Lasagne

The Italian favorite of lasagne or lasagna that we all know and love originated in Italy in the city of Naples during the Middle Ages. One of the first references to modern-day lasagne can be found in a 14th-century English cookbook that highlighted a dish with layers of pasta without the tomatoes. Another reference was made to lasagne in an Italian cookbook in the 1880s which featured tomato sauce.

The preferred meat used in Lasagne is Beaf. The people who don’t eat beaf or who are vegeterians had started to find some alternative for the beaf, like Lamb meat or the roasted Eggplants, spinach and more cheese to match the classic one (still its hard to match the Lasagna with meat 😋).

Ingredients:

Meat Sauce:

• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 500 gms minced ground beef
• 1/2 medium onion, diced (about 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 large bell pepper (green, red, or yellow), diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 200 gms good-quality tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano, or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon crushed black pepper
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• Salt

White Sauce:

• 3 Cups Milk
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 3 tablespoons Flour
• 2 pinch of nutmeg
• Salt

For Assembling:

• 500 gms dry lasagna noodles
• 200 gms mozzarella cheese, grated or sliced
• 100 gms grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

Meat Sauce:

• In a pan, pour the olive oil. Fry the onions and garlic (the raw smell is gone).
• Add the Diced Bell Pepper.
• Add the beaf to the pan and cook the onion and garlic to get mixed well.
• Add the tomoto paste. Cook it well untill the mix is semi liquid state.
• Add the chopped parsley lead and the spices (black pepper, oregano, salt, garlic poweder).

White Sauce:

• Add the butter and flour in pan.
• Add the milk and mix it gently under low flame such that no lumps are formed.
• Add black pepper and salt (according to your taste).

Baking:

• Cover the Baking Pan with Aluminium foil.
• Add the meat sauce in the first layer.
• Add the Lasagna noodle in the second layer.
• Add the white sauce as third layer.
• Repeat the layers and, in the top most layer add the Cheese.
• Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.