How to make lasagna? Homemade Lasagna Recipe

Italy is famous for its huge variety of pasta-based dishes. These include lasagna. The dish consists of dough sheets made from durum wheat, laid out simultaneously with layers of stuffing from minced meat, mushrooms or vegetables and topped with bechamel sauce. Lasagna must be sprinkled with parmesan and baked in the oven. This is the classic version of cooking traditional Italian dishes. At home, the sheets are made from ordinary flour, and sometimes even completely replaced with lavash or pancakes. There can be a lot of filling options: from salmon to cottage cheese with spinach. About how to do lasagna, we will tell in our article. Below are some of the most successful recipes.

How to make lasagna dough?

Dry sheets for this traditional Italian dish can easily be found on store shelves. They are prepared, like pasta, from dough based on flour from durum wheat. But running to the store for the next pack of sheets is not necessary if you learn how to make them at home. At the same time, ordinary wheat flour is suitable, and not from hard varieties.

Lasagna dough is prepared in the following sequence:

1. Wheat flour (250 g) is poured into a deep bowl with a slide. A recess is made inside.
2. Eggs (3 pcs.) Are beaten with a fork with a pinch of salt. The resulting mass is poured into the recess.
3. Gradually, rubbing with your fingertips, the flour mixes with the eggs. It should be a little sticky, big crumb. Then it is collected in a ball and laid out on the work surface.
4. The main secret to making a good lasagna dough is long kneading. This will make it resilient, elastic and will not allow tearing during cooking.
5. The dough is kneaded for 10 minutes, wrapped in cling film and sent to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6. The working surface is sprinkled with flour. The third part of the test is laid out on top. Using a rolling pin, it is rolled up to a thickness of 2 mm.
7. With a special pizza knife, the dough layer is cut into rectangles 10 x 20 cm in size or into squares.
8. Prepared sheets are dried on a wire rack for 1 hour. In this form, they fall on store shelves.
9. To prepare lasagna, the sheets are dipped in boiling water with salt for 2 minutes. After that, they are removed on a cotton towel, and then transferred to a baking dish.

How to make bechamel lasagna sauce?

It is this sauce that gives the finished dish a distinctive creamy milk flavor. And he is suitable not only for climbing, but also for other dishes made of pasta and vegetables. With it you can cook potato casserole and even bake chicken breast. The taste is just amazing. Therefore, every housewife should know how to make lasagna sauce. A step-by-step procedure is as follows:

1. Melt butter (50 g) in a small but deep saucepan.
2. Add the sifted flour (2 tbsp. L.) To it and, stirring constantly, fry it a little until a light nutty smell appears.
3. Pour in a thin stream of milk (1 l). At this stage, you should intensively mix the sauce with a whisk so that lumps do not form.
4. On a medium heat, bring the milk to a boil, after which the heat can be reduced, add salt, pepper and nutmeg to the sauce. Continue to cook it until a thick consistency.

Bolognese sauce

The classic Lasagna recipe involves the use of not only bechamel sauce, but also ground beef with vegetables. This meat sauce is called bolognese. Its preparation takes place in the following sequence:

1. In olive oil (2 tbsp. L.) Chopped garlic (4 cloves), onions and coarsely grated carrots are fried.
2. Vegetables are passaged for 10 minutes until soft and translucent.
3. In the pan for onions and carrots, ground beef (400 g) is laid out. It takes 10 minutes to brown. In the process of roasting the minced meat, the resulting lumps should be broken with a spatula.
4. Add tomato sauce or ketchup (300 g) with a sweetish flavor. Canned tomatoes and fresh but finely chopped tomatoes are also suitable.
5. Season the pan with salt, pepper, dried basil and oregano.
6. Cook the Bolognese sauce for another 15 minutes under the lid, stirring occasionally so as not to burn. After that, it can be removed from the fire and used to make lasagna with minced meat in the oven. This sauce is also suitable for regular pasta.

Classic lasagna

When the two main sauces are ready, you can start assembling the dish. How to do lasagna is described in detail in the following step-by-step instruction:

1. Prepare a rectangular or square baking dish.
2. In addition to the ingredients for classic lasagna used to make sauces, you will also need grated cheese and sheets of dough. They can be rolled out independently according to the above recipe or bought in a store. In some cases, the sheets will need to be boiled according to the instructions on the package.
3. Pour bechamel sauce (2 tbsp. L.) Into the bottom of the mold.
4. Put the sheets on top in one row, depending on the size of the form (2-3 pcs.).
5. Distribute the third part of minced meat Bolognese, sprinkle with grated cheese and pour in bechamel sauce.
6. Similarly lay out two more layers.
7. On top of the finished dish is sprinkled with parmesan and poured with the remaining bechamel sauce.
8. The dish is baked for 35 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C. During this time, dry sheets will become soft, and the sauce will be completely absorbed into them.

Lasagna with mushrooms and chicken

The next dish has a delicate and interesting taste. Such lasagna with chicken and mushrooms is prepared, and traditional bechamel is used as a sauce. It soaks dry sheets well, and the cheese provides a crisp on top.

A step-by-step recipe for chicken lasagna is as follows:

1. Onion is first fried in vegetable oil, then diced chicken fillet (700 g) for 5 minutes, and mushrooms (300 g). Salt and pepper are added to taste.
2. After 10 minutes, the filling is transferred from the pan to the plate.
3. Tomatoes (500 g) are peeled and chopped in a blender along with parsley.
4. Bechamel sauce is prepared from 1 liter of milk, flour, butter and spices.
5. At the bottom of the baking dish, lasagna sheets are laid out in a single layer.
6. Top half of the filling is distributed and pour 500 ml of bechamel sauce.
7. Next, the sheets are laid out again. The remaining filling and sauce are distributed on top.
8. Sheets of lasagna are laid out again, but are poured with chopped tomatoes and herbs.
9. The form is sent to the preheated oven (180 ° C) for 20 minutes. After this, the lasagna is sprinkled with grated cheese (300 g) and then continues to bake for another 25 minutes. After another 15 minutes, the dish can be served.

Fast pita climbing

The next dish combines Armenian and Italian cuisines. Such lavash lasagna is prepared, but using traditional bechamel sauce and minced meat. The express version of the Italian dish will appeal to those people who do not want to mess with the dough for sheets or buy them in the store.

Step by step lavash climbing is prepared in this order:

1. Ground beef (500 g) is fried in a pan with onions for 7 minutes.
2. In a deep stewpan, bechamel sauce is prepared from 60 g of butter, 50 g of flour and 250 ml of milk. You do not need to add more liquid, because thin sheets of pita bread are very well and quickly soaked.
3. Next, prepare tomato sauce from tomatoes (6 pcs.), Crushed in a blender, and squeezed through a press of garlic (2 cloves).
4. The next step is to assemble the lasagna. To do this, a pita leaf is laid on the bottom of the form, then a third of tomato sauce, half of minced meat and ½ part of bechamel are poured. Grated cheese (150 g) is poured on top.
5. The first layer with the filling is covered with pita bread. Then again distributed tomato sauce, minced meat and bechamel.
6. The filling is covered with pita bread, poured with the remaining tomato sauce, and mozzarella sliced ​​in circles is distributed on top.
7. The dish is covered with foil and sent to the oven for 15 minutes. Then the foil can be removed, and put the baked lasagna for another 20 minutes.

Vegetable Lasagna

In this recipe, eggplant and zucchini are used instead of minced meat. The filling is very juicy and thanks to it the dish only wins. Dry dough is very well impregnated and turns soft.

At home, Lasagna with a vegetable recipe is prepared in the following sequence:

1. Eggplant (2 pcs.) Is cut into cubes and sprinkled with salt. In this form, they must be left for 15 minutes to get rid of bitterness.
2. Onions are laid out in a pan in vegetable oil, then diced carrots, sweet pepper (5 pcs.), Zucchini (2 pcs.) And squeezed eggplant.
3. While the vegetables are stewed for 15 minutes, a tomato sauce is prepared. To do this, 800 g of tomatoes are chopped in a blender or on a grater and mixed with squeezed garlic cloves.
4. Tomato dressing spills over to vegetables. Spicy dried herbs, salt and sugar are also added here. After 30 minutes, the filling will be ready.
5. All the ingredients are laid out in layers: first the sheets of dough, then the vegetable mixture, bechamel and cheese. The dish is baked for 35 minutes at 180 ° C.

Ham and Cheese Lasagna

The next dish is fast cooking. Using this recipe, you can make lasagna at home very quickly. There is no need to cook and fry the minced meat, because you just need to cut the ham into cubes and immediately use it as a filling. The recipe is as follows:

1. A tomato sauce is prepared from onions, garlic and tomatoes (700 g), grated on vegetable oil, grated. This filling is quenched for 15 minutes or until the liquid has completely evaporated.
2. Bechamel sauce is prepared using standard ingredients (milk, butter, flour and spices).
3. Lasagna is assembled in layers. First, sheets are laid out, half of tomato sauce is poured on them, then ham cubes, bechamel and cheese. The next layer looks similar.
4. Lasagna is baked for 40 minutes. Before cutting the dish into portions, cool it for 15 minutes.

Salmon Lasagna

A traditional Italian dish can be prepared not only with minced meat, but also with vegetables and fish. With such a filling, it turns out no less tasty.

To learn how to make lasagna, as in Italy, the following instruction will help:

1. A tablespoon of olive oil is poured into a large frying pan and chopped celery stalk, carrot cubes and finely chopped garlic (2 cloves) are added. After 5 minutes, 30 ml of dry white wine is poured into the vegetables. After another 3 minutes, the pan can be removed from the heat.
2. Bechamel sauce is prepared from 500 ml of milk, 50 g of butter and flour (2 tbsp.).
3. For the filling, salmon fillet (600 g) is diced and mixed with chopped dill.
4. Sauce is poured onto the bottom of the mold and pre-cooked sheets are laid out.
5. Vegetables are distributed on top, then salmon fillet and half of the sauce is poured. After that, the sheets are laid out again, the sauce is added and grated parmesan (60 g) is poured.
6. In the oven, the dish is baked for 30 minutes under the foil and another 10 minutes without it.

Spinach and Curd Lasagna Recipe

The following dish is prepared in this order:

1. First you need to prepare 2 types of toppings for lasagna.
2. Cut spinach (800 g) and fry in butter (50 g) with a pinch of salt.
3. Combine cottage cheese (300 g) with eggs (3 pcs.) Beaten with a fork, cream (50 ml), squeezed garlic (2 slices) and grated cheese (50 g).
4. Put lasagna sheets on the bottom of the mold. Top with a curd layer and spinach. Cover again with sheets.
5. Then you should do lasagna, as described above. The top layer is filled with greasy cream (300 ml) and sprinkled with cheese (50 g).

Lasagna with cabbage and minced meat

This dish resembles both Ukrainian cabbage rolls and Italian lasagna. Dry sheets of dough in this case are replaced by cabbage. In general, such a lasagna with minced meat in the oven is prepared in the following sequence:

1. Cabbage is boiled and parsed into leaves, as for cabbage rolls. The hard part is cut with a knife. Leaves are rolled out with a rolling pin and laid out on the bottom of the form.
2. Minced meat (400 g) is fried in a pan, onions and carrots are added, and after 5 minutes tomato sauce (100 g) is poured.
3. Bechamel sauce is prepared on the basis of milk (500 ml).
4. Half of the meat filling is laid out on the cabbage leaves in the form, then the bechamel sauce is poured. Again the leaves are laid out and the layers of the filling are repeated.
5. From above, the dish is sprinkled with cheese and sent to the oven (180 ° C) for 25 minutes.

Pancake lasagna with minced meat and mushrooms

The next recipe is the Russian version of the Italian dish. Dough sheets in it replace pancakes. In total, 10 pieces will be needed to prepare homemade lasagna with minced meat.

A step-by-step recipe is as follows:

1. Minced meat (400 g) is fried in a pan until the color changes. Salt and other spices are added to taste.
2. Mushrooms (400 g) with onions are fried in a separate pan.
3. Bechamel sauce is brewed from a glass of milk in a stewpan.
4. Pancakes, mushroom filling and minced meat are laid out alternately on a baking sheet. Layers should be repeated until the pancakes run out. On top of the lasagna with mushrooms and minced meat is poured with cooked sauce and sprinkled with cheese.
5. The dish is baked for 20 minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C.