Best 3 Lasagne Al Forno Traditional From Bologna Recipes

Lasagna al Forno, a traditional dish from Bologna, Italy, is a delectable baked lasagna that embodies the essence of Italian cuisine. This hearty and flavorful dish features layers of fresh lasagna sheets, a rich meat sauce, a creamy béchamel sauce, and a generous sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The result is a symphony of flavors and textures that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving for more.

This article presents a collection of authentic Lasagna al Forno recipes that capture the true spirit of this classic dish. From the traditional Bolognese recipe to variations that incorporate different meats, vegetables, and cheeses, these recipes offer a diverse range of options to suit every palate.

Whether you're a seasoned cook or a novice in the kitchen, this article provides detailed instructions and helpful tips to ensure your Lasagna al Forno turns out perfect every time. Discover the secrets of making a flavorful meat sauce, a creamy béchamel sauce, and the art of layering the lasagna sheets to achieve the perfect balance of flavors and textures.

This article also delves into the history and cultural significance of Lasagna al Forno, exploring its origins in the region of Emilia-Romagna and its evolution over the centuries. Learn about the different variations of lasagna found throughout Italy and the unique ingredients that make each regional recipe special.

So, embark on a culinary journey to the heart of Italy with these authentic Lasagna al Forno recipes. Gather your ingredients, preheat your oven, and prepare to indulge in a taste of Italian tradition that will leave you and your loved ones utterly satisfied.

Check out the recipes below so you can choose the best recipe for yourself!

LASAGNE AL FORNO (ITALIAN BEEF LASAGNA)

Lasagne al Forno (Italian Beef Lasagna) image

A classic recipe for homemade Lasagne al Forno (Italian Beef Lasagna) made entirely from scratch. There's truly nothing more comforting than a hot bubbling baked lasagna made with homemade beef ragu, bechamel sauce, silky pasta and topped with melted mozzarella cheese! This traditional Italian recipe will be a comfort food favourite.

Provided by Emily Kemp

Categories Main Course

Time 4h15m

Number Of Ingredients 20

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup carrot (finely chopped (1 large))
1 cup stalk celery (finely chopped (1 large))
1 cup white onion (finely chopped (1 large))
1 lb ground beef (mince) ((500g))
1 lb ground pork (mince) ((500g))
2.5 cups sieved tomatoes tomatoes (passata) ((540g))
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cups red wine ((250ml))
6 cups beef stock ((1.5 litres))
2 bay leaves
1 tsp sea salt flakes and pepper
5 tbsp butter ((70g))
5 tbsp flour all-purpose ((70g))
4 cups full fat milk ((1 litre))
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup parmesan (freshly grated (70g))
1 tsp sea salt salt and pepper (or to taste)
1 lb fresh lasagna pasta sheets ((17 oz/500g))
2 balls mozzarella ((8 oz/250g))

Steps:

Finely chop the carrot, onion and celery and saute the vegetables gently in a large frying pan with the olive oil. Once the vegetables are soft add the beef and pork mince and cook until browned.
If there is a lot of excess fat in the pan, spoon some out. Add the red wine and reduce by half.
Once the wine has reduced, add the sieved tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, 4 cups of beef stock (1 litre) and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Stir everything together and leave to simmer on a low heat for 2.5-3 hours uncovered. Add the rest of the beef stock half way through.
Add the butter to a saucepan and cook until melted and bubbling.
Add the flour to the melted butter and stir to form a paste. Let the flour cook for 1 minute.
Slowly whisk half of the milk into the butter and flour constantly whisking to avoid any lumps. Once it has started to thicken add the rest of the milk, nutmeg, parmesan and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Continue to heat the sauce whilst stirring until thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Take off the heat and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
To assemble the lasagne, spoon a small amount of ragu on the very bottom of the baking dish. Top with and even layer of lasagna pasta sheets (cut the pasta sheets to fit your baking dish).
Add a few more spoons of ragu so the pasta is completely covered followed by 2 ladels of white sauce.
Repeat the layers of pasta, ragu and bechamel sauce until everything is used up making sure to keep enough of bechamel sauce for the very top layer (you should have 4-5 layers of pasta).
Cover the top layer of the lasagne with torn mozzarella and then bake in the oven for 45minutes or until bubbling and golden.
Let it cool slightly for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 753 kcal, Carbohydrate 56 g, Protein 39 g, Fat 39 g, SaturatedFat 18 g, Cholesterol 120 mg, Sodium 740 mg, Fiber 4 g, Sugar 12 g, ServingSize 1 serving

LASAGNE AL FORNO

Lasagne Al Forno image

Lasagne, as everyone knows, is a dish of wide flat noodles, sometimes green from spinach (lasagne Verdi), sometimes with ruffled edges (lasagne ricce). The classic, austere version from Bologna alternates layers of lasagne with meat sauce (ragu) and bechamel. I am giving a more exuberant example below. There are many others, including the lasagne di vigilia, Christmas Eve lasagne, involving very wide noodles that remind the faithful of the baby Jesus's swaddling clothes. Lasagne (Lasagne is the singular but it is almost never use. Ditto for other pasta types: who would ever lapse into speaking of a single spaghetto, except in humor) is first and foremost a noodle, not a specific dish, It may be the primordial Italian pasta noodle, or at least the oldest known word in the modern pasta vocabulary. In one way or another, lasagne seems to derive from the classical Latin laganum. But what was laganum? Something made of flour and oil, a cake. The word itself derived from a Greek word for chamber pot, which was humorously applied to cooking pots. And like many other, better-known cases of synecdochical food names, the container came to stand for the thing it contained. And eventually, by a process no one knows with any certainly, laganum emerged as a word for a flat noodle in very early modern, southern Italy. If you are persuaded by all the evidence collected by Clifford A. Wright, you will be ready to believe that in Sicily, an Arab noodle cuisine collided with the Italian kitchen vocabulary and co-opted laganum and its variant lasanon to describe the new "cakes" coming in from North Africa. Would you be happier about this theory if you had evidence of a survival of an "oriental" Arab pasta in Sicily? Mary Taylor Simeti provides one in Pomp and Sustenance, Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food. Sciabbo, a Christmas noodle dish eaten in Enna in central Sicily, combines ruffled lasagna (sciabbo-jabot, French for a ruffled shirtfront) with cinnamon and sugar, typical Near Eastern spices then and now.

Provided by Food Network

Categories main-dish

Time 1h30m

Yield 6 servings

Number Of Ingredients 14

Ingredients

1/2 pound ground beef
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 cups tomato puree
6 ounces tomato paste
6 quarts water
1 pound lasagna
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced thin and then cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 1/4 pounds ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan

Steps:

In a mixing bowl, stir together the beef, milk, parsley, salt, and pepper. Form into balls the size of olives. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and brown the meatballs in small batches. Remove from the pan as they brown and drain on paper towels. Set aside.
In the same skillet, add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is lightly browned. Then stir in the tomato puree and tomato paste. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Bring 6 quarts of water to boil in a large pot.
Add the meatballs to the tomato mixture and continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, liberally salt the boiling water and add the lasagna. Cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain in colander.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a shallow ovenproof pan, roughly 13 by 9 by 2 inches, spread a thin layer of the sauce (no meatballs). Then spread a layer of overlapping lasagna 1 strip thick (don't let the strips run up the side of the dish). Cover that with mozzarella slices and then 5 tablespoons ricotta. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and then spread on 1/4 of the sauce and meatballs. Begin again with a layer of lasagna and continue as above until all the ingredients are used up, ending with the Parmesan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. If the cheese on top hasn't melted, run under the broiler briefly. Then let the dish rest at room temperature for a few minutes before serving.

LASAGNA AL FORNO

Lasagna al Forno image

Provided by Tyler Florence

Categories main-dish

Time 2h40m

Yield 12 servings

Number Of Ingredients 18

Ingredients

1 pound dried lasagna noodles
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground Italian sausage
6 ounces tomato paste, (1 can)
30 ounces ricotta cheese, (2 containers)
1/4 cup Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt and black pepper, to taste
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups tomato sauce, prepared
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
Grated Parmesan and mozzarella, for topping

Steps:

Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Drain the noodles thoroughly, coat with olive oil keep them moist and easy to work with.
Coat a large skillet with olive oil. Saute over medium heat, onion, garlic and herbs. Cook 5 minutes. Brown beef and sausage until no longer pink, about 15 minutes. Drain fat into a small container and discard. Stir in the tomato paste completely. Set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, parsley and oregano. Stir in beaten eggs. Add Parmesan, season with salt and pepper.
To assemble the lasagna: Coat the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch pan with a ladle full of tomato sauce. Arrange 4 noodles lengthwise in a slightly overlapping layer on the sauce. Then, line each end of the pan with a lasagna noodle. This forms a collar that holds in the corners. Spread 1/2 of the meat mixture over the pasta. Dollop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the meat, spread to the edges with a spatula. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta. Top with a ladle full of tomato sauce, spread evenly. Repeat with the next layer of noodles, meat, cheeses and sauce. Top last layer with noodles, sauce and shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. Tap the pan to force out air bubbles. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Let lasagna rest for 30 minutes so the noodles will settle and cut easily. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Tips:

Use fresh lasagna sheets for the best texture and flavor.
Don't overcook the lasagna sheets. They should be al dente, or slightly firm to the bite.
Use a variety of cheeses in your lasagna. A good combination is ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan.
Don't skimp on the sauce. A rich, flavorful sauce is essential for a great lasagna.
Let the lasagna rest for at least 30 minutes before serving. This will help the flavors meld and the lasagna will be easier to cut.

Conclusion:

Lasagna al forno is a classic Italian dish that is perfect for any occasion. It is a hearty, flavorful dish that is sure to please everyone at the table. With a little planning and effort, you can easily make a delicious lasagna al forno at home. So next time you're looking for a special dish to serve, give lasagna al forno a try. You won't be disappointed!