Classic Italian Lasagna

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This was a waste of time and money. Way too much sauce! No flavor! Blah!

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This was a great lasagna recipe, but I agree with the others that it was not as quick as it seems, nor are the proportions quite right. There was about 2x as much bechamel sauce as I needed (but maybe my pan was too small, who knows, and the tomato sauce wasn't as I expected. It had no pop-not even any basil! I would have omitted the carrot/celery in it too. Overall the lasagna was very good, but add about as much or more of the tomato sauce as you add the bechamel sauce- it is very rich and overpowering if too much is added. Easily make it vegetarian by adding more spinach rather than the beef.

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Added Italian sausage (turkey and although occasionally enjoy taking the time to make my own marinara, would also used jarred sauce. I may use ground turkey in place of beef as well next time--a texture preference. However, when following Giada's recipe for tomato sauce, I added more spices--carmelizing onions and spices in the beginning and adding some selected seasons again at end, like the basil (fresh. I like a little more zip, so might use a little rotel next time in addition to regular crushed. As others below, I added more tomato sauce to the bechamel than Giada cites--personal preference for more flavor. Finally, although she recommended frozen spinach, I find it a little too stringy and would definitely use fresh next time. Could have just been the brand, but why gamble? Otherwise, I learned a lot from her technique, and with a few modifications think it will be my keeper-lasagna recipe!

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This lasagna was tasty but a lot more work than the instructions indicated. I made the tomato sauce the day before and it took me around two hours the next day to complete the dish. Like another reviewer, I thought it needed more seasoning.

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I have made this lasagna several times and always to rave reviews. I make a few modifications to cut down on the heaviness-I mix part-skim and fat-free ricotta, lean beef, use Skim Plus milk instead of whole and Smart Balance instead of butter. It really still tastes excellent. I know that it seems like a lot of prep time, but I'm always making meat sauce so maybe I don't realize how long marinara from scratch takes, but you can always just sautee some garlic and onions, throw in a can of crushed tomatoes and add in some fresh cilantro and parmesean cheese and you're good. I also tend to use the no-boil noodles to cut down on some prep time. I think this recipe can be altered in so many ways and still be delicious!

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This lasagna took some tiime to make but my entire family loved it which made it very worth while. If you are having a problem with it you may need to add more salt which she mentions at times in the recipe. This is also a very useful recipe because you can have "mix and match" meals. We loved the freshness of the spaghetti sauce. You can freeze it for several months and use it in many other dishes. I froze the spaghetti sauce and when thawed it tasted as wonderful as when I originally made it. I am going to make a triple batch and freeze some in small bags for chicken recipes and others in large bags for spaghetti meals. I will use some of the spaghetti sauce to make and freeze lasagna. I tried freezing the lasagna and this worked great also. I believe the bechemel sauce is usuable in other recipes as well.
We truly felt "pampered" with this recipe after all was said and done. We felt that it was as tasty as a fine restaurant. I cannot wait to make it again and stock my freezer.

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First of all, the cook time says 45 minutes. I suspect that assumes that we all have a bechamel sauce as well as a tomato sauce already prepared in our refrigerator. I don't know about you, but I don't. This recipe actually took me about 4 hours to make. I ate about 5 bites and the entire thing went into the garbage - and I'm not one to waste food. And I'm really not that picky an eater either. I thought it was bland and tasteless and for the amount of time it took to prepare it was a total waste of time, effort and food. I've had better store-bought frozen lasagna than this.

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Therr really is a lot of work to this dish. Several pots, etc. The tomatoe sauce made from scratch was another extra without any payoff. I don't mind extra work, if the final product is worthwhile, but this recipe had such a lack of flavour, colour, etc. Will save these expensive ingredients for my usual recipe - so much faster and plenty of flavour.

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I was a bit skeptical from reading some of the reviews - but I made this recipe as is, without any changes that people recommended and I absolutely loved it! My husband who does not like lasagna liked it too.

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This is the only recipe I will use for lasagna. It truly is fantastic.