Holiday Lasagna!

I understand that upon reading the title of this entry, you might be scratching your head. Let me explain: in my family, particularly when I was little younger, we celebrated Christmas by having droves of family over and made lasagna, fettucine alfredo, or spaghetti. It makes sense, as you can really feed a crowd with pasta. Note that this is a family tradition, and not really what Italians or Italian Americans do for Christmas.

As always, I'm sharing a recipe from my experience (my own version, at that) and do not claim to be "authentic" or to have "the one true lasagna to rule them all." I think that going in for that sort of thing is silly anyway.

There is nothing particularly earth shattering about the way I prepare lasagna, but it's delicious, comforting, and so immensely fun to make that I just wanted to share. In fact, I made this twice this month-once on the 10th when my friend Alyssa dropped in for the evening, and once during the week intensive of the Mediterranean Opera Studio. I often roll out my own noodles for this, but I simply didn't have the time this month. One can just as easily use pasta purchased at the store (I prefer the noodles that don't require boiling-Trader Joe's lasagna noodles fall into this category, as do many other brands.) I also like to add parsley to my ricotta mixture-it lightly informs the entire dish with a bit more freshness. This is probably a good time to note that this is not a light dish, and certainly not something I make on a regular basis.

I like to make a cheese sauce to grace the top of my lasagna. For this, I make a Béchamel sauce with cheese (which, I suppose, makes it more of a Mornay sauce.) Once the top is browned and bubbly (sometimes the broiler helps with this) I top it with more parsley. Thus we get the Christmas color trifecta: green, red and white. These are, coincidentally the colors of the Italian flag-giving us an American dish with Italian inspiration for the Christmas season.

PS: This month has been crazy! I started this entry on December 19, and have just finished it today (December 27.) Fortunately, it's still Christmas, so while I missed the actual day, I'm still in the season.

Buon natale!

Ingredients
Lasagna noodles (handmade or follow box directions-if I'm purchasing the noodles, I like the flat ones that don't have to be boiled.)

For the meat sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large sweet onion

5 cloves garlic
2 carrots, grated
1 teaspoon each of thyme and basil (omit if you like, or if you don't have any on hand)
1  pound of ground meat (I use ground turkey, but you can use pork, beef or any mixture you enjoy)
1 teaspoon of Salt and pepper
1 small can of tomato paste
1/2 to 3/4 cup of red wine or red vermouth
1 28 oz can of peeled tomatoes

For the ricotta mixture:
15 oz Ricotta Cheese (I use whole milk, full fat-as always, use what you prefer)
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella
2 eggs
Pinch (1/2 teaspoon?) salt and pepper
Fresh Italian parsley, minced (to taste)

 Béchame/Mornay sauce topping
Whisk
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
2 cups of milk (whole milk is best here.)
1 teaspoon of black pepper and a dash (two passes on a microplane) of nutmeg.
1/2 cup-1 cup of cheese (a mix of parmesan and mozzarella works well. Any white cheese is fine)


Method:

Meat Sauce
1. Chop onions and garlic. Shred carrots (I use a cheese grater, but sometimes I do simply chop these as well.
2. In a large pan, heat the olive oil and butter on a medium high heat until the butter has melted. The butter gives a lovely round quality, and the olive oil helps it from burning.
3. Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes, then add the carrots. Watch the heat, as you don't want to burn anything-if needed, turn down your stove. After a few minutes, add the herbs (if using.) Adding dry herbs at this point really helps you maximize the flavor-"sweating" them in the heat helps them release their oils and their yummyness (that's the technical term.)
4. Add the meat, along with the salt and pepper! Unsurprisingly, you will cook until it isn't pink anymore.
5. Add the tomato paste. I clear a little space in the pan for this, and let the paste get warm. Then I mix it into the meat. I'm not sure if this is the proper way to do this, but I learned this from my first teacher, and so I've done so ever since (with good results.) Add the wine/vermouth and let this simmer for about 5 minutes or so on a medium heat.

Fun with tomato paste. This is as I'm incorporating it in the mix. Red wine is about to join the party.

6. Add the can of tomatoes. You can use crushed tomatoes, but I like to get whole tomatoes and just break them up a bit. I like the chunkier texture, but it you want it smoother, do as you please.
7. Cook until there isn't too much standing moisture (the last thing you want is a wet, sloppy lasagna.) I typically leave it for about 20 minutes or so-leave it on a medium low heat, stirring occasionally.

Mmmm sauce. I apprently need to work on making less splatters. Oh well, that's life in the kitchen-sometimes one makes a mess. I suppose the same can be said of life in general as well.

Ricotta mixture:
1. Chop parsley, reserving some for the top of the lasagna.
2. Fling everything into a bowl and mix. No really, just toss it all in.

It's blurry because I'm so busy tossing!!! I guess I was hungry for dinner...

Cheese Sauce

You could omit this, but it's terribly easy, and looks great as you serve it. It's also quite decadent, so make your own choices.

1. In a saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter.

2. Add two tablespoons of flour. Mix this for a few minutes, and let it turn golden. Otherwise your sauce will taste of raw flour (yuck.) Stir the flour, otherwise if will start looking like a giant boiling shortbread cookie (and that's basically what it is, except without sugar.)

3. Add the milk slowly, whisking as you go. If you don't have a whisk, buy one when you're buying your groceries. If you whisk the milk in, you will not get any lumps. Even if lumps appear initially, they will be overcome by your diligent whisking.

4. Add pepper and nutmeg. You may omit the nutmeg but I like it's nutty flavor, and it's a nod to the French origins of this sauce.

5. Add the cheese.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 375.

1. Place about 1/2 cup of the meat sauce on the bottom of your baking dish.

2. Layer the noodles, meatsauce and ricotta mixture until the baking dish is just over 3/4 full.

3. Top with the Mornay sauce.

Woah, this is decadent.

4. Bake for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. The top will be bubbly. My broiler is very, very fast, so sometimes if the top doesn't look bubbly enough, I toss it under the broiler for 2 minutes. You have to be very careful with that trick-too long and you can ruin your lasagna.

5. Top with the reserved fresh parsley

Yum....Yes, I balanced the pan on a saucepan....no, I don't think it's a good idea ;-)

6. Eat greedily (with friends or loved ones.)

Yay, time for dinner! Incidentally, if you're bringing this to table as I have done here, place trivets under your baking dish.  If you don't have trivets, use a kitchen towel and a potholder.