Lasagne are one of the most popular dishes of Italian cuisine 🙂 . Sheets of egg pasta, stuffed with meat sauce, bechamel and grated Parmesan. There are many regional variations of this dish, although the most famous is that of Bologna; the meat, of excellent quality, must be half beef and half pork to give more flavor to the sauce 🙂 .

We present our version of lasagna, the meat sauce has only beef and we added a few leaves of oregano, a pinch of chili pepper and paprika to give a spicy touch to the filling. For the best result, you should prepare the egg pasta at home, lasagna will be tastier and more tender 😉 .

The lasagna recipe is very old, the first hint if found in the “De re coquinaria” (The culinary art) by Marco Gavius Apicius, a gastronome of ancient Rome. In the text Marco Gavius describes “Patinam Apicianam sic facies” (the Apicius cake): a mixture of meat (pork, chicken) and fish, all diced, cooked together with eggs, spices and the inevitable garum (if you do not know what garum is, take a look at the plaice with spiced honey). Then everuthing is placed into a pot alternating layers of pasta and sauce 🙂 .

Image from Garfield. No copyright infringment intended. All rights reserved to original owner.

While preparing lasagna we must do even more attention to our feline assistants, because they are always ready to jump on the meat, on béchamel or any ingredient they can reach… In these moments we cannot help thinking of Garfield, the lazy cat of movies and comics that goes crazy for this greedy recipe 🙂 .

Image from Garfield. No copyright infringment intended. All rights reserved to original owner.

Last but not least, the lasagne are the first of the dishes for the Easter menu 😀 . We’ve not started the presentation of the menu from the appetizers,  but instead we began from the main course. The course that brings together all around the table while waiting to savor it, while its scent spreads in the dining room.

---

If you try one of the recipes on the blog, take a photo and publish it on Instragam with the hashtag #fratelliaifornelli and tagging our profile @fratelliaifornelli.

---

Stampa

Garfield's Lasagne

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 8 people

Difficulty

Ingredients

• 500 g pasta for lasagna
• 200 g Parmesan cheese

For the meat sauce

• 1 kg minced meat
• 2 onions
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 carrots
• 400 g tomato sauce
• black pepper
• nutmeg
• 1 pinch oregano
• 1 pinch chili
• 1/2 tbsp paprika not smoked (optional)

For the bechamel

• 1 l milk
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• pepper preferably white
• nutmeg

Instructions

For the meat sauce

1. Chop garlic, onion and carrots; let them brown in the pot.
2. Add meat and brown well.
3. Add the tomato sauce, spices and salt to taste.
4. Continue cooking over medium heat for about 20 minutes, then set aside

For the bechamel

1. Sift the flour, and add slowly the milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming.
2. Add ground pepper, nutmeg, butter and season with salt.
3. Let thicken and set aside.

Composition

1. Lightly grease the bottom of the pan.
2. Put the dough, cover with a layer of sauce and with a layer of bechamel. Repeat until you finish all the ingredients, and cover with the bechamel and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.
3. Bake at 180 °C for 40-45 minutes, then turn on the grill and let brown for another 5 minutes.

Stampa

Fresh egg pasta (lasagna noodles)

Cuisine Lactose free, Vegetarian

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Difficulty

Ingredients

• 400 g flour
• 4 g salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Sift flour, add the salt, then integrate an egg at a time, and finally the oil.
2. Knead until you have a compact and smooth dough.
3. Let rest half an hour before continuing.
4. Flour the work surface, with the help of a rolling pin, roll out the dough. The sheets of dough should be very thin, approximately 0.5mm.
5. Once rolled out cut into rectangles of about 20x15cm, making sure they're suitable for the baking pan you'll use 😉