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Traditional Lasagna Bolognese

This lasagna was designed for a deep-dish baking pan. You can use a standard nine-by-thirteen-inch baking pan, but you will have extra sauce. The recipe can be assembled a day ahead and left to cool.
Martha Stewart Living, February 2001
  • Yield Serves 10 to 12
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Ingredients

  • Bolognese Sauce
  • 3 pounds fresh ricotta cheese
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Pinch of ground cayenne pepper
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound uncooked lasagna noodles
  • 1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

Directions

  1. Bring sauce to room temperature. In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, egg yolks, Parmesan, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Chill filling until ready to assemble lasagna.

  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 11-by-14-by-3-inch lasagna baking pan. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add olive oil and remaining tablespoon of salt. One at a time, add lasagna noodles; cook until very al dente, 2 to 3 minutes less than the manufacturer's instructions. Remove noodles with tongs; drain in a colander.

  3. Spread about 3 cups of sauce on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Place a single layer of lasagna noodles over the sauce, overlapping them slightly. Spread about 2 cups sauce over the noodles and about half the ricotta filling mixture over the sauce.

  4. Top with a layer of lasagna noodles, again slightly overlapping them. Repeat with more sauce and remaining ricotta filling mixture. Top with a final layer of lasagna noodles. Spread a layer of sauce over the noodles, and finish with a layer of sliced mozzarella rounds.

  5. Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted, at least 1 hour. Cover with aluminum foil if the cheese starts to brown too early. Let the lasagna stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Cook's Note

Cover, unbaked, and refrigerate up to one day in advance, or freeze, unbaked, up to three weeks in advance. Defrost it overnight in the refrigerator; bake as directed.

Recipe Reviews

Reviews (4)

  • uporontherocks22
    30 Dec, 2009

    This is not a traditional Lasagna Bolognese. Traditional does not use Ricotta Cheese.

  • admalik
    26 Feb, 2009

    This is a preferred style of lasagna that I would recommend for anyone that has the time. Also, you can prep this dish, refrigerate it and cook it at a later date.

  • Curtismom
    5 Jan, 2009

    I would not recommend this lasagna. This recipe took all day to prepare and the end result tasted like a bland shepherds pie with noodles. If you are looking for a great Bolognese sauce, there is a recipe on this site for a Bolognese Spaghetti using the remaining sauce for a Bolognese pie the following day. A delicious lasagna (the best I have ever had) can also be found on this site n n n n n n search for tomato and sausage lasagna n n n n n n donn n n n n n t waste your time on this one.

  • alexis0012
    2 Feb, 2008

    classic and delicious lasagna recipe, time consuming if you don't make the bolognese ahead of time, but well worth it. For a regular sized 9x11 dish, I cut all ingredients (except for mozzarella) to 3/4 of the original measurements.