Lasagna, cooked with minced meat, came to us from Italian cuisine itself. Nowadays, this dish has become very popular in Russia, just like French meat. It's really impossible not to fall in love with her! And this love begins from the very first bite! It is assembled like a construction set. Layers of lasagne leaves alternate (in composition and taste, like any other pasta) with sauce and juicy minced meat, mainly Bechamel. There are a large number of types of it. Well, today I want to cook, of course, one of the most popular types.
At the very first and, to be honest, deceptive glance, this dish may seem complicated and labor-intensive, I thought the same about lagman. But in reality this is not at all the case. Because it’s easy to prepare, but it will take (well, what can you do) a little more time to prepare it than we would like. But I assure you, the time spent on it is worth it!
If you haven’t tried this dish yet, then it’s time to familiarize yourself with cooking lasagna with minced meat at home! So, the first thing you need to do is go to the supermarket and buy lasagne leaves. If for some reason this is difficult for you, then you can prepare them yourself at home.
The simplest lasagna recipes at home step by step
Lasagna is usually prepared using sheets that are sold in any supermarket in the pasta section. You can make the plates yourself from the dough, but since we are considering simple and easy recipes, we will give preference to ready-made ones.
The only recipe where I tell you how to make your own sheets is making lasagna in a frying pan. In it I consider a more complex option - we will knead the dough ourselves.
Instead of store-bought sheets, you can also use unusual ingredients - pita bread, pasta, puff pastry.
Option from ready-made sheets
Consider a simple traditional lasagna recipe, which can be varied with additional ingredients if desired.
Ready-made lasagna sheets can be purchased at the supermarket.
Step-by-step cooking instructions:
- Chop the onion, grate two carrots coarsely.
- Dilute 2 tbsp in 250 ml of water. spoons of ketchup.
- Fry the onion, carrots and 300 g of minced meat in a frying pan. Add the solution with tomatoes. Bring the meat to readiness.
- In a separate container, melt 2 tbsp. tablespoons butter, fry 2 tbsp. spoons of flour until it acquires a golden hue.
- Add 200 ml of cool milk and wait for the sauce to boil. Add nutmeg (a teaspoon) and heat over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring.
- Coat the pan with gravy, lay out the lasagne sheets, and place the meat on top.
- Drizzle with sauce and duplicate layers again until the mince is gone. The lasagna ends with meat. Pour the sauce on top, sprinkle the minced meat with cheese if desired.
- Cover the pan with foil. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for half an hour.
Easy pasta option
It's very easy to make pasta lasagna.
The basis of lasagna is Italian curly pasta.
The remaining ingredients can be varied based on your own taste preferences.
Cooking instructions:
- Cook the Bechamel filling - melt 40 g of butter, fry 40 g of flour in it, add 200 ml of milk. Boil for 2 minutes. There should be no lumps (you can pass the composition through a sieve). Add a pinch of nutmeg to the prepared filling.
- Boil a pack of pasta until half cooked, sprinkle with vegetable oil. Drain the water.
- Cut vegetables of your choice: tomatoes (3 pcs.), bell peppers, celery, always one carrot and onion. Melt 1 tbsp in a frying pan. spoon of butter, add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Fry the vegetable mixture.
- Place 400 g of minced meat, salt and pepper into a frying pan. Enter 5 tbsp. spoons of red wine. But it is possible to do without this component.
- Dilute tomato paste (1.5 tablespoons) with 200 ml of water and pour over the meat.
- Lightly pour Bechamel sauce over the mold, distribute the pasta, followed by a layer of meat and vegetables.
- Pour over the sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese to taste. Duplicate layers.
- Bake in the oven for half an hour.
Serve garnished with greens. For example, basil.
Puff pastry option
The dish turns out juicy, similar to a homemade pie.
The basis of lasagna is made from dough discs:
- Chop the onion and grate one carrot on a fine grater. Fry for 2 minutes in vegetable oil.
- Add 600 g of minced meat, salt and pepper to the vegetables. Add two tbsp. spoons of tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- In a separate container, melt 50 g of butter, add 50 g of flour and fry. Pour in 500 ml of milk and boil the mixture until smooth.
- Divide 250 g of yeast-free puff pastry into 3 parts. Roll out into thin layers.
- Coat the mold with oil. Distribute the dough, add a third of the minced meat and a third of the gravy. Sprinkle with cheese to taste. Duplicate layers.
- Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
Lasagna step by step photo recipe
Ingredients:
- Minced beef - 1.2 kg.
- Lasagna - 0.5 kg package. (not all will be needed);
- Tomatoes - 5 pcs.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Champignons - 150 - 200 gr.
- Onions - 2 pcs.
- Garlic - 1 head
- Cheese (any kind, the main thing is that it melts depending on the temperature) - 400 gr.
- Parmesan - 30 gr.
- Red wine - 200 gr. (preferably dry, of course, although I used what was available - semi-sweet)
- Vegetable oil (for frying)
- Greens: parsley, dill and green onions - a small bunch of each.
- Salt, black pepper, nutmeg
Lasagna sauce
- Milk - 1 liter
- Flour - 1/2 regular glass.
- Onions - 1 pc.
- Butter - 120 gr.
- Cloves - 10 pcs.
Lasagna recipe with minced beef. Lasagna leaves are purchased, the meat sauce is prepared from minced beef, onions, carrots, mushrooms and red wine, the whole thing is poured with a specially prepared white sauce for lasagna, and sprinkled with grated cheese. Lasagna turns out delicious and very filling.
Hand on heart, I admit right away that I am not a guru of Italian cuisine in general, and lasagna recipes in particular. But since lasagna is a famous dish (and oh, how I love to cook these) and does not have any “only correct” recipe, after reading a large number of lasagna recipes, and having (hopefully) grasped the basic idea, I prepared what is described below. The result was quite satisfactory to me, I hope that when you prepare lasagna in the same way, you won’t shower me with rotten tomatoes. So, I describe how I prepared my lasagna from minced meat with mushrooms and red wine.
We clean the onion, cut it into small cubes and begin to fry it in vegetable oil,
While the onions are frying, grate the carrots on a coarse grater.
And as soon as the onion becomes somewhat transparent, add the carrots to the onion, mix and fry the vegetables for about 10 minutes.
After the specified time has passed, we add the base of our future lasagna to the vegetables - minced beef, after which you immediately need to chop the minced meat with a spatula so that it does not bake in one large piece. When the minced meat is ready, it is necessary to continue grinding it periodically, and in the process
You can have time to cut the champignons into small cubes. I cut the mushrooms into 4 pieces, and then cut the quarters into thin slices...
And after about 10 minutes have passed from the moment you put the minced meat in the frying pan, you can add chopped champignons to it, mix the filling of the future lasagna thoroughly...
...And you can start preparing the tomatoes. You need to cut the skin off the tomatoes and cut the tomatoes into small cubes. I cut the tomatoes into 4 parts, and then skinned them... In principle, since we are essentially preparing meat sauce for lasagna, fresh tomatoes can generally be chopped in any way (grater, blender, meat grinder). Another consideration... you can replace fresh tomatoes for making lasagna with canned tomatoes in their own juice....
After approximately 25 minutes of cooking, after adding mushrooms to the minced meat, chopped tomatoes are added to the meat filling of our lasagna, everything is mixed, fried for another 10 minutes, after which,
A glass of red wine is poured into our lasagna mince filling. I recommend using dry red, but semi-sweet will also work... Next, while the lasagna filling is simmering, stirring occasionally, over moderate heat for about 40 minutes, you can prepare the lasagna sauce.
As a sauce for my lasagna, I decided to use Bechamel sauce, which is quick to prepare and requires the simplest ingredients...
First, heat up a liter of milk. Please note that when preparing lasagna sauce, milk does not need to be boiled, it is heated to 50 degrees, nothing more!
At the same time as heating the milk, set a saucepan over moderate heat and melt half a stick (about 120 grams) of butter in it. The oil should not boil!
Next, add about half a faceted glass of flour to our future lasagna sauce,
And immediately mix the flour with the butter, trying as much as possible to break up or grind the formed lumps. The flour is fried in this form for another 3 minutes, it should not fry or darken!
While stirring our future lasagna sauce, pour warmed milk into it in a thin stream, and once again, grind and crush the lumps,
We stick about 10 cloves into a small whole onion, and...
Throw the onion into our lasagna sauce and cook the sauce over moderate heat for another 30 minutes until it thickens.
don’t forget to stir it periodically,
The finished lasagna sauce should have the consistency of thick sour cream. After preparing the sauce, you can remove it from the heat, add a small piece of butter and stir again.
Immediately after preparing the lasagna sauce, you can finally finish preparing our minced meat filling. To do this, chop all the garlic with a knife, finely chop the green onions and parsley and dill, prepare salt to taste (I added about 2 teaspoons) and black pepper,
Add the herbs, nutmeg, garlic, salt and pepper to the minced lasagna, mix everything thoroughly, and simmer the filling with the herbs and garlic for about 15 minutes, after which it will be completely ready.
And while the minced meat for the lasagna is ready, grate the cheese on a coarse grater,
A few words about the choice of lasagna... Lasagna is actually a plate of dough made from durum wheat, so I think that it’s generally not difficult to prepare it yourself... Since I used a store-bought one, I noticed this feature: there are varieties of lasagna that are necessary (as follows from instructions on the package) before preparing the dish of the same name, “pre-boil until half cooked.” There are also lasagnas that can be used immediately. I used the second type, therefore, if you have lasagna that needs to be pre-boiled, adjust the further preparation of the lasagna….
So, let's prepare the lasagna pan. As you can see in the photo, I used a porcelain baking dish, but you can use any available one, either glass or metal. Next, place lasagna sheets on the very bottom, completely covering it.
Cover the dough layer with a layer of minced meat filling,
Cover the minced layer of lasagna with our bechamel sauce,
Next after the lasagna sauce is a layer of grated cheese,
Next, a layer of dough is placed again,
And everything is repeated (on the dough - a layer of minced meat, on the minced meat - a layer of lasagna sauce, on top of the sauce - cheese) until there is no more space in the mold, or minced meat, or lasagne sheets.
The dish is completed with a layer that consists of lasagne sheets covered with bechamel sauce and which, in turn, is sprinkled with a layer of regular cheese.
Next, the baking dish is sent to the oven for 30-50 minutes (depending on the number of layers of dough and minced meat), preheated to 180 degrees, while
after about 20 minutes of baking (as soon as the cheese has melted), the pan must be removed from the oven, and the dish should be thoroughly sprinkled with grated Parmesan, after which it is sent back to the oven to bake until fully cooked, and...
After another 20 minutes, as soon as the cheese acquires a beautiful golden brown color, we can consider that our lasagna with minced meat and mushrooms is completely ready!
Next, the lasagna needs to be cut into squares or rectangles, sprinkled with finely chopped herbs, and served immediately!
And in this photo, a close-up of freshly prepared lasagna is shown, so that you can see how appetizing the layers of dough, mixed with minced meat, bechamel sauce and cheese look in the lasagna! Bon appetit everyone and good luck with your lasagna recipe!
Classic recipe with tomatoes
Tomatoes add extra juiciness to the lasagna.
We will make traditional lasagna from ready-made sheets. From the presented number of components we obtain a dish measuring 20 by 27 cm:
- Pour boiling water over 500 g of tomatoes for 1 minute, then cool water. Remove skin.
- Chop the onion and garlic (to taste). Coarsely grate one carrot.
- Grind the tomatoes until mushy.
- Sauté onions and carrots in vegetable oil until semi-ready.
- Add 500 g of homemade minced meat (beef + pork) to the vegetables, add spices.
- Simmer the meat until cooked, then add the tomato mixture and garlic. Leave on fire for another 10-15 minutes.
- Assemble the lasagna - fold the finished sheets (250 g) overlapping 1 cm, coat with Bechamel sauce. The filling recipe is given below in the corresponding section. Next, add the minced meat and grate cheese on top to taste. Repeat layers. Pour Bechamel on top of the lasagna.
- Bake the dish at a temperature of 170-180 degrees for 40 minutes.
Serve the dish slightly cooled - this way it holds its shape better.
Classic Bolognese
Bolognese sauce gives the dish a spicy kick.
Lasagna is characterized by a combination of creamy notes with the spiciness of Bolognese tomato sauce.
Recipe:
- Grind the onion and 4 cloves of garlic, grate 1 carrot on a coarse grater.
- In a frying pan, fry the garlic in olive oil until it has a characteristic aroma. You can then remove it if you wish. Add onions and carrots, fry for 10 minutes.
- Add 400 g of minced beef to the vegetables, cook for 8-10 minutes. Add 250-300 g of ketchup. If desired, you can replace it with canned tomatoes, crushed to a pasty state. Add spices. Simmer over low heat, covered, for 15 minutes.
- Cook Bechamel. Melt 50 g of butter in a bowl. Enter two tbsp. spoons of flour and fry. Pour in a liter of milk. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg (a pinch). Cook for a few minutes until desired thickness.
- Assemble the lasagna. Place the sheets overlapping at the bottom of the pan. It is better to take those that do not require pre-boiling. Cover them with Bechamel sauce.
- Add the Bolognese meat sauce, the recipe for which is presented below in the corresponding section. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Pour the Bechamel sauce over it. Duplicate layers. Pour Bechamel sauce over the top of the lasagna and sprinkle with grated cheese.
- Bake lasagna at 190 degrees for about half an hour.
Which sauce is better?
The classic sauce for lasagna 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.
In addition, tomato sauce with spices and smoked meats, cream sauce, and broth-based gravies are suitable for lasagna. Do not skimp on the sauce for this dish so that the dough sheets are well soaked and the dish is juicy.
With minced meat and mushrooms
Lasagna with mushrooms turns out very satisfying.
The traditional dish can be varied with additional ingredients, such as mushrooms.
Recipe:
- Fry 500 g of minced meat until cooked, add tomatoes cut into slices (2 pcs.) and 3 tbsp. spoons of tomato paste. Add salt and pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Separately, fry 300 g of champignons; if desired, you can add onion or garlic (to taste), salt and pepper.
- Cook Bechamel sauce according to the traditional recipe given below in the corresponding section.
- Form lasagna. Lay out the layers overlapping, pour over Bechamel sauce. Distribute the minced meat, top with mushrooms and grated cheese. Brush with gravy. Duplicate layers. The final layer is lasagna sheets, greased with filling and sprinkled with cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes.
With potatoes and minced meat
Lasagna is like a casserole.
A simple recipe for lasagna casserole is prepared without the use of pasta.
Potatoes cut into slices act as sheets.
Cooking method:
- Chop the onion, fry in a frying pan and add 600 g of any minced meat. Simmer until done, add salt and pepper.
- Cut 700 g of potatoes and 3 tomatoes into slices.
- Crush 3 cloves of garlic and mix with 250 g of sour cream.
- Grease the pan with oil and add the potatoes. Coat with sour cream sauce.
- Place tomatoes and minced meat on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Duplicate layers.
- Bake potato lasagna in the oven at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes.
Lavash lasagna with minced meat in the oven (lazy)
To make lazy lasagna, thin pita bread is used.
Lazy lasagna is prepared using pita bread:
- Grate one carrot and 300 g of cheese on a fine grater.
- Remove the skin from 1 tomato, after pouring boiling water for 2 minutes. Finely chop (you can use a blender).
- Fry the carrots in olive oil (two tablespoons) in a frying pan. Add 0.5 kg of minced meat, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add spices, salt, and tomato mixture to the minced meat. Cook until the liquid evaporates.
- Cook Bechamel sauce: melt 50 g of butter in a bowl, add 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, fry. Pour in 0.5 liters of milk. Cook until desired thickness is reached.
- Grease a baking dish with Bechamel sauce. Place the pita bread - you will need 3 sheets for the entire lasagna. Lubricate with filling.
- Add some of the minced meat and sprinkle with grated cheese. Duplicate layers. Place pieces of mozzarella on the final layer.
- Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.
How to cook lasagne from ready-made sheets in a slow cooker - homemade recipe
Previously, lasagna was baked only in the oven, but with the advent of the multicooker, housewives are increasingly preparing this dish in it. Let's look at the recipe with step-by-step photographs.
We will need:
- Lasagna sheets - 6 pieces
- Hard cheese – 50 g
- Minced meat – 250 g
- Olive oil - 2 tbsp. spoons
- Salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
- Tomato - 1 large;
- Tomato paste - 4 teaspoons.
For the bechamel sauce:
- Milk - 0.5 liters;
- Butter - 60 g;
- Flour - 1.5 tbsp. spoons.
How to make lasagna
Mostly the dish is prepared in the oven, but it is easy to prepare it in a slow cooker or in a frying pan.
In a frying pan
Lasagna sheets are first dipped in boiling water to soften.
It is recommended to use non-stick cookware:
- Sift 500 g of flour, laying it out in a mound. Make a crater in the middle and break 3 eggs. Knead the dough, gradually adding up to 50 g of mineral water. Mix the mass well. Leave for half an hour, covered with cling film.
- Next, divide the dough into 6 parts and roll out thinly with a rolling pin from the center to the edge. You can use a special machine. The thinner the plates are, the better.
- Grind two carrots, one zucchini, and onion. Fry vegetables in oil. Add 500 g of minced meat (meat or chicken), add salt and spices. Simmer until the meat is done.
- Place sheets of dough on top of the minced meat, after holding them in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Dry the plates that remain and leave them until the next dish is prepared, wrapped in craft paper.
- Place 3 chopped tomatoes (canned ones can be used) on the dough.
- 1.5 tbsp. Dilute tablespoons of tomato paste in boiled water and pour it over lasagna until the liquid covers all layers. Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Before finishing cooking, sprinkle the dish with 100 g of grated cheese and wait for it to melt.
- The juicy dish is ready. It can be served hot or cooled.
In a slow cooker
The recipe is presented in the video:
How to cook juicy lasagna in a slow cooker:
1. Peel the tomato. Let's make a cross-shaped cut. Place the tomato in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then pour cold water over it. After this, the skin comes away from the pulp much easier.
2. Cut the tomato into four parts and place it in a blender. Add 2 teaspoons of tomato paste. Mix the ingredients until smooth.
3. Fry the minced meat directly in the multicooker in vegetable oil without closing the lid. Don’t forget to pre-heat the vegetable oil (or olive oil) and then put the minced meat in a bowl. Cook for 5-7 minutes in baking mode.
4. Add salt, pepper and 2 teaspoons of tomato paste to the fried minced meat. Stir the meat mixture until smooth. Transfer the finished minced meat to a free plate so as not to occupy the multicooker bowl.
5. Place butter in a clean multicooker bowl and set to baking mode. When the butter has completely melted, add flour. The mixture must be stirred quickly so that it does not burn.
6. Add milk and nutmeg to the resulting mixture. Stir the sauce constantly until thickened. If it turns out too thick, add a little milk.
7. Place the lasagna sheets in a pan with salted water and cook them for 2-3 minutes.
8. Place parchment paper on the bottom of the multicooker and grease it with bechamel sauce.
9. Place 2 lasagne sheets on parchment paper, greasing them with bechamel sauce (milk, butter, flour) and half the minced meat. Pour the layer with tomato sauce (chopped tomatoes and tomato paste). Repeat this step again to make the second layer.
10. Place two lasagna sheets on top of all layers, grease them with bechamel sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
11. Cook lasagna for 40 minutes in baking mode.
The dish turns out so juicy that no additional sauce is needed.
Bon appetit!
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How to make the sauce
One of the main components of lasagna is the sauce.
The most common is Bechamel. Some chefs replace it with sour cream.
But creamy Bechamel is still traditional. Bolognese is a hotter sauce and there are many variations of its preparation. The given one has a spicy taste due to the additional ingredients included in its composition (wine, chili, celery, and so on).