Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives

Who doesn’t love a thick, steaming hunk of perfectly textured pasta sheets, layered with a well seasoned combination of ricotta cheese, herbs and seasonings (with or without eggs to bind – and that’s another blog all on it’s own!!), lots of creamy, gooey mozzarella cheese, and a rich, meaty or just rich, perfectly seasoned tomato sauce? I know I do I do!! However, this blog, although about lasagna, isn’t about that lasagna. This blog is about something just as yummy, but in a different way, and something I feel is incredibly underrated here in America. Lasagna Bolognese aka Lasagne alla Bolognese. This kind of lasagna seems simple enough – pasta sheets,..2 sauces, and some ‘authentic’ Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Piece of cake, right? Well, not if you want one bite to cause your knees to buckle!

The main ingredient of Lasagna Bolognese is, of course, the Bolognese sauce, which originated in..well….Bologna, Italy. Kind of obvious by the name, but I honestly didn’t know that for sure until I looked it up. This is a sauce that consists of some kind of ground meat or combo of ground meats, diced mire poix (celery, carrots and onions), some nice pancetta or prosciutto (di parma would be ideal), milk and/or cream, white or red wine, a meat broth or stock, such as chicken (unless you’re a vegetarian or vegan, but then this dish isn’t for you, as tofu or ’soy crumble’ bolognese……umm..NO), and just enough tomato, whether it be broken up whole San Marzanos, puree, or just paste, depending on your taste. Many like to add cinnamon, cloves and herbs such as basil and oregano, which is great, but not authentic, which is what I’m going with here. This is not meant to be a ’saucy’ sauce, but rather a concentrated meaty ’sauce’ of sorts. It’s thick, it’s super rich, and if you want it just right, prepare it with extra TLC, and simmer for hours.

The ‘other’ sauce in Lasagna Bolognese, is Bechamel, which all you foodies and chefs out there know is the ‘mother’ sauce for many other sauces, such as Mornay, and ironically (when pertaining to this recipe), originated in France. This sauce is simple. A blond roux made with equal parts butter and flour, whole milk, and seasoning(s). That’s it. In Lasagna Bolognese, France and Italy go exceptionally well together, so much so, that one would think they ought to just ‘get a room’, or merge into one really tasty country – Fritaly.

The last two components are the pasta and cheese. No mozzarella (Sorry, Jason – my sig other who would eat dirt with mozzarella on it), just one of the best cheeses to ever grace this earth – Parmigiano-Reggiano (You could substitute less pricey domestic Parmesans, or even Romano or Pecorino Romano, but NOT that stuff in the green can!). Sharp, complex nutty/slightly sweet and just salty enough, it’s the queen of the hard grating cheeses (in my humble opinion).

As for the pasta, you just HAVE to make it from scratch for this recipe. If you’re going to go to all the trouble to make the Bolognese, a fresh, homemade pasta will send the final result over the top. If you can find freshly made lasagna sheets at your local italian grocery or deli, by all means, get some, but this time, I’m doing it myself, the old fashioned way *showing hands*, no food processing in this blog today.

To get started, I have to credit Francois-Xavier and his incredible blog, FXCuisine for my sudden need to start making this the ‘right’ way..every step from scratch..no dried lasagna noodles from a box! I stumbled upon it when I was looking for some interesting ways to ‘kick’ my basic lasagna up a..a..TAD..not a NOTCH!. Even though I’d made Lasagna Bolognese many times, and was blessed with a fantastic, handed down recipe for Bolognese sauce, what I saw, literally made me gasp with awe and excitement, not to mention, drool a bit (well, a little more than a bit, but I don’t want to gross anyone out here).

Francois, I hope this makes you proud, although I’m sorry, I can’t, just can’t add the chicken livers, not even ‘for daddy’. LOL

OK, let’s start with the Bolognese sauce. I didn’t take step by step photos of this process, because this blog would end up being longer than a moonshot by A-Rod (AHH..my first baseball reference). However, here’s the photo of the final result, after being simmered for about 4-5 hours, along with the recipe. I usually make this a day ahead, which gives the flavors even more time to meld in the fridge.

Bolognese sauce

Ingredients

• 2 T butter
• 4 T olive oil
• 3-4 oz pancetta or prosciutto di parma, chopped
• 2lbs ground beef, OR a combo or ground veal, pork and beef, or two of the three, equaling 2 lbs.
• 1-2 lbs San Marzano tomatoes (canned, depending on how much tomato flavor you prefer)
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry red or white wine (your preference)
• 1 cup whole milk, heated prior to adding
• 1 cup heavy cream, heated prior to adding
• 2 cups chicken stock, or veal stock, or a combo of beef stock and chicken stock to make two cups, heated prior to adding.

1) Heat the oil and butter in a large saute pan, then add the onion, celery, and carrot and cook over medium heat until the onion turns pale gold. Add the pancetta or prosciutto, and let it cook down until most of the fat has rendered out, then add the minced garlic, and cook for another minute or two, being careful not to burn the garlic.

2) Pushing the carrots, onions, celery, garlic and pancetta off to the side of the pan (or removing it to a plate for time being), add the beef or combo of ground meats, and let sear until brown..then start breaking it up and letting it cook until most of the juices have evaporated. Add or push the veggies and pancetta back in with the meat, and let it cook together for another few minutes, until almost dry.

3) Turn the heat up to high, and add the white or red wine, scraping up the ‘fond’ (aka flavor) from the bottom of the pan (deglazing), then let the wine cook down until almost evaporated.

4) Transfer the beef, veggie, pancetta mix to a dutch oven or large oven proof pot. Turn your burner down to medium heat, and add the tomatoes, breaking them up as you stir them in (or just squeeze them with your hands in a bowl prior to adding them), and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes.

5) Add the stock, cook for a minute, and then the milk and cream, and bring to a boil.

6) Now, you can either let the bolognese simmer on the stovetop, UNCOVERED, for about 3-5 hours, stirring and keeping watch, OR, do as I learned from Francois at FXCuisine (so much easier and no burning on the bottom without constant stirring). Preheat your oven to 250 F, while preparing the sauce on the stovetop. After you transfer it to the dutch oven and bring it to a boil..COVER and put it in the oven. Let it cook anywhere from 3-5 hours (check every hour after 3, to see if it’s cooked down enough for your taste. Also, give it a stir every hour from the start). It should be thick and meaty, with barely any juice or ’sauciness’. Taste for seasonings, such as salt and pepper, but this is so concentrated and flavorful, I only needed to add some ground black pepper.

7) If you’d like, remove half or a quarter of the sauce to a separate pot or bowl, and use an immersion blender to break it down a little, then add it back into the original sauce, and let it cook on the stovetop so it reduces down a little more.

Let sauce cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to assemble the lasagna.

Pasta dough

Now, you may have a recipe you prefer, but here’s mine, which I think is ideal for this lasagna, as it’s basic..no salt, no oil, water etc, as it doesn’t need it at all, since the sauces are so rich and flavorful. Also, you may have to double this recipe, or make another half of the recipe to get enough lasagna noodles for 5-6 layers. If you want a basic 3 layer lasagna, half the Bolognese and Bechamel recipes, and the below pasta dough recipe will make more than enough pasta sheets for 3 layers.

• 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups 00 or AP flour.
• 4 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk

1) Mound the flour on a sturdy board, and make a decent sized well in the middle (think volcano). Crack the eggs into a bowl, and add the egg yolk, to insure no shell gets into the ‘well’. Pour the eggs into the well, and beat very carefully until uniform, making sure you keep those walls of flour intact to hold the pool of beaten eggs in. You don’t want your volcano erupting! OK, I admit it, my ‘volcano’ did start to erupt, but fortunately, I was able to save it in time, with some masterful bench scraping.

2) Slowly start to incorporate the flour into the beaten eggs, until you have a soft dough. Start to knead the dough, adding more flour from your original ‘volcano’ (You most probably won’t be incorporating all the flour from the volcano into the dough, (DO NOT try to force it all in, as you’ll end up with a dry, crumbly bunch of pieces that won’t hold together and tough pasta to boot), to get a nice, firm but smooth and elastic dough..about 10 minutes. You can also add the formed dough to your food processor/robocoupe, and finish it off there with a 30 second to1 minute pulse/run. You can even make the whole dough in the food processor, but you’d have to start out with a lot less flour, and slowly add it to the beaten eggs as the machine is running, until it’s reached the right consistency. However, like I said above..I prefer the old fashioned way for this lasagna, since you’ve already put so much TLC into everything else.

3) Once the dough is nice, smooth, and yellow to light yellow, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it sit for 20 minutes or more. I refrigerate mine overnight, then let it come to room temp before I start breaking off pieces and rolling..but then again, as mentioned above, I do everything but the bechamel and the rolling of the pasta sheets, the day before I make the Lasagna Bolognese.

4) When the dough is ready, start a large pot of water to boiling, (adding salt once it comes to a full boil). Break off or cut off about a golf ball or larger size piece and flatten in your hand, folding it into a small rectangle. (Cover the remaining dough with plastic wrap until you need to cut off another piece).

5) Set your pasta machine at the widest setting, and run it through several times (you may have to flour the piece of dough lightly and sporadically to prevent sticking). Your sort of kneading it again, and making it nice and smooth for the final run throughs. Once it feels silky enough, flour it lightly and turn the knob up to number 2, and run it through a few times, then 3 (this is where I usually stop, as you don’t want the sheets too thin, since it’ll be cooking in the oven for about an hour). Leave your sheets rustic, no trimming (this is down home italian comfort food, not haute cuisine) and set them somewhere to dry, like a VERY lightly floured pan, drooping them over the rim, or some kind of rack. You don’t want them to dry long, as you want them as fresh as possible.

6) Once you’ve finished, add the pasta sheets, about two to three at a time to the salted, boiling water. Let cook for only 40-50 seconds at most. Immediately transfer them to a large bowl of ice water, using a strainer of some sort (I use a chinese strainer), keeping that water in the pot and at a rolling boil.. Keep repeating with the rest of the pasta sheets, adding more cold water to the bowl (you may have to use two bowls if the one you have isn’t big enough for all that pasta) each time you add more of the semi cooked sheets. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of this exciting step. I know a photo of partially boiled lasagna sheets is a rarity..and..OK, enough joking around. ;D

7) Once you’re finished, strain the pasta sheets, and place them on a VERY lightly oiled pan (or one with a silpat) to dry. Then cover with plastic wrap until you’re ready to assemble.

Bechamel Sauce

• 1 stick of unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup of AP flour
• 4 cups of whole milk
• salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg

1) Heat the milk until almost boiling in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. In a separate pot melt the unsalted butter over low heat, then add the flour all at once. Stir rapidly with a whisk. Cook until you have a uniform blond roux, do NOT let it brown.. even a little. We’re not making gumbo here.

2) Slowly add the hot milk to the roux in increments, whisking until the roux absorbs each 1/2 to 1 cup of hot milk, in which you’ll keep getting a thicker and thicker paste which will soon start to turn into a sauce. Once you’ve added all the milk, you’ll have a nice, white, creamy sauce with no lumps, that should coat the back of a spoon.

3) Season with salt, pepper, and a few grates of fresh, whole nutmeg (not too much..taste with each grate). Set aside to cool until you’re ready to assemble the lasagna.

Now it’s time to assemble the lasagna. Get your ‘mise en place’ together…the two sauces, the partially cooked and dry lasagna sheets, and about two cups of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. By the way, don’t throw out the rinds of cheese. They make a great flavor enhancer for soups, sauces, stews, rices etc. Of course you don’t eat the rind once it’s served it’s purpose.

From YOUR left to right. The Bechamel sauce, the Bolognese sauce, the freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the partially cooked lasagna sheets. Here’s a closer look at that incredible cheese. If I had a better camera, it would look a lot better.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

First start with a light layer of sauce on the bottom of a deep 13 x 9 or 10 x15 baking dish. (I make this lasagna about 5-6 layers deep, but if you want to keep it to 3 or 4 layers, cut the recipes for the Bolognese and Bechamel sauce in half, but leave the pasta dough as is, as those amounts are just about right for 3 or 4 layers, and as mentioned above, I usually double that or make another half of the recipe). Top the sauce with a few lasagna sheets, or whatever amount covers it enough, since you’ve kept your lasagna sheets ‘rustic’.

Top the sheets with a heavier layer of the Bolognese.

Next a layer of Bechamel sauce.

Top the Bechamel with some of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and then another layer of pasta sheets..lather, rinse, repeat, until you’ve used up all the sauces, pasta sheets and cheese.

Ready for the oven. Bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes to an hour. After 30-40 minutes, start checking if it’s ready by sticking a long, thin knife into the center. If the knife comes out hot, it’s ready. Lukewarm, keep cooking. If the top starts to get too brown, cover with aluminum foil for the remainder of the baking time.

Right out of the oven. I know you’ll want to attack this immediately, but let it sit for at least 15 minutes, as you don’t want the lasagna oozing all over your plate and in the baking dish. You want a nice, solid hunk, so you can savor every layer. Plus, it looks prettier that way, as you’ll see below.

Perfect and ready to devour. These plates need no adorning, as the lasagna is the rock star. Suffice it to say, this didn’t last very long!