LASAGNA
RECIPE
From Jessie Lee Troyer
2 1/4 cups Meat Sauce
Bolognese:
2 tablespoons chopped
yellow onion
3 tablespoons olive
oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped
celery
2 tablespoons chopped
carrot
3/4 pound ground beef
(preferably chuck or the meat from the neck)
salt
1 cup water or
chicken stock (low-sodium)
1/2 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon
nutmeg
2 cups canned
Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped, with their juice.
1. First make a ragu. An earthenware pot
should be your first choice for making ragu. If you don't have one
available, use a heavy, enameled cast-iron casserole, the deepest one you have to keep the ragu from reducing too quickly.
Put in the chopped onion,
with all the oil and butter, and saute briefly over medium heat until just
translucent. Add the celery and carrot and cook gently for 2 minutes.
2. Add the ground
beef, crumbling it in the pot with a fork. Add 1 teaspoon salt, stir and
cook only until the meat has lost its raw red color. Add the chicken
stock.
3. Turn the heat to
medium, and add the milk and the nutmeg. Cook until the milk has
evaporated. Stir frequently.
4. When the milk has
evaporated, add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly. When the tomatoes have
started to bubble, turn the heat down until the sauce cooks at the laziest
simmer, just an occasional bubble.
Cook, uncovered for a minimum of 3 1/2 to 4
hours, stirring occasionally. Taste for salt.
(This Ragu can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or it
can be frozen for later use. Reheat until it simmers for about 15 minutes before using.) Serves 6.
Make Bechamel Sauce -
3 cups milk
6 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4
teaspoon salt
It should be fairly thin, having the consistency of sour
cream.
To assemble the lasagna, you will need:
Pre-cooked lasagna
1 T. salt
2/3 cup freshly
grated Parmesan cheese
2 T. butter
Prepare the meat
sauce (Ragu) and the béchamel sauce and set aside.
Preheat the oven to
450 or follow directions on the package of pasta.
Choose a 14-inch
bake-and-serve lasagna pan. (You can use packaged aluminum pans, too.)
Smear the bottom with
a little bit of meat sauce, skimming it from the top of the pan, where there is more
fat.
Place a single layer
of lasagna in the pan, overlapping the strips, if necessary, no more than 1/4
inch. Avoid propping up the edges of the pasta along the sides of the
pan. It will become dry and tough there. You can use broken pieces of lasagna to plug any gaps in the layers.
Spread enough sauce
on the pasta to dot it with meat, then spread the bechamel over the meat
sauce. Before sprinkling cheese, taste the bechamel and meat sauce
coating. If it is on the salty side, sprinkle the grated cheese
sparsely. If it is rather bland, sprinkle the cheese freely.
Add another layer of
lasagna and coat it as before. Note: Since lasagna shouldn't be too thick, make no more than 6 thin layers of lasagna and leave 1/2 inch at the top of the pan.
Coat the top layer
with bechamel, sprinkle with cheese, and dot lightly with butter.
When ready to bake, follow
the directions on the box of lasagna for baking.
Allow
the lasagna to settle 5 to 8 minutes after removing from oven before serving.
