How to make lasagna with ready-made sheets. We prepare delicious lasagna from ready-made sheets and homemade dough. Step-by-step preparation of lasagna from ready-made sheets

Recipe meat lasagna from ready-made sheets is suitable for both a regular dinner and a celebration. It's very tasty and original dish, invented in Italy and quickly gaining popularity all over the world, will satisfy any discerning taste, and thanks to the abundance of recipes, you can prepare it every day without slipping into monotony.

Real lasagna is usually prepared from special thinly rolled dough. However, preparing it at home is a rather complex and time-consuming process, so there are many recipes that use ready-made lasagne sheets. These include a recipe with minced meat. For it you will need:

• 0.5 kg of any minced meat (or a mixture of different ones - for example, pork, beef and chicken, then the dish will turn out even more tasty and juicy);
• 8 lasagne sheets;
• 300 g of any hard cheese;
• 3 large ripe tomatoes;
• 2 glasses of milk;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 3 tablespoons butter;
• 2 tablespoons flour;
• salt;
• seasonings to taste - black and/or red pepper, dried basil, Provencal mixture of herbs, curry, etc.

The given amount of ingredients yields approximately 5-6 servings. Accordingly, if necessary, all parameters can be proportionally reduced or increased, depending on the expected number of guests or family members.

Preparing the filling

The process of preparing any type of lasagna at home begins with preparing the filling, and this recipe is no exception. So, heat a little oil in a frying pan and put it there chopped meat and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning.

During this time, we peel the tomatoes (they must first be doused with boiling water to make the skin easier to remove), grind them in a blender and add the resulting puree to the frying pan with the minced meat. All this is simmered together for another 5 minutes, during which you can add salt and seasonings, onion and garlic. After this, set the skoroda aside - let the filling cool, but for now you can move on to preparing the sauce.

Most often, a cream sauce recipe is used to prepare lasagna. Of course, this dish cannot be spoiled by any other dish either, but this one can be called a classic option. In addition, it goes well with absolutely all fillings.

So, for the lasagna sauce, take milk and heat it (without bringing it to a boil!). In a separate container, melt the butter, mix it with flour, then pour the resulting mixture into the hot milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly. All this should warm up for another 1-2 minutes, after which you can add salt and spices and remove the sauce from the heat. It should turn out homogeneous and slightly thickened.

The third part of the resulting sauce should be set aside, and the rest should be mixed with the minced meat. After this, our lasagna recipe goes into the final stage - we prepare the sheets and put all the ingredients together, after which we send the dish to bake.

Preparing lasagne sheets

Before you begin preparing your lasagne sheets, read the recipe on the package carefully. Various manufacturers give different instructions: some suggest pre-boiling the sheets in salted water until half cooked, others suggest soaking for 15–20 minutes. Some cooks prefer not to do anything with them in advance, explaining this by the fact that the sheets are perfectly saturated with sauce during baking and therefore do not need any pre-treatment.

In any case, it is better to follow the manufacturer's recipe, and after the sheets are ready, you can begin to “assemble” the dish. To do this, place a sheet on the bottom of a suitable rectangular shape, place 1/3 of the filling on it, sprinkle with grated cheese, and cover with another sheet. The procedure is repeated twice more, after which the third of the cream sauce that was initially set aside is poured over everything and left for 40 minutes. hot oven. 10 minutes before the end of this period, you can generously sprinkle the dish with grated cheese.

The recipe given here turns out to be very tender, satisfying and tasty. On this basis, you can experiment with fillings, replacing minced meat with vegetables, fish, smoked meats or different types of cheese: each time you will get a completely new, unique taste. Minced meat can also be mixed with various vegetables: eggplants, sweet peppers, zucchini, carrots, etc. The number of layers also varies, and different recipes They suggest not mixing the filling ingredients, but applying a new layer to each sheet: for example, first meat, then mushrooms, after them - vegetable stew and so on.

Before serving, let the lasagna sit for about 15 minutes. It is most often eaten warm, but some people like the cold version of this dish. It tolerates heating in the microwave well and can be stored in the refrigerator for quite a long time - up to 4 days - without harming the taste.

Lasagna is another symbol Italian cuisine, no less significant than pasta and pizza. This dish is a multi-layer casserole made from thin sheets of dough, between which layers of filling and bechamel sauce are placed. The top of the lasagna is covered with rosy cheese crust. Interestingly, the ancient Greeks prepared a similar dish, calling it “lasanon” - “hot plates”. The first recipes for lasagna appeared in Italian cookbooks in the 13th century, but in our time lasagna has turned into an international dish that can be prepared at home.

How to cook lasagna: make the dough

The dough for lasagna is made in the same way as for pasta - from durum varieties wheat. You can buy ready-made dry lasagna sheets in stores, but it is best to prepare the dough yourself, in which case the lasagna will turn out especially tender, juicy and tasty.

The lasagna dough is kneaded like dumplings - the flour is collected in a mound, an egg is broken in the middle, salt and olive oil are added. Classic proportions: 250 g of two types of flour, 4 eggs, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp. olive oil. The dough should be tight so that when cooking it does not spread, but retains its shape. After kneading, the dough is wrapped in cling film and left for half an hour in the refrigerator for the traditional “rest”.

A sausage is formed from the “rested” dough and cut into pieces, each of which is rolled out into a thin layer about 2 mm thick and cut into squares or rectangles the size of the mold in which the lasagna will be baked.

Cooking lasagne sheets

The dough is boiled in the usual way like pasta - in boiling salt water; To prevent the products from sticking together, add a little olive oil to the water. It is better if the sheets remain slightly undercooked, as Italian chefs recommend - “al dente” (“to the tooth”). In this case, the dish will turn out tastier and healthier.

All toppings are good - choose to taste

The meat filling is made from any minced meat or sausages with the addition of onions and vegetables: the ingredients are fried with spices, then stewed for 15–20 minutes with tomatoes or tomato paste. A combination of beef, pork and minced chicken, as well as a combination of meat and fruit, such as pineapples.

The seafood filling, which is prepared from boiled mussels, shrimp and squid, is very tasty. Next, the seafood is stewed with the addition of a glass of water and tomatoes; for piquancy, you can add parsley and nutmeg to the filling. Also used as filling are eggs and any fish, generously seasoned with spices and herbs.

Mushroom filling is made from any mushrooms and vegetables, for example, champignons, eggplants, zucchini, bell pepper and onions. Vegetables and mushrooms are fried, then stewed with tomato paste or tomatoes, then mixed with bechamel sauce. Very popular cheese fillings, and for sweet lasagna, fruits, berries, dried fruits and nuts are suitable - on top ready dish decorated with whipped cream and chocolate. In general, the filling for lasagna gives room for creativity, so you can experiment with any products - Italians are very fond of culinary improvisation.

Cooking lasagna at home: choosing cheese

The ideal cheese for lasagna is, of course, Parmesan, which is sometimes mixed with mozzarella, ricotta or mascarpone. The fact is that the combination of Parmesan with these cheeses gives the dish tenderness, juiciness, piquant taste and pleasant aroma. But you don’t have to limit your imagination to only two types of cheese; you can use any hard cheeses with a bright and slightly pungent aroma and soft, delicate cheeses with delicate taste. Whether to sprinkle cheese on each layer of the dish or just on the top plate is a matter of recipe and personal preference.

Which sauce is better?

The classic sauce for this is bechamel, it is very easy to prepare. Fry 2 tbsp in 50 g of melted butter. l. flour, pour in 500 ml of cream in a thin stream, cook for 2 minutes until the sauce thickens, then season the bechamel with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir the sauce thoroughly until smooth. By the way, cream can be replaced with milk or meat broth.

Also suitable for lasagne tomato sauce with spices and smoked meats, cream sauce, broth-based gravies. Do not skimp on the sauce for this dish so that the dough sheets are well soaked and the dish is juicy.

Choosing dishes

To prepare lasagna, you will need thick-walled dishes in which the dough will not burn - after all, the dish will simmer for 40 minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C. In other words, the cookware must be heat-resistant and reliable; a mold made of ceramics and fireproof glass, cast iron cookware or a container with a non-stick coating are best suited for this purpose.

Bake lasagna

So, you have cooked the dough sheets, prepared the filling, grated the cheese - all that remains is to assemble the lasagna into a multi-story structure and bake it in the oven. Grease the pan with olive oil and lay out the layers, each layer being made according to the following scheme: lasagne sheet, filling, sauce, grated Parmesan. There can be as many such layers as you like - up to seven; the topmost layer is smeared with sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese again. This is necessary so that a golden crispy crust is formed during baking in the oven. Ready lasagna can be decorated with herbs or fried nuts.

Cooking lasagna at home: secrets of Italian chefs

When kneading the dough, it is best to take two types of wheat flour - higher and second; lasagna experts say that in this case the dough turns out tastier.

If during the kneading process you feel a lack of moisture and the dough crumbles, under no circumstances should you pour water into it; it is better to add an egg or a little olive oil, as water will make the dough hard.

If you bought ready-made sheets of dough to prepare lasagne at home, carefully study the instructions on the package, as some manufacturers recommend not boiling the sheets, but simply soaking them in water - it all depends on the composition and method of preparing the dough.

Italians lay the dough squares crosswise - that is, the new layer of dough should be perpendicular to the previous layer. This makes the lasagna more stable, so it doesn’t fall apart when cut and looks aesthetically pleasing. If we cook lasagne at home in a slow cooker, we should place sheets of lasagna on the bottom of the bowl. parchment paper so that the dish does not burn. The lasagna is wrapped in parchment before cooking in the oven, or even better, use a baking sleeve.

Homemade Neapolitan lasagna recipe

Once you have learned how to make lasagna at home in classic version, try making this dish with eggs and meatballs according to the Neapolitan recipe.

Boil the dough sheets. Chop 1 carrot, 1 stalk of celery into cubes, chop 1 onion into rings and simmer the vegetables in a frying pan with a little olive oil and 50 ml of dry red wine - cook the vegetables until half the liquid has evaporated. Bring 1 liter of tomatoes to a boil own juice, they should simmer over low heat.

For the filling, cut 60 g of parmesan into thin slices, mix it with 1 raw egg and 400 g of ground beef. Make small meatballs, fry them in a frying pan in vegetable oil and add to tomato sauce. Cut 5 boiled eggs and 150 g of mozzarella into thin slices.

Place layers of boiled dough and filling into the mold in this order - lasagne sheet, sauce with meatballs, mozzarella with eggs - and so on in several batches. Fill the entire pan and top the lasagna with grated Parmesan. Bake it for half an hour in the oven at 200°C and enjoy exquisite taste Italian cuisine.

Lasagna with fish and spinach

This unusual one looks beautiful and has a delicate taste. To prepare it, boil 12 sheets of dough and make bechamel sauce - fry 40 g of flour in 40 g of butter, add 350 ml of milk, simmer the sauce for 5 minutes, season it with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Warm in 1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil 300g frozen spinach until soft, then quarter 4 tomatoes, mix the vegetables with the sauce and dill, which will add flavor and expression to the bechamel.

Place sheets of dough in a greased form, first the cod fillet, and then the sauce, which should be sprinkled with grated Camembert. For 300 g of cod you will need 100 g of cheese, the number of layers depends on the height of the mold, the main thing is to cover the last layer with cheese. Bake lasagna for 35 minutes at 200°C and try it, you will definitely like it!

Spices from the branded online store “Eat at Home”

Italy many people associate with pizza, pasta and LASAGNA. And if you won’t surprise anyone with pizza now, lasagna has not yet become so widely known, although it deserves it!

Now you can easily try lasagna in any cafe or restaurant. But, my advice to you is to try making lasagna at home, and you will never order it in a cafe again, because it’s better at home!

Yes, lasagna is a little time consuming to prepare, it will take you a couple of hours to prepare it. But I will give you one more piece of advice, and if you listen, you will be simply happy (forgive my indiscretion, but I myself am delighted with this idea)!

A little secret is that if you still have to tinker with the preparation, then it’s worth preparing a large portion or even two servings (well, about two, maybe I’ve gone too far) Cook a lot, as much as you can eat - eat it, and divide the rest of the lasagna into portions , pack in cling film, bags, molds - as convenient for you, and put them in the freezer (naturally, the lasagna should be cooled well first; in addition, only when cold can it be cut into even, beautiful pieces, and when hot or warm you can beautifully never cut). And when you come home from work and you don’t have any time to bother with cooking, frozen lasagna will come to your rescue! Just empty it from the packaging and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes. While you are changing clothes, wash your hands, set the table and invite your husband and children to the table (you can still have time for a salad from fresh vegetables slice), the lasagna is already warmed up, all you have to do is wish your loved ones bon appetit!

Another practical tip for reducing cooking time: divide the cooking into 2 days. On the first day, prepare the sauces, cool and put in the refrigerator. And the next day, assemble and bake the lasagna. You will do all this casually, and the result will be amazing!!!

And finally, if you want to prepare lasagna for guests, also prepare the ingredients for the lasagna in advance, assemble it completely, sprinkle with cheese, cover with cling film and put it in the refrigerator. Those. the night before, you prepared everything. And the next day, all you have to do is transfer the lasagna from the refrigerator to the oven, set the table, wait for guests and receive compliments!

P.S. Just remember that lasagna is difficult to cut into even pieces when hot. Just accept this as a fact, stock up on a SHARP knife and cut it smartly, without bothering with the evenness of the pieces. After all, the main thing about lasagna is its amazing home taste!

Ingredients

Lasagna is rightfully considered a symbol of Italian cuisine, where it has the same significance as pizza and pasta. The dish is a casserole consisting of layers of dough, between the layers of which is laid meat filling and sauce. The top of the lasagna is covered fragrant crust from cheese.

Many Italian cookbooks tell you how to make lasagna at home for lunch or dinner. The dish will be decorated festive table and diversifies the usual lunch recipes. No special ingredients are needed for preparation. Every housewife has ingredients for lasagna in her kitchen.

Some chefs prefer classic lasagna, others, on the contrary, experiment and add various products. The result is fish, mushroom and even vegetable lasagna.

Classic lasagna made from ready-made sheets

Many cooks use ready dough, which is sold in the store. It consists of dried layers of dough from wheat flour.

Classic lasagna consists of two sauces - bolognese and bechamel. Their combination makes it incredibly tasty, juicy and light. Bolognese is made from onions, garlic, minced meat and tomatoes. To prepare bechamel you will need milk, butter and flour. When assembling lasagna, you don't need to skimp on the sauce. It is its quantity that determines the taste of the dish itself.

Bechamel sauce

Ingredients:

• 50 g butter;
• 50 g flour;
• 1.5 glasses of milk;
• 50 g hard cheese;
• grated nutmeg - a pinch.

How to cook:

1. Melt butter in a frying pan and add flour. Mix everything thoroughly and fry for several minutes.
2. Pour the milk into the dough and mix with a whisk so that there are no lumps.
3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Very soon the sauce will begin to thicken.
4. Add grated cheese and continue stirring until completely dissolved.
5. Add a pinch of nutmeg.
6. Mix everything again and remove from heat.

Let's start by making bolognese sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 1 PC. fresh bell pepper;
• salt;
• pepper;
• olive oil;
• 400 g minced beef;
• oregano;
• 3 fresh tomatoes;
• 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste.

Preparation:

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic.
2. Heat the frying pan.
3. Cut into small pieces bell pepper
4. Fry garlic in olive oil, add onion and pepper. Stir and add salt and ground black pepper. Fry until done, when the onion acquires a golden hue.
5. Add Ground beef and mix all ingredients.
6. Add oregano and continue cooking over low heat.
7. Co fresh tomatoes remove the skin and grind using a grater or food processor. Add to the minced meat.
8. Pour in tomato paste and mix again. Cook for another 15 minutes.

How to assemble lasagna

1. Turn on the oven to preheat to 200 degrees.
2. Take square shape medium size. Place a little bechamel sauce on the bottom.
3. Place several sheets of dough on the bottom of the pan until it is completely covered.
4. Spread a little bolognese sauce on the dough and then cover it with plates again. Classic lasagna consists of only 5 balls, but each housewife makes her own changes to the recipe. Alternate layers of pasta and bolognese.
5. The last layer should consist of bolognese. Place grated cheese on it.
6. Form a layer of pasta over the cheese again and pour over the bechamel sauce.
7. Sprinkle grated cheese on top again.
8. Cover the pan with a lid or foil and place in the oven.
9. Bake at 180 - 190 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Cut into portions, garnish with a fresh sprig of parsley, and serve.

Video recipe

Homemade lasagna

The dough recipe for lasagna is the same as for pasta. It is better to choose flour from durum wheat. If you cook the plates yourself, the dish will turn out more tender and juicy.

Ingredients

Servings: 4

• chicken egg 4 things
• flour 250 g
• olive oil 1 tsp.
• salt ½ tsp.

Per serving

Calories: 193 kcal

Proteins: 9 g

Fats: 13.2 g

Carbohydrates: 9.5 g

47 min. Video recipe Print

Pour flour in a heap. Make a hole in the middle and add the rest of the ingredients there. When making the dough, make sure it is elastic. Then during cooking it will not lose its shape and will not fall apart.

After kneading the dough, cover it with film and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The cold will help it become even more sticky and the finished plates will hold their shape well.

After 30 minutes, the dough is removed from the refrigerator. Having formed it into a sausage, cut it into equal-sized pieces.

Then the pieces are rolled into thin layers and cut out into squares or rectangles, depending on the baking dish.

The finished plates are boiled until al dente (5-7 minutes) or left raw for further cooking.

How to cook lasagna in a slow cooker

The Italian treat can also be prepared in a slow cooker. The technology is the same as in the oven. After all the ingredients are collected in balls, turn on the appropriate mode and wait for readiness. In each multicooker model, the name of the modes may differ.

Calorie content

The dish of Italian cuisine turns out to be very satisfying. They are easy to feed all family members.

100 grams of lasagna contain 135 calories.

Cheese, meat, spices and other ingredients are used for cooking. But despite this, it turns out to be moderately high in calories.

There is not a single chef who does not use secrets when cooking. And lasagna is no exception. To make the taste unique, you need to know some secrets.

• When preparing bolognese sauce, you can replace oregano with rosemary or Bay leaf.
• Some cooks use Italian herbs and other mixtures.
• When assembling the lasagna, the balls should not be in close contact with the edges. Under the influence of high temperature, the layers of dough will be saturated with juices and the dish will increase in volume. This is why it is necessary to leave some space in the baking dish.
• If lasagna is baked in the oven, the pan must be placed exactly in the center. This way the food will cook evenly.
• To make bolognese sauce, you can use leeks instead of regular onions or use both ingredients in equal quantities. This will make the taste even more interesting.

Lasagna may seem like a lot of work to make, but it's not. The components from which it is prepared are available to anyone. To prepare lasagna, you do not need to have any special cooking skills; the main thing is to carefully read the recipe and strictly follow it.

If you cook often, you will develop your own special technique and be able to make some adjustments that can make the dish even more delicious. You can experiment and use seafood and vegetables instead of the usual ingredients. Lasagna is worthy of everyone’s attention and is a must try.

For me, lasagna has always been the pinnacle culinary arts. A rather labor-intensive dish that requires not so much a colossal amount of time as the preparation of several components, which are complex in themselves. My friend’s wife, having decided to pamper her beloved with something delicious, stood at the stove for half a day, saw how her friend swallowed lasagna in the blink of an eye, and said simply: this is the first and last time. Well, or something like that.

The pasta itself can be purchased, which is very convenient and even makes life easier for cooks, or it can be prepared independently. I saw special kitchen devices for rolling out dough into thin layers. I will definitely buy myself such a machine.

There are a surprising number of lasagna filling options. Most often it is a thick meat sauce: Neapolitan, Bolognese sauce or Amatriciana sauce - with minced meat. It turns out very tasty with artichokes and spinach. Most often, lasagna is topped with bechamel sauce or something similar. What is noteworthy is that perhaps in Italy there are certain canons and rules, but in the rest of the world, chefs use their imagination. I remembered the wonderful lasagna with young nettles, it was something. In addition, it is usually sprinkled with grated cheese and baked in the oven or oven.

Actually lasagne (lasagne) is pasta, pasta. It is produced or prepared independently at home in the form of a thin flat square or rectangle. Dishes made from such pasta, which is prepared in layers mixed with filling, are a hallmark of Italian cuisine, just like the famous one.

There is a lot of controversy about the origin of the word "lasagna". But most agree that the word is borrowed from the Greek “λάσανα” - hot plates. In world cuisines there are many very similar dishes that can differ significantly from Italian lasagna, but, nevertheless, be just as tasty.

Without going into details, I’ll give a simple example - most likely, everyone from childhood will remember their grandmother’s pancake pie - thin pancakes or nalistniki, arranged in layers of different delicacies. There are sauces and homemade sausage, or sprats. A little funny, but in childhood it was the most favorite treat.

Although preparing lasagna at home is difficult, after the second time there are no problems. I know it from myself. The sauce is probably the hardest part.

Homemade lasagna. Classic recipe

Ingredients (4 servings)

• Paste sheets (10x20 cm) 10-12 pcs
• Beef 300 g
• Red ripe tomatoes 4 things
• Carrot 1 piece
• Garlic 2-3 cloves
• Onion 1 piece
• Mixed greens (parsley, petiole celery, dill) 0.5 bunch
• Olive oil 3 tbsp. l.
• Butter 50 g
• Milk 0.5 l
• Heavy cream 100 ml
• White wine 100 ml
• Parmesan 100 g
• Salt, black pepper, dry aromatic herbs, nutmeg, sugar taste

How to cook lasagna

1. While on vacation in Italy, we tried lasagna everywhere. I don't remember once that we didn't like it. It was always special and different. By the way, this dish in restaurants looks quite sloppy, by our standards. Which, however, does not affect the taste.
2. Cooking process homemade lasagna, provided that you bought the paste itself, can be roughly divided into three stages.
3. The first stage is preparing the sauces. It's long enough. A good meat sauce takes several hours to prepare and requires attention. Bechamel or any creamy sauce based on flour and butter to your taste is easy to prepare, but requires skill.
4. The second stage is placing the pasta and sauces in a heat-resistant form. Carefully coat all layers of paste.
5. The third stage is baking in the oven or in the oven.
6. However, there is a fourth stage, the most pleasant - lunch, at which lasagna is the main course.

Step-by-step recipe for minced meat sauce

7. If you know how to make Bolognese sauce, Amatriciana sauce or any other meat sauce with tomatoes, cook it. But make it thicker than for paste.
8. I made the sauce using available ingredients that I had at home. A piece of beef pulp, an onion and a carrot, some mixed greens, tomatoes. I deliberately did not use animal fat for the sauce; the dish would already be high in calories.

   Products for meat sauce

9. Grind the beef with a meat grinder to obtain minced meat. In a deep saucepan, heat 3 tbsp. l. olive oil, let it heat a little until a characteristic smell appears. Then, stirring, fry the ground beef in oil for 4-5 minutes.

   Fry ground beef in oil for 4-5 minutes

10. Peel the onions, garlic and carrots. Grate the garlic on a fine grater and finely chop the onion with a knife. Add onion and garlic to the minced meat and continue frying.

    Add onion, stalked celery and garlic to the minced meat and continue frying

11. Finely chop the petiole celery and add to the saucepan. If buying stalked celery is problematic, you can add finely chopped celery roots, parsley, and parsnips.
12. Grate the carrots - not the largest ones. Add to the saucepan, stir and fry for about 10 minutes.

    Grate the carrots and add to the saucepan, stir and fry for about 10 minutes

13. Then add finely chopped parsley, add a little salt and pepper. Add 2 tsp. sugar - to taste. Sugar will make the sauce extremely tasty - sweet and sour. Pour in half a glass of white table wine. Bring to a boil and, cover with a lid, leave to simmer over low heat.
14. Meanwhile, scald the tomatoes with boiling water and remove the skins. Tomatoes for lasagna should be the ripest. Remove seeds from tomatoes and puree in a blender. If it is difficult to buy ripe tomatoes, add half a can of canned tomato pulp, they are sold in 400 g packages. Add tomato puree into a saucepan and add a little hot water - half a glass maximum.

    Add tomato puree to the saucepan and add a little hot water

15. As soon as the sauce boils, add dry aromatic herbs - a “Mediterranean herbs” mixture is ideal. Pour in half a glass of cream.

    Pour in half a glass of cream

16. Next, a long process begins - the sauce is cooked. On the lowest heat, so that it barely boils, it literally simmers. Periodically, but not very often, you need to stir. The most difficult question: how long to cook? For a long time. Minimum 2 hours. The sauce should come out smooth and thick. You should adjust spices, salt and sugar to taste. Consistency - imagine store-bought squash caviar. Somewhere like this.

    The sauce should be smooth and thick

Preparing bechamel sauce

17. If you know how to cook bechamel - the best option. Just don't go overboard with the spices. Actually bechamel is a basic (main) milk sauce. Those. Other sauces are made on its basis, which are often called bechamel, despite the presence of a bunch of ingredients in them. In theory, béchamel is roux and milk. Roux is a heat-treated mixture of flour and fat. The roux is diluted with milk - at room temperature and brought to a boil. After adding salt and spices, bechamel is obtained. After adding minor ingredients, a derivative sauce is obtained.

    Butter, flour and milk - all you need for milk sauce

18. But this is not so important. Melt the butter in a separate frying pan. An important point: butter, not spread or margarine. As soon as the butter melts and begins to bubble, add 1-1.5 heaped tablespoons of flour and immediately begin stirring with a wooden spatula. The flour should mix with the fat and become very smooth. Lumps are not allowed.

    As soon as the butter melts and starts to bubble, add 1-1.5 heaped tablespoons of flour

19. Immediately, stirring continuously, begin to pour in the cold milk in a thin stream, trying to break up any lumps and ensure that the sauce is completely homogeneous. The amount of milk is not necessary one at a time. You want the finished sauce to be slightly runny. Cook the sauce over low heat for 10-12 minutes.

    Stirring continuously, begin to pour in cold milk in a thin stream.

20. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg and salt. By the way, a little black pepper will also improve the taste very well.

    Add a pinch of ground nutmeg and salt

21. If the sauce has become too thick, you can add a little hot milk. If it is too liquid, knowledgeable people recommend throwing a piece of butter into the finished sauce, after rolling it in flour.

Method for laying lasagne sheets

22. The most interesting part of the cooking process is placing it in a heat-resistant form. The shape and size of the leaves vary greatly. It is worth preparing in advance a suitable ceramic or glass mold of the required size. I specifically bought a 20x20 cm square pan with a high side.
23. Store-bought paste measuring 10x20 cm fits perfectly into this mold, two leaves side by side. The paste is sold in two types. The first pasta requires pre-boiling. The second is placed dry in the mold.

    Store-bought lasagna size 10x20 cm

24. I bought pasta that does not require boiling - subito in forno. After thinking a little, I decided to soak the lasagna leaves in hot water for a few minutes. However, as it turned out, this could not have been done.

    After thinking a little, I decided to soak the lasagne leaves in hot water for a couple of minutes

25. Next, lightly grease the square pan. butter, especially the walls. Place 2 tbsp on the bottom. l. milk sauce and distribute it evenly over the entire area. Place two rectangular sheets side by side.
26. Brush pasta leaves with milk sauce. Add some of the meat sauce. Important: Lasagna usually consists of 5-6 layers of pasta, i.e. There should be enough meat sauce for 4-5 layers. You need to decide in advance how much meat sauce should be placed on one layer. To be enough. If it remains, it doesn't matter.