Tag: lasagna

Scott and I spent a month in Italy this year. We rented a cozy place in our favorite town, Lucca, which is within the Tuscany region. 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 are guessing it has nutmeg, cumin, and cinnamon in it.

Ragu-

Ingredients-

½ cup Celery, Onion, Carrot Diced      

½ lb. Ground Pork or Sausage

 ½ lb. Ground Beef

28 oz. Tomato Sauce (Puree, Whole, or Crushed) I recommend Cento

28 0z. Water

½ cup Red or White Wine

Salt & Pepper

Lucchese Spice

Oregano

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVO)

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

Directions–      

1. Add Celery, Onion, Carrot to pot on medium heat in about 2 TBS. EVO with some salt to help the veggies sweat. Cook until soft.
2. Add Pork and continuously break up pork until fine and cooked through. Don’t skip this process, patience is key. I usually do it on medium low and keep breaking it up until I like the consistency of the meat. You have to add some EVO if it looks like its 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 can with water to extract the leftover sauce and add to pot.
6. Add Spices to your desired taste, but, about ½ teaspoon Lucchese should be enough, you can always add more of anything if you need as the sauce simmers.
7. Simmer Sauce for at least FOUR HOURS, I find the best sauce simmers for at least six hours. Add water if sauce looks to thick.

Besciamella-

Ingredients-

The simple equation to besciamella is 1 part flour to 1 part butter to 10 parts milk, and can be adjusted as you need.

5 tablespoons butter, (70g)

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour, (70g)

4 and 1/4 cups whole milk, (1 litre)

1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Parmigiano Cheese

Salt (optional) and pepper, to taste

Directions-

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

1. Melt butter in saucepan.
2. In a separate pan, warm the milk, do not boil.
3. Once melted add flour and stir until mixed (no chunks). It should have the viscosity of Elmers glue.
4. On medium high heat add in the milk and stir vigorously with a whisk 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.

Noodles-

Buy a box, cook them. Or I can teach you how to make the homemade version.

Layering-

Directions–

1. Place a light layer of sauce or besciamella on bottom of casserole dish.
2. Place a layer of noodles overlapping.
3. Add ragu to cover noodles but not thick.
4. Add besciamella and spread 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 get to the top or you 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 be wanting to add more grated Parmigiano on the top.

Bake at 400 Degree for 25 minutes. You can always cook a few minutes longer depending on your desire. Another method is 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes.