of Italian cuisine is lasagna - a delicious dish indispensable on the table. You can freely transform into lasagna with ease; although it looks elaborate, it has a very simple implementation. Whether making traditional meat lasagna or with more special ingredients, check out the steps and suggestions below to create the perfect meal.

• Prep time (for traditional meat lasagna): 20-30 minutes
• Processing time: 60-70 minutes
• Total time: 80-100 minutes

Resources

Traditional meat lasagna

• 450-700gr ground meat, depending on taste (meat sausage, beef, veal, lamb or a variety of meats)
• 450gr ricotta cheese
• 450gr shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 400gr canned crushed tomatoes
• 800gr tomato sauce
• 170gr concentrated tomato sauce (optional)
• 1 box of lasagna leaf noodles (9-12 leaves)
• Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, depending on taste
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups cheddar cheese (to sprinkle on top of dish)

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Make basic lasagna

1. 

   
   
   Boil water to boil the leaf noodles. Make sure the leaves are not torn as you will need the whole leaves to make the whole dish. Add a pinch of salt to the pot of water before adding the leaves, and then boil the noodles for the time prescribed on the box, usually 10-12 minutes. Stir regularly every 1-2 minutes. When you're done, you'll filter the water and wait for the noodles to cool.
   • Using a large pot, pour a high amount of water about 2/3 of the pot to cover all the noodles. While the water is boiling and the noodles are boiled, you can move on to making the filling.
   • Some brands sell "Oven Ready" noodles that can be baked right away without having to be boiled; so, make sure to double check the information on the box.

2. 

   
   
   Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not touch the pan until the oil is simmering, when the oil is hot; Adding ingredients too early can cause the food to be soft and oily.

3. 

   Add a diced onion and 2 minced garlic cloves to the pan and stir for 2-3 minutes until the onion clear. Transparent here means that the edges of the onion are no longer white as they were. You don't need to cook the onions right now.
   • Want to add more veggies to your lasagna? Add 1/2 cup chopped carrots, celery and / or green bell peppers to the filling and make a delicious sauce. In this case, you need to cook the filling for 1-2 minutes to cook the vegetables.

4. 

   
   
   Add 450 grams of ground meat to the pan and fry until golden brown. Place the meat in a pan with onions and garlic and stir over medium heat until the meat turns golden brown. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste while stir frying. If you have time, you can fry the meat in another pan, but this step is optional.
   • If you are using sausages, cut off the outer film and take out the ground meat.
   • You can also add 1/2 tablespoon of dried marjoram, basil or rosemary, or just 1 tablespoon of dry Italian seasoning right at this step.

5. 

   Place the meat and vegetables in a large saucepan used for the sauce and over medium heat. The pot must be big enough to hold the sauce and tomatoes.
   • Now it's time to check the noodles (if you forgot them). The noodles should be soft and soft, but not crushed.

6. 

   Add sauce and tomatoes to the pot and simmer. Pour 800 grams of sauce, 400 grams of mashed tomatoes and 170 grams of tomato concentrate into the meat and vegetable mixture and stir. Heat the sauce over medium heat until it simmers and the bubbles continually burst on the surface.
   • You can use 1 liter of pre-made pasta sauce instead of using 3 different tomato products to make a simple sauce.
   • Right now, you can add any seasoning, such as garlic powder, sugar or other seasoning, one teaspoon at a time. Many chefs like to add sugar to the natural acid balance of tomatoes.
   • Turn to low if the mixture boils vigorously; you should just let the mixture simmer.

7. 

   Bring the sauce to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes. The longer the sauce is cooked, the richer it will be. Stir often, but be sure to stir it close to the bottom of the pot so that the sauce underneath won't burn. When you're ready to make the lasagna, take the pot of sauce off the stove and let it cool slowly.
   • It is not necessary to wait for the sauce to cool for the next step, but the sauce will cool down will make it easier to handle.

8. 

   Stir ricotta cheese with stirred eggs. Stir an egg with a fork as you would a scrambled egg and add ricotta cheese and stir well. The eggs will help the cheese stick to the layers of noodles, making the lasagna intact when it's done.

9. 

   Sprinkle a thin layer of sauce over a large oven-ready tray. Use a high-walled tray, such as a 33 x 23 x 5 cm tray or a tray that has about 2 liters capacity. Spread the sauce over the bottom of the tray.

10. 

    Place the noodles on the entire bottom of the tray. You will arrange three noodles vertically, slightly overlapping. The noodles may overlap slightly (about 2.5cm or less), but you can still use clean scissors to cut the noodles if needed. You will need to arrange the noodles to cover the bottom of the tray.

11. 

    Take 1/3 of the ricotta mixture onto the noodles. Spread ricotta evenly on the surface of the noodle layer so that every time you eat, you will feel the fatty taste of the cheese. Be sure to keep the remaining 2/3 of the mixture - you will need to apply it to the rest of the layers.

12. 

    Sprinkle 1/3 of the sauce mixture over the ricotta layer. Next, you scoop a lot of the filling into the tray to cover the surface of the lasagna.

13. 

    Sprinkle a lot of mozzarella cheese over the top of the sauce. Cheese is the final layer of the first lasagna. Sprinkle the cheese over the surface so that you only see a little sauce underneath, or reduce the cheese for a healthier treat.

14. 

    Keep adding layers in this way - noodles, ricotta, sauce, mozzarella cheese until the noodles are gone. The last layer topping should be mozzarella cheese. Just keep layering it this way for your final lasagna finish.
    • Sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese on top of the dish before placing in the oven.

15. 

    Bake foil coated food trays for 30-40 minutes at 190 ° C. Cover the lasagna with foil before placing it in the oven. You can place the lasagna on a larger baking tray so that the sauce won't drip onto the oven. Since the dish is already cooked, the baking process only helps to melt the cheese and allow the flavors to blend perfectly. This means you can take out the food when you feel it is hot enough and ready to eat.
    • Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes to brown and boil the cheese on top.

16. 

    Wait about 10 minutes before eating the lasagna. This allows the cheese to thicken slightly so that the layers do not separate when you eat the lasagna. advertisement

Method 2 of 2: Variation with the kernel

1. 

   Add new flavors to ricotta cheese to create a distinct flavor. When whisking eggs with ricotta cheese, you can tweak them a bit to create a subtly different flavor to the lasagna. Try these ingredients:
   • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
   • 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper
   • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
   • 1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg

2. 

   Add "meat replacement" vegetables to the sauce to create a vegetarian dish. Vegetables are a great substitute for meat, but can also be a supplement to meat sauces. Sauté the vegetables in oil, onions and garlic for 5-7 minutes, until soft, then add the ingredients in the usual way. If you make a gravy with meat, you will prepare half of the following vegetables separately and add it to the sauce containing meat.
   • 1 large eggplant, diced
   • 1 large zucchini, sliced
   • 450gr small white mushrooms, sliced

3. 

   Make a layer of fried eggplant on top of the sauce. Cut the eggplant into slices about 6mm and fry until tender with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Set the eggplant aside and pat the oil dry with a paper towel, then lay the eggplant slices on top of the sauce.Sprinkle mozzarella on top and continue to layer as usual, layering a layer of eggplant after each layer of sauce. You could also try the following classes:
   • Grilled zucchini.
   • Boiled spinach.

4. 

   Use polenta sandwiches instead of pasta leaves if you want gluten-free ingredients. You can still enjoy the lasagna without using the pasta, just replace the pasta with the polenta layer and do the rest the usual way.

5. 

   Use noodle squash instead of pasta to make small portions. For this somewhat unusual and low-carbohydrate recipe, you won't layer the usual way, but the taste won't diminish. You would do the following:
   • Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds.
   • Place the squash in a baking tray face down and bake for 45-60 minutes (at 230 ° C) or until you can pierce the squash with a fork easily. Fill the tray with water about 2.5cm high to prevent the squash from drying out.
   • Layer each half of the pumpkin, starting with a little ricotta, followed by sauce and mozzeralla cheese. Repeat until it is full.
   • Bake the lasagna portions for about 20 minutes at 230 ° C, until cheese is melted over the surface of the pumpkin.

6. 

   Use southern American culinary flavors to create Mexican-style lasagna. You can use roasted or shredded chicken instead of beef if you'd like, but this step isn't necessary. The recipe is the same as the Italian lasagna, but you can make a different flavor by changing some ingredients like this:
   • Tomato Sauce → Taco Sauce
   • Riccotta / Mozzarella → Queso Fresco / Cheddar
   • Noodles → Corn Bread Tortillas
   • Italian spices → Cumin powder, cayenne pepper, red bell pepper, onion powder
   • Add 1 can of black beans and 1 can of corn to the sauce mixture
   advertisement

Advice

• You can make non-boiled leaf lasagna if you buy pre-cooked noodles. When you put foil over the lasagna before you put it in the oven, the moisture during baking will also cook the noodles. This will save you one step and save time.
• For a rich Italian flavored lasagna, you can make your own sauce using celery, carrots and onions in equal amounts and simmering with canned tomatoes.
• If you can make your own ricotta at home (often very easy to make), the dish will take on a different level.
• If you're adventurous, you can actually heat up your lasagna in a dishwasher.

Warning

• Be sure to cook the meat well before adding it to the lasagna.

What you need

• Big bowl
• Silver paper
• Tray size 23 x 33 cm