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2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20
The Sunday dish, the dish that makes home, the dish that makes family and celebrates, the dish that makes mum, and table with many chairs around.
Alas also a dish so disgusted by tourist abuse that it has lost a bit of appeal.
But baked lasagna is the comfort food that everyone envies us: a riot of fresh pasta, rich dressing and enjoyment.
When tradition is not a burden but a point of arrival: the best possible slice of layered pasta, supported by the thick meat sauce, but soft on the inside, with the béchamel well blended.
So much loved and so mistreated, lasagna with Bolognese sauce are, like all traditional dishes, a different surprise in every home. More or less rich in béchamel or ragù, more or less high, more or less crunchy, with more or less thick pasta, lasagna is a universe of different flavors, all to be tried.
The Reggiana version went to my house, with green spinach pastry. Sometimes they welcomed me even when I came home from school, and I smelled them from the stairs …
Hello. Me, the lasagna, and the whole world outside.
The procedure is a bit long, but if you plan ahead you can also break it up in several stages and over several days, to have a pan of lasagna made entirely by hand, from puff pastry to béchamel.
#NR. 1: THE BROWSE
We saw how to make fresh pasta together when I wrote about pumpkin tortelli.
For a 6-person pan, we make the pasta with 3 eggs and 300 grams of flour.
Obviously for lasagna we have a different cutting technique of the strips. As for the thickness, I like to keep the dough slightly thick, I pull it on the penultimate pass of the dough sheeter.
Once spread, the pan must be "measured" and cut ad hoc.
After the first piece, we can use this sample to cut all the others of the same length.
We keep aside, on the floured wooden table.
#NR. 2: THE BEANS
Bechamel is very simple and quick to make, so let's forget about the chemical briquettes from the supermarket, which horrify us at the very thought.
Here's how to proceed, to get a dose for our 6 pan.
Ingredients: 50 g of butter, 40 g of flour, 500 ml of whole milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper.
Let's start by preparing the blond roux, or the thickening base.
Heat a good thick-bottomed saucepan and melt the butter; add the sifted flour, all together. The roux actually includes equal doses of butter and flour, but for our lasagna we keep the béchamel slightly softer, then add 10 grams of flour less (if you prefer it even slower, even 20-25 grams less).
Always stirring with a whisk, toast it until it releases a good "biscuit" scent, but do not let it darken.
At this point, pour in the milk, breaking the roux well with the whisk to avoid the formation of lumps.
Bring to a boil over low heat and allow to thicken. Grate the nutmeg, season with salt and pepper.
# NR. 3: THE RAGU '
Here a world opens up, recipes and versions are wasted. The disciplinary and dictates of the gastronomic congregations clash with the homemade versions of grandmother, aunt and mother.
Keeping in mind some fundamental rules, each version has its own why, and in the end the ragù is always the ragù.
Here is my version, again for our 6 lasagna.
Ingredients: 500 g of ground beef (part of the folder), 150 g of chopped stretched bacon, 1 carrot, 1 stick of celery and a small white onion, 6 tablespoons of tomato puree, 3 tablespoons of triple tomato concentrate, broth vegetable, a low glass of red wine, a low glass of whole milk, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper
Mirepoix mince celery, carrot and onion.
Heat an earthenware pan with a drizzle of oil, add the minced bacon and the mirepoix. Over low heat, braise the vegetables.
Add the minced meat and raise the heat; brown it
Deglaze with the red wine and allow to evaporate
Add the tomato puree and the concentrate, diluted with broth.
Lower the heat and cover, leaving a crack.
Continue cooking for about three hours (salt and pepper after half cooking), adding a little broth at a time if necessary and, just before the end, the milk.
The ragù can obviously be prepared beforehand, in order to carry on with the work.
We now have everything we need for our lasagna.
WE COOK PASTA
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
We cook the strips of fresh pasta two at a time for a couple of minutes (if thicker) or less.
By removing them from boiling water we will pass them into a bowl of cold water, so we stop cooking.
Without drying them, we spread them directly on the pan on the bottom of which we have already distributed a little béchamel and meat sauce.
LET'S MAKE THE LAYERS
Once our "bottom" is ready, we can proceed in the same way, distributing béchamel and meat sauce on the pasta, always ending with grated Parmesan.
Then we cook two more strips and add the filling, and so on, until all the ingredients are used up.
With these doses I made 8 layers.
Once the pan is ready, heat the oven to 180 ° and bake for about 20 minutes, until you get a crunchy crust (… and, I add, slightly charred).
We bring to the table, ready to face the war between those who want to grab the crunchy corners and those who want the succulent center!