Chez Starz

Scott and I spent a month in Italy this year. We rented a cozy place in our favorite town, Lucca, in Tuscany. He made this amazing lasagna. Even the pasta was made from scratch.

The secret to this dish is the Lucchese Spice. He found it in Lucca, and the ingredients are mysterious, but we guess it has nutmeg, cumin, and cinnamon.

Ragu:

Ingredients:

½ cup each of celery, onion, and carrot, diced      

½ lb. ground pork or sausage

 ½ lb. ground beef

28 oz. tomato Sauce (puree, whole, or crushed)

28 0z. water

½ cup red or white wine

Salt & pepper

Lucchese spice (see description above)

Oregano

Extra virgin olive oil

You’ll need a Dutch oven or pot big enough to hold 60 oz.

You’ll also need lasagna noodles, store-bought or homemade, your choice.

Directions:      

1. Add Celery, Onion, and carrot to the pot over medium heat in about 2 Tbsp of olive oil with some salt to help the veggies sweat. Cook until soft.
2. Add Pork and keep breaking it up until it’s fine and cooked through. Don’t skip this process; patience is key. I usually cook it over medium-low heat and keep breaking it up until I like the meat’s consistency. Add some olive oil if it looks like it’s drying out.
3. Repeat the same as #2 with the beef.
4. Once the meat is finely broken up, add ½ Cup red (bolder flavor) or white wine; I prefer white. Cook until the alcohol smell is gone. 
5. Add 28 oz. tomato sauce; fill the can with water to extract the leftover sauce, then add it to the pot.
6. Add Spices to your desired taste, but about ½ teaspoon Lucchese should be enough; you can always add more as the sauce simmers.
7. Simmer Sauce for at least 4 hours; I find the best sauce simmers for at least six hours. Add water if the sauce looks too thick.

Besciamella:

Ingredients:

The simple equation for besciamella is 1 part flour to 1 part butter to 10 parts milk, and you can adjust as needed.

5 tablespoons butter (70g)

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (70g)

4 and 1/4 cups whole milk (1 liter)

1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Parmigiano Cheese

Salt (optional) and pepper, to taste

Directions:

 I like to do this about 30 minutes before I assemble the Lasagna.

1. Melt butter in a saucepan.
2. In a separate pan, warm the milk; do not boil.
3. Once melted, add the flour and stir until fully combined (no lumps). It should have the viscosity of Elmer’s glue.
4. On medium-high heat, add the milk and whisk vigorously until it begins to thicken like pudding.
5. Add the nutmeg and pepper and mix well.
6. Grate some parmigiano into sauce, amount depends on you.

Layering:

Directions:

1. Place a light layer of sauce or besciamella on the bottom of the casserole dish.
2. Place a layer of noodles, overlapping.
3. Add ragu to cover the noodles, but don’t make it thick.
4. Add besciamella and spread it out with ragu. It ain’t gonna look pretty but will mix well.
5.  Grate a coating layer of parmigiano over layer.
6. Repeat until you reach the top or run out of ingredients.
7. The top should be a layer of besciamella, or just another mixture of the ragu and besciamella. At this point you might have a lot of one or the other left over. No need to make more. And of course, you’ll want to add more grated Parmigiana on top.

Bake at 375 Fahrenheit for 35-45 minutes.