Delicious homemade lasagne recipe to bring a real burst of Italian flavor on your family table

A great recipes for Lasagne (or lasagna, as I often see it called abroad) is a great one to have in your repertoires.

While a little laborious to make, lasagne are delicious, filling, they keep well and a great meal to prep ahead and serve to family friends, bring to a picnic or even stuff a lunchbox. When it comes to versatility, it really is a good one to have!

Recipes for lasagne are family staple in any Italian household, so much so that I doubt there is any Italian family who actually follows a recipe. Ask any Italian mama and they’ll you the ingredients, but never the actual amounts as we are all so used to making them, we just ‘see’ how much is needed!

I know this, because I do so myself!

But I know that is of no use to you so the other day I decided I would measure exactly what I do and take note, so that the whole process becomes replicable!

Here is my tried and tested homemade lasagna.

Good to know: lasagne are traditionally made with ragu alla bolognese (click for the recipe) but I often make them more simply with a basic beef ragout – sometimes, to give a deeper flavor, I even swap it for lamb mince, which is not traditional but I guarantee you works really well!

Since I shared before the bolognese sauce, today I share the alternative version I make most often: a lasagne with no pork (yet tons of flavor!)

Table of Contents

Ingredients

Four fresh lasagna sheets, about 20 x 40 cm size (this is the size of my dish. If you need to combine two sheets or cut one smaller to fit yours, that’s not problem).

For the tomato sauce

750 gr beef mince
1 small onion
2 small carrots
1 celery stalk
1L tomato passata
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper for seasoning

For the béchamel sauce (white sauce)

50 gr butter
As much flour for it to be absorbed, about 50 grams but do keep some more handy, just in case
250 ml milk or as much as need it for it to get a creamy texture (up to 500ml, a lot depends on the flour you have, each behave rather differently in terms of how much it absorbs.

You’ll also want some tinfoil although if you don’t, it it is not a dealbreaker

Process

Heat your olive oil (do not allow to fry), add the onion,garlic carrot and celery and sautéed them util softened – use a wooden spoon or cooking silicon spatula to move them around so they do not burn nor get brown.

Then add the meat and let it brown, breaking the clumps with your spatula, so you get a consistent texture. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat up to high and pour in the wine: mix well as it evaporates and turn the heat back down so once gone, the meat doesn’t burn.

Remove the garlic clove and pour in your tomato sauce. Add in also a bay leaf. Now mix well and let it cook on low – medium heat for about 1 hour or so.

About 10 minutes before you sauce is ready, turn your attention to making the béchamel.

Put the butter in a cooking pot and heat it gently on low heat so that is slowly melts. Once fully melted, add the flour a little at the time and use wooden spoon or a spatula to mix it with the butter. The butter will absorb it and form a ball: add as much flour as needed to that the ball ‘cleans’ the pot as you go.

Once you have the right consistency, gently add a little milk at a time and mix well so you get a smooth consistency.

Then let it cook mixing continuously until you get a creamy texture: adjust with salt and, if you like, add a bay leaf for flavor. You’re now ready to assemble your dish but first, turn on the oven to 400F/200C/180C Fan / Gas 6 to get it hot.

Assembly

Take your lasagna dish and add a first ladle of sauce. Then add a lasagna sheet on top. The again a layer of sauce, a bit of béchamel and a layer or pasta. Keep going until you have 3 or 4 layers: make sure you have enough sauce and béchamel as the top layer. Add a sprinkle of parmensan cheese and use tinfoil to cover the dish.

Now it goes in the oven!

Let your lasagne cook for about 45 min then at min 45 check they are piping hot throughout. Now take off the foil and turn the grill on for a coupled of minutes: this will give a crispy texture to the top. keep an eye on them as you don’t want them to burn or turn black!

Take them off the oven and let rest for as long as you can, for the flavors to set. If you intend on leaving them to rest for a long time (for instance if making in the morning for dinner), skip the grill step and only do that part when heating them again right before serving. Enjoy!