Lasagna at home
Description
The recipe won't take much time. For homemade lasagna, you can use pork or beef mince. I recommend using a mixture of pork and beef. You'll also need a large amount of cheese. Mozzarella can be substituted with Suluguni, Parmesan is best used Italian, and Ricotta can be replaced with cottage cheese. Serve hot.
Instructions
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Step 1
1. For making lasagna, I recommend using lasagna sheets that do not need to be pre-cooked. This is indicated on the package. Just soak the lasagna sheets in boiling water in the same dish in which you will bake the lasagna.
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Step 2
2. Let's start with the tomato-meat sauce. Sauté the meat in a frying pan with olive oil (0.5 tablespoons). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Step 3
3. Fry the minced meat, stirring, until it turns light brown.
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Step 4
4. Peel and dice the onion, add to the mince.
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Step 5
5. Fry the onion with the minced meat, stirring occasionally, for five minutes, until the onion becomes soft.
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Step 6
6. Break up the large pieces of minced meat using a potato masher.
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Step 7
7. Add three cloves of garlic, passed through a press, tomato puree, salt, and pepper to the minced meat. Mix, cover with a lid, and simmer for five minutes.
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Step 8
8. After five minutes, add 1/4 cup of heavy cream, chopped parsley (about two tablespoons), and basil (one tablespoon).
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Step 9
9. Mix the tomato-meat sauce, heat it through, and remove from heat. Cream will give this sauce a smoother, velvety texture and a delicate flavor.
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Step 10
10. Prepare the cheese filling. To do this, in a bowl mix Ricotta cheese, one cup of grated Mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan, one egg, salt, pepper, and a little chopped parsley. The mixture should be smooth and uniform.
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Step 11
11. Dry the lasagna sheets on a paper towel. Dry the lasagna baking dish. Place several tablespoons of the meat filling on the bottom and spread evenly.
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Step 12
12. Place lasagna sheets onto the meat sauce in the dish, then put a tablespoon of cheese filling on each sheet.
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Step 13
13. Spread the cheese filling over the lasagna sheets.
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Step 14
14. Place the tomato-meat sauce (about 3/4 cup of sauce) over the filling again.
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Step 15
15. The second layer of meat filling can be sprinkled with grated mozzarella. But this is optional, as there is already enough cheese in the filling.
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Step 16
16. Cover the cheese with lasagna sheets and repeat the layers again (meat filling - lasagna - cheese filling - meat filling, etc.). The final top layer should consist of lasagna sheets.
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Step 17
17. Let's prepare the cheese sauce. You can make Béchamel (if you prefer). This sauce contains more ingredients and includes cheese. Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté in it finely chopped half an onion (or a very small onion). Season with salt and cook, stirring, until the onion becomes soft. Then gradually add a couple of tablespoons of flour.
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Step 18
18. Add half a cup of milk and half a cup of chicken broth to the cheese sauce. You can use only milk (one cup) in this sauce, but chicken broth will add more flavor to the lasagna. Mix with a whisk.
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Step 19
19. Add bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cook the sauce over low heat for five minutes, until it thickens.
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Step 20
20. After five minutes, remove the bay leaf from the sauce. Add 3/4 cup of grated mozzarella and 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan to it.
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Step 21
21. Remove the cheese sauce from the heat and thoroughly mix or whisk with a whisk until smooth.
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Step 22
22. Pour the sauce over the lasagna in the baking dish, spreading it evenly over the entire surface of the lasagna.
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Step 23
23. Cover the lasagna dish with foil and place it in a preheated oven at 200°C for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown.
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Step 24
24. Lasagna is ready at home! Serve in portions.