Authentic Italian Lasagne | Gennaro Contaldo's Authentic Lasagne Recipe

It is rare to experience an authentic Italian lasagne (aka Lasagne al Forno), one of Italy’s most popular and well-known dishes. In this video you see the way to make this famous authentic simple and classic Italian lasagne recipe which comes from its original hometown of Italy.

What makes this authentic Italian lasagne so adaptable is the fact that it can be made well in advance and baked when required, a perfect recipe for stress free hosting!

An authentic lasagne is made with the well-known ragu Bolognese and egg pasta sheets typical of the Emilia-Romagna region, although dried pasta sheets can be used instead thanks to their ready availability.

Duration: 2 hr 50 mins

Ingredients
4 x servings

First make the Bolognese ragu
45 ml extra virgin olive oil
25g butter
1 x onion, finely chopped
1 x celery stalk, finely chopped
1 x carrot, finely chopped
150g pancetta, cubed
200g minced beef
200g minced pork
200ml red wine
2 x tablespoons double-concentrated tomato puree'
200ml stock

Method
Heat the extra virgin olive oil and butter in a pan, add the onion, celery, carrot and pancetta and sweat on a gentle heat for about 10 minutes until the onion has softened. Add the meat and brown all over. Increase the heat, add the wine and let it evaporate. Dilute the tomato puree in a little of the stock and stir into the meat.

Reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and cook on a gentle heat for 2 hours, checking and adding a little extra stock from time to time to avoid the sauce from drying out.

For the white sauce:
40g butter
40g plain flour
500ml milk
Salt & black pepper
100g grated parmesan cheese
About 8 x dried egg lasagne sheets

Method
Melt the butter in a small pan on a medium heat, remove from the heat, stir in the flour with a small hand whisk (this will avoid lumps from forming) until you get a paste, stir in a little milk. Return to the heat, add the remaining milk and stirring all the time, cook on a medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Remove from the heat, season with salt & pepper and stir in about a third of the grated parmesan.

Line an ovenproof dish with a little of the Bolognese sauce, arrange sheets of lasagne over followed by more sauce, then a layer of white sauce, sprinkle some grated parmesan and continue making layers like this until you have used up all the ingredients ending with a topping of white sauce and grated parmesan cheese.

Bake in the hot oven for about 30 - 35 minutes until golden-brown.
Remove, leave to rest for a couple of minutes and serve.