Amazing Homemade Classic Lasagna
When I was a child, my Mum used to make lasagna every now and then for the big family Sunday lunch. And since everyone loved it, I never understood why she doesn't make it more often - it was simply delicious. Then, I started helping with the preparation and later on took charge of it, and finally I understood why. Because it's so time consuming, that's why. It's not hard, not at all, but it just takes good 2 hours or so from chopping the first ingredients to taking it out of the over, ready to be served. 2 hours are not so much, you'll probably say. Well yes, it's not, but those are 2 hours of constantly doing something, following the next step on the quest for homemade delicious lasagna.
I never follow a recipe when making lasagna, because I refuse to acknowledge the existence of just a certain number of lasagnas out there. There as many lasagnas as food preferences, and this means I can combine anything for my sauces.
My Granny for example simply loves it when I make a Creamy, Cheesy, Chicken lasagna, because she's not particularly keen on fried tomatoes. On the other hand, my veggie friends find the Spinach and Mushrooms lasagna the best one ever. And Mr.Boyfriend is the biggest fan possible to my Classic lasagna, the one with bechamel sauce and good old bolognese sauce. And this is the one I'm going to share with you today. Shall we make a start then?
Ingredients (makes 9 big portions) :
- 1 pack of lasagna sheets
- cold water
- salt
- olive oil
- 200-300 gr grated cheese
Bolognese Sauce:
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 500 gr beef mince
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 3-4 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cans of tomatoes
- handful of fresh basil
- salt and pepper
- dried oregano
Bechamel Sauce:
- 125 gr butter
- 4-5 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk (or 1 milk, 1 water)
- salt and pepper
How To:
Important! There's an time order when making lasagna. Please follow the steps in the order they are bellow.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 C.
Bolognese Sauce:
- In a deep pan heat the olive oil. Add the onion and the garlic. Fry until soft and translucent.
- When the onions are ready, add the minced meat and let cook, stirring occasionally.
- Put the red pepper and tomatoes (both canned and fresh) in a deep jug and blend to a puree.
- When the meat is almost cooked, add the red sauce and let cook for 20-30 minutes or as much as its needed until it thickens.
- Set aside.
Lasagna sheets:
- Place the lasagna sheets in a big pot cover with cold water. Add 1 tbsp of salt and bring to boil.
- When the water starts to boil reduce the heat and simmer until the sheets until they are cooked, according to the instructions on their box.
- Stir occasionally and try to separate any sheets that have clung together.
- When cooked drain the hot water and fill the pot with ice cold water several times one after the other.
- Let them stay in the cold water.
Bechamel Sauce:
- Place the butter in heavy-bottom pan and melt.
- Add the flour and stir energetically until resolved.
- Add the milk and stir, until it forms a homogeneous mixture.
Assembling:
- In a deep baking tray pour a spoonful of olive oil and make sure to cover the whole bottom and the sides.
- Pour some of the bechamel sauce and cover the whole bottom.
- Arrange few lasagna sheets on top of the white sauce, so that the whole bottom of the pan is covered.
- Put 1-2 tbsp of the white sauce on top of the lasagna sheets and cover with thick layer of the bolognese.
- Layer the lasagna following the same pattern - sheets, bechamel. bolognese, sheets, bechamel, bolognese until you run out of sheets.
- IMPORTANT: Your top layer must be sheets.
- Put in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- When the edges get golden, take it out of the oven and sprinkle with the grated cheese and let it melt.
- Let cool down for 10-15 minutes and serve.
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| Homemade lasagna, a comfort food for families around the world! |
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