Super tasty lasagne to celebrate your family. By Elisa Gennari
I would say that 95% of Italian people would think about sundays with their families whenever they hear the word “LASAGNE”. I guess it’s because of the amount of time you need to cook them, that most people eat it only on major holidays or on sundays. As usual, each region has it’s own recipe, in southern Italy they add boiled eggs, peas, chunks of meat, but I find it very hard to digest, so I prepare the basic recipe made with tomato sauce with meat, white sauce and mozzarella. If you like lasagne you should definitely try to make it at home, it’ll be a totally different experience!
You just need some time… let’s say 4 hours…if you want to make your own pasta, but if you’re not in the mood for kneading, you can use the dried pasta you buy in the stores, you will save a lot of time and if you choose a quality product no one will taste the difference.
The trick to make lasagne with dried pasta is to make a very liquid white sauce and tomato sauce, so the pasta will absorb the excess water during the cooking process and will double in size. (keep it in mind when laying the pasta sheets onto the tray.. )
400gr of minced meat (pork and beef) or 400gr of pork ribs
3 italian sausages
1/2 carrot
1/2 celery stalk
1/2 onion
400ml of water
2 tablespoon of oil
A glass of red wine
For the white sauce:
1lt low fat milk
30gr of butter
4 tbsp of regular flour
a pinch of grounded nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
300gr of mozzarella cheese
150gr of grated parmigiano
For the home made pasta:
4 eggs
400gr flour
Instructions
Prepare the sauce: chop finely the onion, the carrot and the celery. Heat a sauce pan, add the oil and the veggies and let them cook for a couple of minutes. If you like you can add chili pepper. Add the minced meat (or the pork ribs) and the sausages and stir fry until the meat changes color. Add a glass of red wine and let it evaporate. Add the tomato puree and the water, mix well then add the salt and pepper and let it cook for about a couple of hours at low heat. Stir from time to time and check the sauce, if it’s too dry add a little water.
Prepare the bechamel. Make a roux melting the butter in a pan with the flour. Transfer the roux in a bowl. Then bring the milk to a boil, pour it on the roux while stirring with a whisk to make the mixture melt. Pour the milk back into the pot, add the grounded nutmeg, salt and bring it again to a boil while stirring. It will start to thicken. Boil for a few minutes, until it becomes thick as a cream. Remove from the stove and cover with a plastic wrap. Lay the wrap onto the surface to avoid drying.
Prepare the pasta: put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the beaten eggs and start to incorporate the flour with a fork.
Knead the dough with your hands until it’s smooth. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes, covered with a plastic wrap. Roll the dough with a rolling pin until it’s 2mm thick. Cut the pasta into rectangles (10x15cm).
Cook the pasta: bring the water to a boil, add salt and cook a few sheets of pasta at a time for three minutes. In the meantime prepare a large bowl with icy water. Drain the pasta with a kitchen tong or a fork and put it into the water to stop the cooking process.
Prepare the saucepan with the tomato sauce, the bowl with the pasta, the white sauce, the mozzarella cheese chopped finely and the parmigiano near the baking tray (40x30cm) where you’re going to cook the lasagne. Start by spreading a spoonful of tomato and white sauce on the base of the tray (if you used pork ribs remove them from the sauce before starting to assemble the dish). Then layer the pasta until the bottom is covered. Add a ladle of tomato sauce, white sauce, sprinkle some parmigiano and a little mozzarella cheese. Keep layering all the ingredients. If you want a crispy lasagna you should add more parmigiano on top and less on the inside.
Cook the lasagna in the oven at 200°C (about 390°F) for about 45 to 55 minutes. It depends on how crispy you like the top.
Prep Time:2 hours 30 mins
Cook Time:55 mins
Elisa Gennari
Elisa Gennari was born and raised in Rome, with a true passion for home made food. Her goal is to share her ideas about eating delicious food while still staying healthy. In her blog she teaches her secrets on how to cook Italian recipes, always with a healthy twist.
While ricotta is included in certain varieties of lasagna in Italy, the style that serves as the primary inspiration for American recipes is the one from the region of Emilia Romagna. There, it's traditionally layered with pasta, bolognese, and béchamel—with no ricotta to be found.
In southern Italy lasagna is generally made with dried sheets of pasta layered with rich meat ragú, ricotta and mozzarella. In the north, especially in Bologna, the most popular version of lasagna features fresh egg pasta colored green with spinach and layered with ragú, bechamel and Parmigiano Reggiano.
In case you were wondering: traditional American lasagna uses ricotta cheese and meat sauce as the filling for each layer, while classic Italian lasagna bolognese uses meat sauce and bechamel instead.
The noodles are layered with a flavorful meat sauce made with Italian sausage, vegetables, crushed tomatoes, and cream, as well as creamy ricotta, gooey mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese. Baked until bubbly and golden, it's the perfect cozy dish for a crowd, and it reheats and freezes well, too.
Mascarpone: Another Italian cheese, mascarpone makes a great ricotta substitute. However, since mascarpone is more tart and flavorful, you should only use it in dishes with other strong flavors. It may overpower milder ingredients.
Let me break it to you: If you want to make a lasagna, three layers just won't cut it! For the perfect lasagna, you need at least 4-5 layers to really enjoy all those mouth-watering flavors. And, here's a pro-tip: make sure to season each layer generously, but not too much. The average lasagna has 8 layers!
Do Italians eat bread and pasta at the same meal? Yes. They have, actually, a custom called scarpetta, which consists in soaking bread in the remaining sauce after eating pasta (or any other thing they ate).
Lasagne (it's plural, not singular) are a primo, so you eat it on its own, but followed by at least some vegetables or, if it's a festive meal, also some proteins in the form of meat (as most lasagne are meat-based) and vegetables.
Italian-born restaurateur Salvatore Esposito explained to The Post that lasagna was adapted to better suit American taste buds, ultimately simplifying the recipe. Using ricotta, or even cottage cheese, puréed in the food processor was a lot more "American" than carefully laboring over a béchamel sauce.
Bologna-style Lasagna: In the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, Bologna is considered the birthplace of lasagna. The classic Bolognese lasagna is made with flat pasta sheets, a hearty meat sauce, and a rich béchamel sauce.
Does traditional lasagna have béchamel or ricotta? The components of a traditional lasagna vary depending on who you ask. It appears that béchamel sauce was used in northern Italy, and ricotta in the South. In the U.S., versions that use ricotta are preeminent.
You can find lasagna pans made from a wide variety of materials, but most of the options you'll find are made from metal, ceramic, or glass. Stainless steel, steel, or aluminum-core pans will heat up quickly, are good at getting crispy edges, and are quite durable.
We may never know the exact person who created lasagna. In fact, this dish was not named after an individual, but after a fermented noodle called laganon that was frequently used in ancient Greece where lasagna originated. In the beginning, lasagna was sprinkled with toppings, and eaten with a pointed stick.
Cow's milk ricotta is milder and has a more neutral taste than the other varieties. It's ideal for the celebrated filled-pasta delicacies of northern Italy—such as, ravioli, tortelloni, agnolotti, savory stuffed crepes—as well as cakes and pastries.
In Italy, ricotta is typically eaten as a filling for pasta or cannoli. Here in Racale, Margherita's ricotta is eaten by the spoonful — without even salt or olive oil. Light and pillowy in texture, it's like tasting a cloud of sheep's milk.
I like using béchamel sauce instead of ricotta because it holds the mouthwatering lasagna layers together and gives the dish an overall creamy texture. Using béchamel is also the authentic Italian way to make lasagna.
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