Baked Lasagna (Timballo)

The very first recipe I learned to make when I moved to Italy over three decades ago was delicious lasagna, with my mother-in-law Lidia as my teacher. She called it timballo rather than lasagna but basically it's a baked pasta dish with a wonderful tomato meat sauce, fresh mozzarella and homemade pasta.
You can buy the lasagna sheets ready-made or make your own. Here's the recipe for homemade pasta if you choose to make your own.
Every Sunday Lidia made the family a timballo and like all her recipes it was delicious! I loved it so much and ate so much of it that Lidia told me I would have to buy her a larger timballo pan to accommodate my voracious appetite.
The key tip I learned from Lidia is the common adage that less is more. So with lasagna (timballo) use just the right amount of sauce in between the layers, erring a bit on the low side rather than over-saucing the lasagna. As you add sauce onto each layer use a soup ladle to spread sauce evenly onto each layer. Then top with grated or cubed mozzarella cheese, a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of béchamel, although that's optional.
Pork tends to be fatty and flavorful so it's a great addition to any meat sauce. At the butcher Lidia always asked for meat to be twice ground and it makes a lot of sense as it yields a more finely ground meat for your sauce.
At home I have a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer so I can do additional grinding myself, and add in something extra and flavorful like prosciutto or mortadella. After all, flavor is key, right?

Here's the recipe:

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Lasagna (timballo)

Serves eight

Ingredients:

For the tomato meat sauce:

1 kg peeled tomatoes
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Two garlic cloves, peeled and minced
500 g ground meat (about 400 g beef and 100 g pork)
Salt and pepper to taste

Other lasagna ingredients:

500 g Lasagna sheets
500 g mozzarella cheese, grated or cut into tiny cubes
800 mL béchamel sauce (optional)
100 g freshly grated Parmesan
Additional olive oil to grease the lasagna pan.

Additional equipment:

A 13" (33cm) x 10”(25cm) baking pan, preferably glass or ceramic.
Tinfoil to cover the lasagna.

Make the lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F)

Make the tomato meat sauce:

Sauté the minced garlic cloves in the 6 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil until sizzling.
Add the ground meat and cook on medium until cooked through.
Add the can of peeled tomatoes and continue cooking until the sauce thickens and the oil begins to float to the surface, 20 to 30 minutes.
Every five minutes or so stir the sauce and use a potato masher to mash down the tomatoes into a pulp-like consistency.
While the sauce is cooking prepare your other ingredients.

Prepare the other lasagna ingredients:

Grate, or finally cube, the mozzarella cheese.

Grate the Parmesan cheese.
Grease the bottom and sides of the lasagna pan with the additional olive oil.

Assemble the lasagna:

Use a soup ladle to evenly spread a ladleful of tomato meat sauce onto the lasagna pan, about ½ cup.
Top with a single layer of lasagna sheets.
Top with a ladleful of tomato meat sauce, again spreading evenly.
Top with a layer of grated or cubed mozzarella cheese, about ½ cup.

Drizzle on some béchamel sauce, about ¼ cup. Remember, this is optional.

Sprinkle lightly with Parmesan cheese.
Continue layering the lasagna in the same order until you have used all of the lasagna sheets.
If you have additional tomato meat sauce save it to serve with the lasagna.
Cover the lasagna with a sheet of tinfoil.
Bake the lasagna for 30 minutes covered, then an additional 10 minutes uncovered.
Serve immediately or cool down and refrigerate, or freeze, to serve later.

Timballo can also be made with rice, like this wonderful Sicilian and Neapolitan Sartù recipe.
Learn all about the historical Monsù cuisine that gave rise to fabulous recipes like this.

If you're looking for some other delicious and unique pasta dishes you should give Cameroni Farro Pasta with Pioppini Mushrooms, Peperoncino and Tomatoes a try.

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