How To Cook Lasagna (detailed Instructions)

Lasagna is a multi-layered pasta casserole with sauces - meat and bechamel. The birthplace of this delicious and beloved by many dishes is Italy.

Lasagna is a multi-layered pasta casserole with sauces - meat and bechamel. The birthplace of this delicious and beloved by many dishes is Italy. Before baking, lasagna is sprinkled with grated cheese, which is why it can boast of a wonderful cheese crust.

 

Cooking real lasagna is a very difficult task, but believe me, the result will please you! Cooking lasagna can be divided into several stages: kneading the dough and cooking ready-made sheets, preparing the filling and sauce, baking lasagna in the oven.

Prepare the dough

Now you will not surprise anyone with purchased layers of ready-made dry dough for lasagna. The dish will turn out much tastier, juicier and more tender if you cook the dough yourself. It's easy - it's like making dumplings dough.

For the test, you will need the following ingredients: 250 g of flour of two varieties, 4 eggs, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp. olive oil.

 

It is important that the flour first of all must be collected in a pea, make a depression in the center, and break an egg into it and add olive oil - so the dough will turn out even tastier. The dough must be kneaded tight - so as not to spread. How to cook dumplings. After cooking, the dough can be sent to rest for half an hour or an hour. Then roll out the sausage and cut into plates, 2-3 mm thick, the size of a rectangular baking dish. You can use a special paste machine. By the way, the dough will not "grow" during baking.

cook the dough

There is nothing complicated at all - lasagna sheets are cooked like pasta. Don't overcook the sheets! The readiness should be "al dente".

And if you use ready-made lasagna sheets, then you will need 350 g.

Stuffing for lasagna

 

Interestingly, there are many toppings for lasagna. Almost every housewife adds something of her own to the filling. However, there are three main, basic fillings: meat (minced meat), mushroom and seafood filling (this type is quite specific in taste, but if you like seafood, try it).

We prepare the meat filling in this way. Stew minced meat with vegetables (peeled tomatoes, you can add a little grated carrots, onions are a must) for about twenty minutes. It would be nice to start frying vegetables separately, adding your favorite spices to them. The main thing is not to overdo it with spices - the taste of lasagna should not disappear.

Meat Filling Ingredients:

1 kg of quality ground beef; 1 kg of high-quality minced pork; 100 g smoked bacon; 4 medium carrots; 2 medium onions; 4 stalks of celery; 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste; 800 g canned tomatoes in their own juice; rosemary (a couple of pieces or a couple of dried pinches).

 

Take a large high frying pan. Cut the bacon into small cubes, fry it in a hot frying pan with a spoonful of olive oil and chopped rosemary until crisp, 2 minutes. Add the mince, lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes, breaking up the pieces of mince, until all the liquid has evaporated.

Cut the onion, carrot and celery into small cubes, add to the minced meat and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. After a quarter of an hour, add tomato paste, canned tomatoes with juice, break them with a fork, rinse the jars with water and pour into the pan.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for two hours, stirring occasionally.

Mushroom filling. The only difference is that mushrooms are used instead of minced meat. They especially like to add champignons. For vegetables in the mushroom filling, more space opens up - you can add eggplants and bell peppers.

Seafood dip. The most delicious seafood filling is obtained if you mix squid, shrimp and mussels in equal proportions and boil until stewed. Of course, you can use fish, but in this case, you do not need to cook it. Then seafood is stewed with a little water and tomatoes.

Fruit filling. Yes, there is lasagna! This, of course, is not a classic recipe, but it has the right to life. Any fruits, berries, nuts will do.

Choose sauce and cheese

 

Italy's favorite cheese is Parmesan, and it's useless to argue with that. For lasagna, it is customary to use two cheeses - Parmesan and some more delicate, for example, mozzarella. In general, a combination of any hard and soft cheeses will do. You can sprinkle either each layer, or only the top.

The traditional sauce is bechamel, it is not difficult to prepare it. Fry in 50 g of melted butter 2 tbsp. l. flour, pour in a thin stream of 500 ml of cream, cook for 2 minutes. Mix the sauce until you get a uniform consistency. You can add nutmeg and be sure to salt and pepper.

Do not skimp on the sauce, there should be a lot of it so that each layer is soaked and juicy and tasty.

bake lasagna

 

Well, in fact, this is the moment for which we all gathered here: the dough is ready, the filling is cut, the sauce is already waiting - it's time to collect our lasagna and send it to the oven.

There is nothing complicated in the assembly - we grease the form with olive oil (required!), Put a sheet of lasagna dough on the bottom. Top - stuffing. Then comes the sauce (and we don’t regret it!), Finish the layer with grated cheese. All! There can be as many such layers as your heart desires until the filling runs out. At the end, cover the lasagna with the last sheet of dough and generously sprinkle with cheese so that a crispy cheese crust is obtained during baking. Now that's all for sure - it remains to put our masterpiece in the oven at 190 degrees for 45 minutes and you're done! You can sprinkle the finished dish with chopped herbs - beautiful and fresh.

Lasagna is a great option for a festive table, and if you approach the matter with desire, then cooking this elegant, tasty and satisfying dish will bring only pleasure, and all guests and household members will be completely delighted.