BAKED LASAGNA: A classic della cucina Italiana!

Lasagna: our family favorite!

I make it just on special holidays (Christmas, Easter and Carnevale) as it requires a lot of work and it's too rich of a dish to eat weekly.

Firstly, let me say that my lasagna is not Americanized. I start with thin layers of fresh egg pasta, mozzarella or scamorza, a little Parmigiano Reggiano, small meatballs and, of course a simple sauce (sugo semplice) with tiny meatballs.  I do not overload it with too many ingredients.  I want to taste the pasta.

Fresh Egg Pasta:

1 lb. all purpose flour (unbleached)

4 eggs

Pinch of salt

There is one thing I will not compromise on---the pasta.  To me, real lasagna should be made from scratch.  Dried pasta is too thick.

     

Prepare the dough by placing the flour on a cutting board and make a well. 

Add whole eggs and salt into the well. Keep stirring this way until you have formed a sticky dough ball. Dump the dough ball onto a floured surface and knead, incorporating more flour into the dough as needed, until the dough is smooth, elastic, even in color and no longer sticky.

Once you have finished kneading, cover with a dish and let rest at room temperature for 60 minutes or more.  Once the dough has rested, divide into balls. At this point, you may flatten each ball using a rolling pin and feed pasta dough through the pasta machine until the dough is as thin as you like. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook the pasta sheets for 2 minutes.

Photo from web

Drain and run the pasta sheets under cold running water.  You may lay the pasta sheet over kitchen towels.

Photo from web

For the Meatballs:

·         1 pound ground beef

·         2 large eggs

·         1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese

·         1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

·         3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Form the meatballs small and sauté them in a pan with olive oil and brown them.  Add the meatballs to the sauce.

Assembly:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread some of the sauce at the bottom of a large deep baking pan. 
• Arrange a layer of pasta sheets.
• Spread some sauce with little meatballs over the pasta sheets 
•  Next add a nice amount of grated mozzarella and some grated cheese.
• Repeat 2 more times. Top the final layer of pasta sheets with sauce and the remaining grated cheese.
• Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Add the remaining mozzarella and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
• Remove the foil covering on the lasagna for the last 15-20 minutes of cook time.  As you know, a browned top with cheese is tastier.

Let the lasagna rest uncovered for 15 minutes or so to avoid a sloppy serving.

Pure perfection!