Italian layered lasagna in baking oven pan

Italian layered lasagna Photo: 1. https://unsplash.com/photos/yQ3P5lr-v_A

Italian layered lasagna: Layers of classic Italian pasta goodness

There’s nothing like a hearty lasagna enjoyed with the people you love. This winter, try our Italian layered lasagna recipe any day of the week.

Italian layered lasagna in baking oven pan

Italian layered lasagna Photo: 1. https://unsplash.com/photos/yQ3P5lr-v_A

Do you love Italian food? If you do, you probably love the pinnacle of pasta goodness with a tasty lasagna. Lasagna is a dish that many people often skip doing at home because it does take a bit of time and effort to make, but can be done in stages. You’ll be making each step from scratch except the pasta sheets which you can buy fresh or dried sheets. Layered Italian lasagna is a great weekday or celebration dish, perfectly cooked in the oven and served to your hungry friends and family.

Making an Italian layered lasagna

The meat layer is a very quick and easy beef mince bolognaise sauce. Remember to brown the meat for extra flavour before starting step 2. The one that always scares people off is making béchamel sauce but it’s more effort and not too hard. While continuously whisking, you can also add a pinch of nutmeg to finish off the creamy, cheesy sauce layer.

There’s nothing like a hearty lasagna enjoyed with the people you love. This winter, try our Italian layered lasagna recipe any day of the week.

Italian layered lasagna Recipe

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Recipe by Irene Muller Course: MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Moderate
Servings

10

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 
Total time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Ingredients

  • Béchamel sauce
  • 5 tbsp 5 flour

  • 5 tbsp 5 butter

  • 1 litre 1 milk, or more if the sauce is too thick

  • 3 cups 3 mozzarella cheese, grated

  • Lasagne meat sauce and layering
  • lasagne sheets

  • 1 kg 1 lean mincemeat

  • 2 2 onions, diced

  • 3 cloves 3 garlic, diced

  • olive oil

  • fresh origanum

  • 600 g 600 tomato and basil pasta sauce (Woolworths has a delicious brand)

  • cayenne pepper

Method

  • Pasta sheets
  • Boil the pasta sheets before assembling.  Add olive oil in the water to prevent the sheets from sticking and stir them occasionally with a wooden spoon.
  • Transfer each cooked lasagna sheet carefully into a large bowl or pot filled with cool water to help stop the cooking process. Leave them in there until ready to use. This prevents the sheets from sticking together or drying out. You can do this while the meat sauce is gently simmering.
  • Meat sauce
  • In a large heavy-based saucepan, add oil and bring to high heat. 
  • Sauté the garlic and onions until light brown, add the mincemeat and braise the meat continuously until the meat has a brown colour.
  • Add the packet of tomato and basil sauce and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Béchamel sauce
  • In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Remove from the stove, add the flour and whisk for about 30 seconds or until well blended.
  • Place the pot back onto the heat, reduce the heat to low and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the milk until well combined.
  • Once well blended, add the remaining milk, mixing well after each addition, until all the milk is used and the sauce is free from lumps. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk until it turns into a creamy consistency.
  • Increase the heat to medium and continue cooking the sauce while stirring occasionally until it thickens (about 6 – 7 minutes) and coats the back of your wooden spoon. 
  • Add the fresh origanum.
  • Add the cheese and remove it from the heat.
  • Season with salt and pepper and mix until the cheese is melted through. (leave a little cheese to add on top of the lasagne).
  • Lasagne
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • Layer the lasagna in a prepared oven dish that is sprayed with Cook & Spray.
  • Start with the pasta sheets, then mince, and then the béchamel sauce. Add fresh origanum leaves in between the layers.
  • Make sure the last layers are pasta, meat, béchamel sauce, and then mozzarella cheese. This will result in a crunchy cheesy top layer with juicy meat sauce underneath.
  • Sprinkle with cayenne pepper.
  • Bake in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes.

Notes

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Looking for more Italian dishes to make at home for your loved ones? We have so many great suggestions for you to try, just check out our recipes.

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