Lasagna cooked in an air fryer
Description
The recipe won't take much time. Lasagna prepared in an air fryer turns out absolutely delicious—no one will stay hungry! To ensure even cooking, don't make the lasagna too "thick"—a maximum of four layers is enough. The width can be any size, just adjust it to fit your baking dish. The result is juicy, very tasty, and not as complicated to prepare as it might seem at first glance. This dish is perfect for a weekend lunch or dinner, and also makes an excellent treat for unexpected guests or a delightful addition to your daily menu for both kids and adults. Be sure to try it and treat your loved ones. Serve hot.
Instructions
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Step 1
To prepare homemade lasagna, we will need quite a few different ingredients, which I decided to divide into separate groups for convenience (see the recipe ingredients). The classic recipe uses ground beef, but you can use other meats—pork, chicken, or turkey.
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Step 2
Heat the pan with vegetable oil over high heat. Add a piece of butter and melt.
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Step 3
First of all, start preparing the Bolognese sauce. Add the onion cut into cubes and the carrot grated on a coarse grater.
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Step 4
Sauté the vegetables until soft for 2-3 minutes.
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Step 5
Add the minced meat.
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Step 6
Break up the large lumps and wait for the color to change from red to gray. Regarding the choice of meat: you can use whichever you prefer. For example, meat of a single type or a mixture—in my case, it's pork. Additionally, beef, veal, or rabbit work very well too.
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Step 7
Then add tomato paste, peeled and crushed tomatoes (blanch them in boiling water, remove the skin, blend with a blender — tomato purée is ready), salt, sugar, minced garlic, and your favorite spices.
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Step 8
Stir, reduce the heat to minimum, cover the pan with a lid, and let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes, depending on the type of meat.
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Step 9
It's time to move on to the second component of the future lasagna — let's prepare the classic Béchamel sauce. Take a saucepan or a sauté pan. Add butter to it and melt completely over medium heat.
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Step 10
Add wheat flour to the melted butter.
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Step 11
Vigorously mix all the ingredients until smooth, without removing the pot from the heat. This way, we cook the flour to eliminate its characteristic raw flour taste.
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Step 12
Then gradually add the milk in small portions (literally 1-2 tablespoons at a time), remembering to constantly stir the contents of the saucepan.
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Step 13
Do not let lumps form, otherwise they will be present in the finished sauce.
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Step 14
Gradually add all the milk into the roux base, keeping the pan over medium heat and stirring the sauce constantly. Cook until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth. If there are still a few lumps, be sure to strain the mixture through a sieve. However, with constant stirring, there should be no lumps at all! Add salt, ground pepper, and ground nutmeg.
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Step 15
Cook for another 1-2 minutes (remember to stir) and remove the pan from the heat. The consistency of classic Béchamel sauce when hot should resemble fairly runny sour cream. As it cools, this cooked sauce will thicken considerably.
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Step 16
A small trick (for those who don't know): when this béchamel sauce cools, a skin forms on the surface, which is completely undesirable. But if you cover the container with a lid, condensation will form, adding unwanted water to the sauce. So here's what we do: take plastic wrap or a plastic bag and cover the sauce directly, pressing it tightly against the surface and letting the air escape. Leave the béchamel like this until it has cooled completely (or slightly) if you need to store it for a while instead of using it immediately.
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Step 17
Grate the cheese and set aside for now.
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Step 18
Lasagna sheets come in two types: those that require pre-cooking (my version) and those that can be used directly in dry form. This is always indicated on the product packaging, so make sure to carefully read the instructions on the box before starting to cook. According to the instructions on my lasagna sheets, they needed to be boiled for 1-2 minutes. I placed the cooked sheets onto a greased board to prevent them from sticking together.
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Step 19
As a rule, for lasagna, choose either a square or rectangular dish of a size that allows the sheets to fit perfectly. In my case, I use a square silicone baking dish for air fryers; grease the bottom and sides of the dish with soft butter.
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Step 20
Pour a little béchamel sauce on the bottom (so that it completely covers the bottom). Place the first layer of lasagna sheets — I was able to fit two.
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Step 21
Evenly spread the Bolognese sauce over the sheets.
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Step 22
Cover the meat layer with béchamel sauce. Sprinkle with slightly grated cheese.
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Step 23
Place the lasagna sheets again. Repeat the same steps until you run out of sheets and Bolognese sauce.
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Step 24
The last layer is lasagna sheets.
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Step 25
Pour the remaining béchamel sauce over the future homemade lasagna.
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Step 26
Carefully place the pan on the rack inside the air fryer basket. Cover with foil and tightly press the edges to prevent it from coming loose and to avoid burning the top. Set the temperature to 200 degrees and cook for 40-45 minutes.
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Step 27
I check the readiness with a knife.
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Step 28
When the casserole is ready, sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese and bake uncovered at 180 degrees for another 15 minutes.
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Step 29
The lasagna cooked in the air fryer is ready. Garnish the dish with herbs or fresh vegetables before serving.
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Step 30
Very tender, juicy and delicious!