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.

Course First Course, Main Course, Pasta

Cuisine international, Italian

Keyword lasagna, timballo

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Servings

Calories 773kcal

Equipment

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

Ingredients

For the tomato meat sauce:

1 kg peeled tomatoes
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 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
2 tbsp Additional olive oil to grease the lasagna pan.

Metric - U.S. Customary

Instructions

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.

Nutrition