Deep Dish Lasagna Italian Style

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Bring Italy home with this deep dish lasagna recipe filled with Bolognese, béchamel, fontina cheese, marinara and topped with melted burrata.

Italy is what inspired me to create this delicious lasagna recipe. You see, I was visiting Europe in 2004 and came across this absolutely awesome lasagna dish. My travels took me to Paris, Venice and then on to London before heading back to the States. Paris is where I had the most undeniable, creamy and unforgettable lasagna so I finally decided I needed to recreate this dish. After all these years I finally put my mind to it and I’m sharing with you a true Italian Style Deep Dish Lasagna as I remember from my travels to Paris.

What type of pasta is used to make lasagna?

For this recipe I like using a 9 ounce package of oven-ready lasagna sheets. There is no need to pre-boil these sheets. Just use the dried sheets while layering the ingredients and bake. It’s that simple. Other types of pasta include long pasta sheets with ruffled edges or if you have time you can make lasagna noodles from scratch.

Deep Dish Lasagna Recipe

This recipe can be time consuming so you may consider making the Bolognese sauce the day before.

Ingredients

I make this lasagna in an aluminum 9×13 disposal aluminum pan (makes for easy cleanup). This recipe calls for marinara sauce, Bolognese sauce and Fontina cream sauce. I will include the recipe for each sauce. I highly recommend making the Bolognese and Fontina sauces and if you prefer to buy a marinara sauce get at least one and maybe two 24-ounce jar of your favorite brand.

Bolognese Sauce Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 4 slices of bacon or 4 ounces of pancetta
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 3 carrots diced
• 2 celery ribs chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 3 ounces tomato paste
• 1 cup whole milk
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 32 ounce chicken stock
• 28 ounces whole tomatoes (pureed)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Marinara Sauce Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 1/4 teaspoon for less spice
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 (15 ounce) cans fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon dried Italian seasoning

Fontina Béchamel Cream Sauce Ingredients

• 1 quart heavy whipping cream (or 4 cups)
• 2 cups freshly grated fontina cheese (5 ounces)
• 2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese (3-5 ounces)
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter (or 1 stick)
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Additional Ingredients Needed

• 2 cups freshly grated fontina cheese (5 ounces) for layering between pasta sheets
• 9 ounce package of oven-ready lasagna
• Burrata cheese (4 ounces or 4 balls) – optional but highly recommended

Instructions

Bolognese Sauce Instructions

In a large stock pot add butter, bacon or pancetta, carrots, onion and celery. Sauté over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place cooked veggies in a medium bowl and set aside. Place ground beef and pork in stock pot and cook until browned. Drain grease from meat. Pour cooked veggies into stock pot with the meat. Add tomato paste and 1 cup chicken stock. Stir to combine over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in pureed tomatoes and remainder of chicken stock. Using kitchen grade twine tie up thyme and toss into stock pot along with the bay leaves and bring to a boil. Immediately lower heat and then add milk. Simmer sauce for 1 to 2 hours or until you achieve a meaty consistency. Note: when I use a gas stove I can reach my favorite consistency within about 1-hour but when I use an electric stove it takes about 2 hours or so.

Marinara Sauce Instructions

In a large pot sauté onions in olive oil for about 2 minutes or until soft. Add dried red pepper flakes and garlic. Continue to cook over low heat for about 1 minute. Then add both types of tomatoes to the onion/garlic mixture adding salt, pepper and spices. Using a hand-held immersion blender blend for about 15 seconds or until desired consistency. I like mine a little chunky. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes. Remove sauce from heat, cover pot with lid, set aside and allow to cool.

Fontina Béchamel Cream Sauce Instructions (note: this is what makes this recipe so good!)

In a large sauce pan add heavy whipping cream and butter and bring to a slight boil. Turn down heat and add freshly grated fontina and parmesan cheeses, garlic, salt and pepper and stir constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and allow cream mixture to cool completely. I placed mine in a 9×13 cake pan and place in the refrigerator. Once the mixture cools completely it will set up and be thicker. Although this next step is optional, I prefer doing it to make things easier. Once the sauce has thickened I place the sauce in a zip lock baggie. Reason so, when making the layers to the lasagna I can just cut a corner of the bag and easily pipe the cheese mixture on as one of the layers.

Assemble the Deep Dish Lasagna

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheight. In an aluminum 9×13 disposal aluminum pan spoon a small layer of marinara sauce to cover the entire bottom inside pan. Then add a layer of oven ready lasagna sheets (3), top with 1 cup Bolognese sauce and spread evenly over lasagna sheets. Then add a layer of fontina béchamel cream sauce, and then sprinkle with some fontina cheese. Add another layer of lasagna sheets and continue adding layer of ingredients the same way as noted above making the last layer end with the topping of fontina cheese.

Bake

Cover lasagna pan with aluminum foil and place pan on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. Carefully remove pan from oven and remove foil. Return pan to oven and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes. Remove lasagna from oven and allow to cool and set up for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.

Final Steps (optional but highly recommended)

To really make this lasagna super exceptional I cut out individual pieces of lasagna, place on a oven safe plate, top the lasagna with a couple spoonful’s of warmed marinara sauce and a couple slices of burrata cheese. Then place the lasagna in the oven and broil just until the cheese has melted and started turning brown. Carefully remove from oven and enjoy!

I AM EXCITED YOU ARE VIEWING JETT’S RECIPE FOR DEEP DISH LASAGNA AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW IT TURNS OUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE IT!

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