Lasagna bolognese recipe – This is my family favourite lasagna recipe. It is made with a good pot of bolognese sauce and homemade lasagna sheets. Try it out yourself!
There are so many ways to use a good pot of ragù. You can eat it with all kinds of pasta, put it on pizza, or make a delicious lasagna out of it. If you are tired of eating pasta or noodles, then definitely try out this lasagna bolognese recipe!
Italian cuisine is definitely one of my favourite cuisines. I totally can understand why Italian foods are so popular and worldwide known because they are just so good. What amazes me most about European kitchen in general is that you can cook great food using only a few common household ingredients (some ingredients might not be easily available if you live in non-western areas. However, thanks to globalisation, you can still find these in large grocery stores in Asia).
My family loves lasagna bolognese. It is another fun way to eat pasta. However, it somehow tastes different to your typical spaghetti bolognese.
Ingredients/ Tips on making Lasagna Bolognese
Ragù: I love using this bolognese sauce for my lasagna bolognese recipe because it is so delicious. Several tips to take note while making lasagna. 1. Depending on the size, you will have to increase the amount of sauce, you are making. 2. The ragù for your lasagna should contain more fluid, especially if you are using dry lasagna sheets. This is because the sheets will be cooking in your sauce in the baking oven. If there is not enough liquid, your lasagna will end up dry. 3. You should start layering your lasagna with ragù. From experience, I notice that if I layer the homemade pasta as the first layer, the pasta layer will stick to the bottom of the baking dish after baking, which makes it difficult to remove.
Tip: If you want a non-alcoholic version of this ragù recipe, please visit this post for some tips.
Homemade lasagna sheets: Homemade lasagna sheets are so easy to make. This is my favourite pasta recipe. Dry lasagna sheets taste god. However, homemade pasta taste much better than dry lasagna sheets, and they take half the time to cook. Dry lasagna sheets take about 30 minutes to cook.
Shredded Cheese: I use shredded mozzarella cheese and shredded Emmental cheese in this recipe interchangeably. Both cheeses taste incredible in their own way. Mozzarella cheese tastes milder than Emmental cheese.
Crème fraîche: Authentic Italian lasagna bolognese is made with a white sauce (béchamel), which is made using this simple sauce making technique. If you are interested in the white sauce recipe, then leave me a comment. However, my family prefer a lasagna made using crème fraîche. Firstly, it saves me time because I do not need to cook the white sauce. Secondly, the taste of crème fraîche is more intense, which also goes well with the lasagna bolognese recipe.
How to make Lasagna Bolognese
- Ragù: Dice onions and carrots.
- In a suitable pot, melt butter on medium heat and add bacon cubes.
- Once bacon cubes turn brown, add onion dices into the pot.
- Add ground meat, when the diced onion becomes translucent. Break up the minced meat into tiny pieces with a wood spoon and cook them until brown.
- After which, add in carrots, tomato paste, herbs and seasoning to the meat mixture.
- Pour red wine into the pot. Close the lid of the pot for a few minutes, in order to evaporate some wine.
- Pour beef broth into the sauce.
- Cover the pot with a suitable lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for about 30 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally to prevent burning.
- Finish the sauce with some heavy cream.
- Pasta: In a suitable mixing bowl, add flour, semolina, salt, olive oil and eggs.
- You can either mix the ingredients with your hands or with an electric hand mixer. Depending on the size of the eggs you are using, water may or may not be added to the dough. When the ingredients do not mix, it means that your dough is too dry. Add a little water to the dough. Important: In order to get the perfect dough, add water a little by little. Add enough water until you get a non-sticky dough.
- All the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or wrap the dough in a cling wrap.
- Spread some all-purpose flour onto your working top. Once your dough has rested, cut the dough into three small pieces.
- Without a pasta maker: Spread flour onto a rolling pin and roll out your pasta dough with the rolling pin until you reach the desired thickness. If you could, try to achieve a rectangle shape of your pasta dough. If the pasta is not perfectly shaped, you can either trim it or just leave it as it is. No one will see it.
- With a pasta maker: Spread flour on a rolling pin and roll out your pasta dough with the rolling pin until the dough could fit the largest gap (usually the first level) of the pasta maker. It is alright if your pasta is not perfectly shaped, you can either trim it or just leave it as it is. Thereafter, roll out the pasta on the second level of the pasta maker. Repeat the process until you reach your desired thickness. I usually roll out only three times because I prefer to have a thicker lasagna pasta sheet.
- Lasagna: Preheat the baking oven to 220 °C.
- Start with a layer of ragù. Pour some ragù to the bottom of your baking dish.
- Thereafter, dust some Parmesan cheese over your bolognese sauce.
- Put several tablespoons of crème fraîche on top of the sauce.
- Cut a suitable length of the homemade lasagna pasta sheet and put it gently over your ragù layer. Cover the sauce completely with your lasagna sheets.
- Repeat step 17 to 20 several times until you reach the last layer of your lasagna pasta.
- Repeat step 17 to 19 for one last time, and finish the baking dish with one generous layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake the lasagna bolognese at 220 °C for 15 minutes.
- Once it is baked, allow it to cool down for several minutes.
How to serve Lasagna Bolognese
I typically serve this lasagna bolognese with a crunchy carrot salad. A German lamb’s lettuce salad would serve as a perfect side dish. A fresh tomato mozzarella salad goes very well with this dish too.
How to store Lasagna Bolognese
Never underestimate how filling this lasagna bolognese can be. A small portion of lasagna can keep you going for a long time. Often, I have lasagna leftover, I simply keep them in an airtight container in a cool place. Pour some heavy cream over the dish and reheat it in the baking oven at 180 °C for about 10-12 minutes. Add more shredded cheese if needed. Cooked lasagna bolognese can be frozen for several months. However, it is better to freeze it prebaked.
I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as my family does. Show me and tag me #chenguins on social media, so that I can see your recreation as well.
Do you prefer to eat lasagna bolognese or pasta with bolognese sauce? What should I cook next? Tell me in the comment section below!
Until next time & guten Appetit!
Greetings from the Black Forest,
Pia
Watch how to make this recipe
Print this recipe
Lasagna Bolognese Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Baking dish ~ 24x19x7,5 cm
- 1 Pasta maker optional
Ingredients you need
Ragù
- 80 g Bacon cubes
- 1 Onion
- 800 g Minced meat
- 4 Small carrots
- 4 tbsp Tomato paste
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground black pepper
- 2 tsp Fresh/dry herbs Thyme, Rosmary
- 200 - 300 ml Red Wine
- 200 ml Beef broth
- 100 - 150 ml Heavy cream
Lasagna pasta sheet
- 150 g Durum Wheat Semolina
- 150 g All-purpose Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 0.5 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Olive oil optional
- Water The amount of water depends on the texture of the dough.
Lasagna
- 30 g Parmesan cheese
- 400 g Crème fraîche
- 250 g Shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
Ragù
- Dice onions and carrots.
- In a suitable pot, melt butter on medium heat and add bacon cubes.
- Once bacon cubes turn brown, add onion dices into the pot.
- Add ground meat, when the diced onion becomes translucent. Break up the minced meat into tiny pieces with a wood spoon and cook them until brown.
- After which, add in carrots, tomato paste, herbs and seasoning to the meat mixture.
- Pour red wine into the pot. Close the lid of the pot for a few minutes, in order to evaporate some wine.
- Pour beef broth into the sauce.
- Cover the pot with a suitable lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for about 30 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally to prevent burning.
- Finish the sauce with some heavy cream.
Lasagna Pasta Sheet
- In a suitable mixing bowl, add flour, semolina, salt, olive oil and eggs.
- You can either mix the ingredients with your hands or with an electric hand mixer. Depending on the size of the eggs you are using, water may or may not be added to the dough. When the ingredients do not mix, it means that your dough is too dry. Add a little water to the dough. Important: In order to get the perfect dough, add water a little by little. Add enough water until you get a non-sticky dough.
- All the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or wrap the dough in a cling wrap.
- Spread some all-purpose flour onto your working top. Once your dough has rested, cut the dough into three small pieces.
- Without a pasta maker: Spread flour onto a rolling pin and roll out your pasta dough with the rolling pin until you reach the desired thickness. If you could, try to achieve a rectangle shape of your pasta dough. If the pasta is not perfectly shaped, you can either trim it or just leave it as it is.
- With a pasta maker: Spread flour on a rolling pin and roll out your pasta dough with the rolling pin until the dough could fit the largest gap (usually the first level) of the pasta maker. It is alright if your pasta is not perfectly shaped, you can either trim it or just leave it as it is. Thereafter, roll out the pasta on the second level of the pasta maker. Repeat the process until you reach your desired thickness. I usually roll out only three times because I prefer to have a thicker lasagna pasta sheet.
Lasagna:
- Preheat the baking oven to 220 °C.
- Start with a layer of ragù. Pour some ragù to the bottom of your baking dish.
- Thereafter, dust some Parmesan cheese over your bolognese sauce.
- Put several tablespoons of crème fraîche on top of the sauce.
- Cut a suitable length of the homemade lasagna pasta sheet and put it gently over your ragù layer. Cover the sauce completely with your lasagna sheets.
- Repeat step 2 to 5 several times until you reach the last layer of your lasagna pasta.
- Repeat step 2 to 4 for one last time, and finish the baking dish with one generous layer of shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake the lasagna bolognese at 220 °C for 15 minutes.
- Once it is baked, allow it to cool down for several minutes and cut the lasagna into a few pieces. Serve it with a nice salad.
Pin for later
0 Comments