Lasagna From Scratch

fx

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 18:51:33 GMT

Very pleased to hear it turned out a pleasant cooking experience!

fx

Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:32:03 GMT

Thanks Abbie

fx

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 12:02:36 GMT

Good tip Maarten, many of those store-bought passata have added sugar in them, I"d rather avoid them.

fx

Wed, 9 Mar 2016 05:45:47 GMT

Thanks a lot I hope you had a chance to cook this again!

fx

Tue, 8 Mar 2016 17:27:17 GMT

Great to hear I played a small part in your cheffing up Cameron!

fx

Thu, 3 Mar 2016 14:54:38 GMT

I hope this became a Gabor classic dish!

Cameron Williams

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:21:40 GMT

Dear Fran�oise,

Thank you for FX Cuisine! Your bolognese, lasagne, cart-driver"s pasta, pasta alla norma, and many other recipes have enriched my life, and made me a better cook.

You"ve also helped make me more adventurous; today I"m making a vegan �lasagne�,layers of grilled tromboncino zuchetta with alternating fillings of cremini and porcini mushrooms, caramelized onions, tomato sauce, and a spinach/garlic/chickpea pur�e. A sacrilege? Perhaps; I"ll let you know how it turns out.

Maarten, Netherlands

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 02:42:12 GMT

This recipe is amazing, very well written, informative as well as humorous. Sometimes, especially at Saturday night, a chef has to make do with what he has, but I"m sure to shop for, and stay true to this recipe (chicken liver and all). Small piece of advice for people looking for a passata made by "the rules of the art", although you may not find it in a convenience store or supermarket, choose the one with the shortest ingredient list possible: water with less than 1% is acceptable, salt is as well, tomatoes have to be more than 95%, ideally 98%, ketchup, HFCS"s and the score aren"t at all acceptable, better use concentrated tomato puree, dilute it with some white wine and reduce to a fairly thick paste.

KMon

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 17:34:49 GMT

On a freezing (!!) day in South Africa, my son and I whipped out our pasta machine which we had never used before and prepared the most delicious lasagna we have ever had. Despite this being our first time, your excellent advice and pics helped us deliver a gourmet meal. You are the best. Keep up the excellent work. You have fans in Johannesburg !!!

sue lyon

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 23:55:29 GMT

just finished putting the lasagna together. your instructions about chilling pasta after a short visit to boiling water were perfect. i"ve done lasagna before but in the more southern italian way with tomato sauce nad mozzarella cheese and parmesan. your recipe using bechamel and your ragu recipe i know will be superb. i thought about rolling pasta myself, but then retrieved my atlas machine and it was so easy. i used the #5, next to last. i think you are correct that you don"t want the pasta too thin since it must support the ragu, bechamel and cheese. i have sent your site to several friends since professional chef or not, you are so charming and helpful. best and i expect to check out more of your creations.

Abbie

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:21:49 GMT

What a great blog

Gabor

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:55:47 GMT

Thanks for the recipe tips and the effort you put in with the pictures.
I tried the sauce and it turned out great after i mixed in some tasty cheese and beer for the taste.
I can now make 1 sauce thanks to you :)

Jessica Marsh

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:14:01 GMT

Hi, I will be using your lasagne pasta recipe to cook at school. But I am only making it to serve 2 people. So I was wondering what is the length and height of your dish. So that I can make the correct amount of pasta. Thank you for your amazing step by step and clear guide. One thing I would also like to know is how long the pasta section of this took you. Thank you :) x

Sreisaat

Sat, 1 Oct 2011 06:40:37 GMT

Hello, FX! What can I say - I so adore your site. I found my way here via Google search for a homemade pasta recipe. Voila - I found what I"m looking for ... and more! I enjoyed your post, the step-by-step demo and pics are certainly most helpful. You make cooking look easy. I most definitely will come back regularly to check out your other recipes, and leave comments, too. By no means I am no professional cook, just an ordinary housewife wanting to make extraordinary dishes for my husband.

chris

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 23:41:43 GMT

Thanks for the very good demonstration. The idea of folding the lasagna sheet in half as you decrease the thickness of the pasta is a good tip. It didn"t say that in the instructions and I was left with a sheet too long and not wide enough. I must confess, I didn"t actually dry or boil the sheets of pasta...just cooked the fresh pasta dish more slowly in the oven to let the juice and sauce cook it through...is that a sin? It tasted fine!

Low�n Green

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:25:44 GMT

Hi FX,
I made your lasagne and it was really delishous. Now I�m thinking about making it on my daughters communion for about 20 peiple as a main dish. Is it possible to make the lasagne the day before, when I use homemade dough, and put it in the oven the next day?
Thank you for your answer ann your superb site!

Timmo

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 23:58:10 GMT

This is a great blog, you need to publish more recipes!

I had made some beef stock and froze it in ice cube trays. I two cups left over and decided to make a bolognese, found your recipe and liked how relatively easy it was compared to the one in Cooking by Hand. I"ve made it with pureed chicken livers and don"t like it as much, so I left it out. It was delicious, we ate about half of it with fresh tagliatelle.

I think I"ll make the lasagna with the other half. I like your recipe, but I"ll roll the dough thinner (second to last, if not thinnest setting) and make more layers.

Thanks for the tips! Believe it or not, it"s COLD in Los Angeles right now, and a lasagna would be perfect.

Allison M

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:55:14 GMT

Truly one of the most delicious things I have ever made, delicate, light, superb flavor. The combination of the sauce, bechamel and pasta marry beautifully. My husband is already asked when I am going to make this again.

Andrea

Tue, 7 Sep 2010 08:33:41 GMT

This site is very good and interesting! Congrats :-) About the Lasagne i feel that as a bolognese guy and lover of this dish i have to tell a few things about them, at least on how they are usually made here. First difference that comes to my mind is the color: here we use to make them green, adding to the dough either spinachs or, if you are very hardcore and "classic style", Nettle. Second, as for any kind of fresh pasta dishes, for optimal and "true to the spirit" results, one must use a wooden stick called mattarello, the hand machine you show is ok for speed and ease of use, but fresh pasta has to be rough on the surface, not smooth, to better grasp the rag� or topping you put on them. Third point if i may add, is that if possible you should use true italian Parmigiano Reggiano, the parmesan fax simile makes me cry :-(

Last point, as a matter of taste, i"d use maybe less bechamer, to keep Lasagne somewhat more "dry", i dont like to see the oil and liquid on the dish when im done, and they are lighter if you keep both ragu and bechamel quantites a bit down :-)

Congrats again though, is quite a very difficult dish to make!

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:46:27 GMT

Homemade lasagna, made properly, is one of the really amazing dishes of this world!

Mariam

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:48:19 GMT

That was so helpful! I will try it now! I have the exact same pasta machine and I used it once before to make spaghetti, and it turned out surprisingly good! So I thought I"ll try something more complicated. Hope it turns out as great as yours looks

Darrell

Sun, 23 May 2010 01:47:50 GMT

PS. Forgot to tell you, I cheated a little bit and did a layer of very thinly-sliced (using my mandoline slicer) tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant to get some vegetables in there :)

Darrell

Sun, 23 May 2010 01:45:25 GMT

Hello! I followed your recipe and made my own Lasagna Bolognese from scratch the other day, thanks so much for posting it and for doing so in such an easy-to-follow manner! (The pictures are beautiful and very helpful to us amateur home chefs). Of course, mine doesn"t look as nice as your"ss, but I posted it on my blog with a linkback to your"s so people can follow your recipe. Thanks!
D-

fx

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:17:16 GMT

Don, you need to use the same weight of butter and flour for B�chamel.

db

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:18:51 GMT

this is a wondeful lagsagna! I"m making it again this weekend for my daughter"s birthday lunch. One question: what quantities do you typically use for the butter and flour in the b�chamel sauce? Absolutely marvelous site!!!

don siranni

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:56:06 GMT

Now I know what my next".extravangaza" will be-absoultely wonderful.And,of course,I"m still here and learning with every archived FX"er .Please keep it up,at least a little . Slainta Don

fx

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:38:12 GMT

Glad this brought you back some memories of your childhood Simmy! Lasagna and Bolognese are two dishes that have been mangled beyond recognition abroad. Don"t let this grind you down - the original is from Bologna and can"t be beaten.

Simmy

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 00:22:28 GMT

OHhh MY GOD! My mother used to make lasgna from scratch just like this in Eritrea, Africa (former Italian colony)where store bought lasagna was not available. She"s taught my sister & I to make this type of lasagna but w. store bought lasagna. I have found many Americans look at our lasagna as NOT authentic. Thank you for proving us right & everyone else wrong! :-) I will definetly try to make my own lasagna now, for it just looks absolulty delicious.

fx

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:21:48 GMT

Taylor, this sounds like a wonderful ragù, using benison and a pepper to me is very much in line with the spirit if not the letter of a Bolognese ragù. Congratulations!

Taylor Witt

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:26:20 GMT

Francois,

I made this tonight on my girlfriend"s request and it was GREAT!

I used half beef half venison and put a chile in the ragu while it simmered and it had an incredible depth of flavor. Using the Parmesan and no ricotta was a nice change, and if I can say it it made the dish slightly lighter.

Another great idea fx!
Taylor-Texas

mark

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 03:28:49 GMT

I"m absolutely shell shocked by this magestic presentation! Fantastic cooking, fabulous photography, and beautifully written! it"s sensational the way you communicate your passion, and i must say i can smell the food from my office desk!
Thank-you for sharing your secrets, I will remember next time i make the lasagna!

Mark Powell

Sun, 24 May 2009 21:38:28 GMT

Dear Fran�ois-Xavier,
I live in Texas. My grand-children are presently here with me, and I wanted for them to have the experience of making something memorable for the American Memorial Day. Since I already have a pasta machine, I chose to make your wonderful recipe for "Lasagna from Scratch" and the bechamel sauce and meat ragu, as well. I"m sure it"s the best lasagna any of them have ever had; it was for me, too! Just as important as the eating, though, was their experience of making everything (with just a little help from me). Children remember such things all their lives.
Thank you, Fran�ois-Xavier!
--Mark

fx

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:52:06 GMT

Rubiati, no, please don"t ruin your pasta and your cheese by mixing them. At most you can add a pinch of Parmesan cheese, but more in line might be roasted breadcrumbs. But not Gruy�re!

Rubiati

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:06:36 GMT

Hi FX,

Looks fantastic!
May I add Cheddar or Romano or Gruyere or combination of these cheese to the b�chamel sauce as well as a pinch of nutmeg?

Cheers,

Rubi

Singapore

fx

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 15:11:04 GMT

Bart, thanks for updating me on your success with this dish, I am so happy it worked for you! Indeed I know no kneading machines that can seriously knead pasta dough, you have to do it by hand, and dry is the way to go. But using the pasta machine to laminate it help even out any unkneaded parts of the dough if needed. It is not surprising your son liked it, after all he"s got the genes of his father and kids love lasagna and really can tell the difference with the frozen crap they"re served at school!

Bart

Sat, 4 Oct 2008 22:14:03 GMT

Tonight I made this recipe using the remains of the bolognese sauce that I made last night. Since I commented on the sauce that it lacked some body, I decided to make some additions to it before I ladled it into the lasagna. I saut�ed five cloves of minced garlic in some olive oil and added that to the sauce. Then I simmered the sauce (with some extra water) with five bay leaves and about ten springs of thyme for one hour. The sauce had already improved since yesterday as the flavors had time to marry, but the addition of garlic and herbs improved it further.

I made the pasta and the bechamel. This time, I used 110g of flour per 70g of egg. It turns out that the KitchenAid just can"t knead pasta dough like it does bread dough. I have to use my hands, and it"s a lot more tedious than just letting the machine knead the dough.

I used five eggs, which was 255g of egg, and I feared that I wasn"t going to have enough pasta to make the lasagna. So I rand the pasta sheets up to the setting 6 on my Atlas. (Normally, I would have stopped at setting 5). It turns out that setting 5 would have made too little and setting 6 made too much, but it turned out okay. The pasta was thin and we actually liked how thin it was in the final dish.

Speaking of which, the final dish was AWESOME! It was, by far, the best lasagna I have ever eaten, bar none. That"s partially due to the $15.00 of parmiggano-reggiano that I added to it, I"m sure, but the sauce was rich and meaty and the bechamel added body and richness without being overpowering. My eight-year-old son loved it as much as the adults did. It"s the perfect "company food" and I feel like I"ve become a better chef through making this dish. Thank you, Fran�ois!

fx

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:14:15 GMT

Shelley, thanks for visiting and I hope you get to try the Bolognese as well as the Chocolate Rag�, both very old, time-tested and delicious Italian recipes you can find on FXcuisine.com

Shelley Vescera

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:40:13 GMT

These recipes are so authentic and delicious! I am so happy to have found your website! I have an Italian cookbook that dates back to the 60"s that I use and your Ragu Bolognese recipe is very similar and delicious. I love the lasagne! Thank you!!
Shelley Vescera
From Rhode Island

fx

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 15:37:59 GMT

Richard, I"m so glad I had a hand in convincing you to try making your own lasagna! Sounds like you had a great time. Certainly your memory of your mother"s recipes can never be beaten!

fx

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 15:33:42 GMT

Lisa, congratulations on making your first batch of homemade lasagna! Next time, try my Sicilian Chocolate Rag�, also served on lasagna.

Richard

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 15:32:58 GMT

Hi Francois,

I tried lasagne with my own "made-from-scratch" lasagne sheets this evening.

I defrosted a couple of bags of my ragu and made it for the family.

The results were superb. I love the way you can get the lasagne good and thin. Its almost like working with filo pastry (like making a baklava!!)

Its STILL not as good as my Mum"s lasagne even though the ragu and the pasta is superior! I guess no lasagne will ever match up to those memories!!

Its certainly worth doing this way and a much more satisfying dish than using commercial lasagne sheets.

I was going to take a photo and send it to you. But we were hungy and it disappeared in minutes!!

All the best,

Richard

Lisa Michele

Fri, 30 May 2008 22:48:53 GMT

Francois,

You inspired me to try this from scratch, meaning NO boxed, dried lasah=gna noodles! I usually make my own pasta, but I never had when it came to lasagna, and let me tell you, the difference it makes is ASTOUNDING. I used a combination of your ragu bolognese, and one handed down to me by my late Italian granny, and it was fabulous. It was gone within an hour or two. I posted some photos and results on my new blog, although my camera is awful, so they don"t look nearly as beautiful as yours.

That said, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your site and cannot wait to dig into some more of your recipes.

fx

Sat, 5 Apr 2008 14:33:53 GMT

Dee Huff, once you have firmly committed the recipe to memory, bought the ingredients and prepared the workspace, it"s no big deal to cook and the lazyness dissolves into gluttony. I hope you get to try one of my recipes!

Dee Huff

Sat, 5 Apr 2008 06:46:17 GMT

Fabulous website, with delicious looking recipes. Despite being a very lazy cook myself, I do love to read recipes and every once in a while try one out. This website is filled with a wealth of recipes that are just that little bit different. I"ll be back to try one or two out soon.

Ross

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 05:55:20 GMT

Francois, the soba noodle ratio is a fine indicator, for sure, but I think I"ll try a 70/30 or 60/40 ratio soon. At 80/20 the dough was quite pliable, so as long as I can work it comfortably I"ll err on the side of a firm mixture. Once again, thank you for your inspiration.

fx

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:07:35 GMT

Ross, in Japan they named the variety of soba noodles made in Tokyo with the Japanese words that mean 2 and 8 because it uses 2 parts regular flour to 8 parts buckwheat. So you could call your house mix two-and-eight perhaps!

Ross

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:55:48 GMT

Tried the 20%/80% ratio tonight... and it was wonderful; firm but not too firm. Just delicious. This will be my standard recipe form now on.

oss

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:57:10 GMT

Yes, Francois, your wording is correct.I think I"ll try 20% semolina to 80% flour in my next batch.

fx

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:49:02 GMT

Ross, I think durum wheat is the cereal and "flour" versus "semolina" is the size of the grains - let me know if my wording is not correct. Yes you could use a little more semolina to make them harder but my recommendation is to try with the various flours/semolinas you have until you get a texture that works with your procedure and tastes. I don"t think there are two chefs or to mamas in Italy that use the exact same flour mix. Good luck!

Ross

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:49:48 GMT

Francois, a question.I"ve been using fine ground durum wheat flour. It makes good pasta. But I"m wondering if it makes sense to add in perhaps 20% ground semolina for a firmer noodle.When I made my first batch with 100% ground semolina it was almost impossible to work with but made a wonderful noodle. It was wonderfully firm without being chewey.Is this something you do?