Most often, the real classical Italian lasagna is cooked with Béchamel sauce, although other options are possible (but you want to immediately disappoint fans of mayonnaise: with this megapool popular in our country, the product is not cooked at all).
Classic sauce
There are two main versions of the origin of the Béchamel sauce, you can definitely state that it was coined during the reign of Louis XIV in Versailles. Refers to high European cuisine. Currently, there are many variations of the Béchamel sauce with the addition of various ingredients that create a wide range of flavor overtones.
Sauce "Béchamel" is prepared on the basis of milk (or cream). It also includes some dry ground spices, wheat flour and fat (the so-called "ro" (roux, fr.) Mixture in the form of butter or drowned animal fats, chicken or pork). Béchamel sauce can be the basis for other sauces, many European dishes, including lasagna, are prepared with it.
It should be noted that preparing a Béchamel sauce for lasagna is not an easy task, but it requires some attention and effort. Follow our recipe and everything will turn out well.
Recipe for classic Béchamel sauce for lasagna
Ingredients:
- Milk cow medium fat content - 200-250 ml (you can use a mixture of milk with a strong chicken broth in a 1: 1 ratio);
- natural butter - 20 g;
- wheat flour high-grade - 1 - 2 tbsp. spoons;
- salt.
Preparation
We will melt the butter in the saucepan and gradually pour the previously sieved flour there, stirring constantly. When the mixture acquires a pleasant golden hue, pour gradually a thin trickle of milk (or a mixture of milk and broth). You can do otherwise: first slightly save the flour in a dry saucepan to a pleasant cream color, stirring with a spatula, and then add the butter, stir and add the milk.
We bring the sauce to a barely noticeable boil, stirring constantly. Slightly salted and seasoned with spices (usually it is ground nutmeg and ground black or white pepper). Warm up for 3-5 minutes. It is even better to place the sauté pan on a water bath and proto the sauce for 15-20 minutes.
Then you can refine and modify the sauce, adding other ingredients (for example, 1-2 tablespoons light vermouth or cognac - the taste will be very refined).
A variant of cooking lasagna "Bolognese" with "Beshamel" sauce is possible.
In this case, we proceed as follows: we prepare separately the Béchamel sauce (according to the recipe given above) and the meat sauce "Bolognese" separately.
Bolognese sauce
Ingredients:
- minced pork-beef (1: 1) medium or coarse grind - 600-800 g;
- onion - 1-2 pcs .;
- tomatoes dense ripe red - 300-400 g;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- red hot pepper.
Preparation
Finely chopped onion fry until golden hue, then add the pork-ground beef and fry for 8-12 minutes, stirring. Then add the blanched chopped tomatoes and blanch to the desired density. Season with chopped garlic and chopped hot red pepper.
In the greased form we spread the sheets of lasagna. Dense meat sauce "Bolognese" put on sheets of dough for lasagna. Top with water sauce "Beshamel." The filling should not be liquid, usually ricotta is added to it. Repeat the layers. The top layer is the dough plate. Pour the sauce "Béchamel" and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Ready to lasagne sprinkled with crushed greenery of basil and grated parmesan. Slightly cool, cut into portions, lay out on plates and serve to the table.
To such lasagna you can serve red table wine.