Lasagna

First, a confession. I really don't like lasagna. Most are overpowering with their cloyingly over-reaching tomato sauces, most of which use way too much tomato paste. I'm never quite sure what I'm supposed to be tasting. And, then, I lump lasagna into the trinity of Italian foods: lasagna, pizza, spaghetti. Really, all three are basically the same: starch, tomatoes, meat. Maybe a few veggies. Of the three, I'll take a good pizza any day. So that's what I based this lasagna on: the tastes I like in a pizza that appealed to me.

I wanted a rich "sauce" that wasn't all tomato-y. I like black olives and green peppers on my pizza. So I added them. I love fennel. I love basil. Both are present in this recipe.

This is a rich-tasting lasagna from the long-simmered sauce. It is redolent with herbs, which includes the Ricotta, all of which plays nice with the pasta.

I highly recommend basil in a tube. It's a great product and keeps in the fridge for quite a long time. The taste is exquisite. There is no chopping. Often, the Ricotta layer in a lasagna is bland if not tasteless. The addition of basil changes all that.

I also love Barilla no-bake lasagna sheets. I love the rustic, homemade look. Just be sure to soak them in hot tap water for about ten minutes before using.

I like my sauce a bit on the thick side. If you don't, go ahead and add a bit more liquid toward the end of simmering. This also makes for a great sauce over spaghetti.

Don't skip on the garlic. One thing I learned from my Italian neighbor Rose, was to add nibs of garlic and splashes of water as the "gravy" simmers. 

Use quality canned tomatoes. I used Muir Glen organic, diced, fire roasted tomatoes. Go easy on the tomato paste and be sure to cook it a bit to soften the bitterness.

Go easy on the cheese. Nothing is worse than a greasy lasagna. In all I probably use a bit over two cups of grated cheeses. I used a pre-shredded artisan Italian blend. Lots of flavor.

And, yes, making a lasagna is a lot of work. I won't lie about that. But with proper planning and prep, it doesn't have to be tedious or confusing.

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1/4 pound Italian sausage
• 1 meaty pork neck bone
• 2 slices meaty, smoked bacon, trimmed of fat
• 3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon (scant) red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic and more for later
• 1-2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 28 oz. (about 3 cups) diced tomatoes, preferably "roasted"*
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup water plus more as the sauce simmers*
• 1 scant tablespoon Italian seasonings
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
• 1 small can sliced black olives, drained, rinsed and dried
• 1 - 2 good teaspoons brown sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

• 9 Barilla, no-bake lasagna sheets

• Filling
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk Ricotta cheese
• 1 egg yolk slightly beaten
• 1 - 1 1/2  tablespoons basil paste from a tube
• 1-2  tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano
• 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella

• 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella
• 1/4 cup Parmesan
• 1 small can tomato paste for presentation (optional)
• Parsley, for garnish (optional)

Heat olive oil in a heavy Dutch oven. Add onions and peppers and cook until onions are golden in color. Add garlic and stir just until fragrant. Push aside. Add pork bone and cook until browned on all sides. Add ground beef and sausage, cook, breaking up for about ten minutes or so, until its water has evaporated. Continue to cook until ground beef is browned.

Push meat mixture to side and add tomato paste. Cook for several minutes. Add Italian seasonings, red pepper flakes, fennel and a bit of wine, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot and until wine is evaporated. Pour in tomatoes. Rinse can with water and add. Stir. Salt and pepper to taste. Add brown sugar. Bring to a good simmer and cook, uncovered, stirring often for about 2 hours or until sauce takes on a deep-red, mahogany hue, adding more water a little at a time, as needed, to maintain level of sauce as it cooks. If you are not using a heavy pan, be careful your sauce doesn't scorch.

You want the sauce thick, but not dry. Remove neck bone (yum!). You should have 3 cups sauce.

Prepare cheese filling. To the Ricotta, add the basil paste beginning with one tablespoon. Add the cheeses. Taste. Add more basil if needed. Now whisk in the egg yolk.

Soak pasta in hot tap water for a good ten minutes.

Lightly grease or spray a 10 x 7 or 8 x 8 baking dish. Spread a few tablespoons of meat sauce on the bottom. Cut pasta to fit pan. I used three sheets per layer cut width wise for a 10 x 7 dish.

Begin layering. Lay down three sheets of overlapping pasta. Spread pasta with 1/3 third of cheese filling. Sprinkle 1/3 of cheese on top. Spread with one cup of meat sauce. Scatter of few black olives if using. Repeat two more times ending with meat sauce and scatting Parmesan or Mozzarella on top.

Note the deep color of the sauce.

Lightly spray/grease a piece of foil and secure over finished lasagna. Bake for abut 30-35 minutes in a 375 F-degree oven. Remove from oven and remove foil. Raise oven temperature to 400 F and continue to bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until cheese melts and top is bubbly.

Remove from oven and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes before slicing. To serve, put a dollop of tomato sauce on plate and top with a square of lasagna. Sprinkle with parsley and grated cheese.

Before baking, I sprinkled my lasagna only with Parmesan cheese which created more of a crust.

Wonderfully seasoned. Moist. Not drowning in "sauce."

*If you'd like a "saucier" lasagna, simply add one 8 ounce can tomato sauce and increase the water or add another 14 ounce can diced tomatoes and increase water.

Notes: I used Sargento brand 6 Cheese Italian blend, 8 oz. or 2 cups and Gourmet Garden brand fresh basil paste usually found in the refrigerated section of the produce department.

Spring Lasagna with Asparagus & Mushrooms

Asparagus lasagna is a joyous welcome to celebrate spring and the end of winter. Tender new spears of asparagus and earthy mushrooms sing the praises of a long-anticipated thaw. I could certainly see it on an Easter menu, especially as an appetizer.

I paired this lasagna with simple, pan-seared shrimp with lemon and a bit of jalapeno.

I had planned to layer this with shrimp. But at the last minute, I backed out and chose shredded pieces of ham, instead. It was a smart move. The ham, together with the smoked mozzarella, worked wonders with the other ingredients. 

And, no, there is no easy way to prepare it. There's a lot of chopping. Mixing. Layering. Grating. But you can always do the chopping the day before which just seems to make things go easier. In fact, you can prepare the entire dish the day before and refrigerate until ready to bake. 

Traditionally, the asparagus is quick-blanched then dunked into an ice-bath until ready to use. Because my spears were pencil thin, I didn't bother. Had they been thicker, I probably would have split them lengthwise. You may, of course, chop them; I like the drama of the entire stem. It's your call.

Please do not omit the smoked mozzarella. I used a pre-packaged blend of shredded Italian cheeses to layer between the pasta. In the bechamel sauce, I used fresh-grated Grana Padano.

I used leeks with the mushrooms (and a bit of shallots)  only because I had them on hand. If you don't have them, just increase the shallots to 1/4 cup. I used Barilla no-bake lasagna noodles. Just be sure to soak them in hot water before using. I like them much more than the frilly ones.

I generally remove and discard mushroom stems. When using deli ham
for cooking, choose something like "ham off the bone"
which has some fat to it.

• 1/2 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed (the weight is after the trimming)
• 1 tablespoon chopped shallots
• 1/3-1/2 cup chopped leeks
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2-3 cups sliced mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas--one 8 oz. container)
• 2-4 slices deli ham (I use ham-off-the-bone)
• 3/4 cup shredded smoked mozzarella
• 1 cup mixed Italian cheese
• 1/2 package Barilla No-Cook Lasagna Noodles
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bechamel Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1-2 medium garlic gloves, pressed
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Grated nutmeg

Lightly oil a 10 x 7 baking dish. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

Wash and cut asparagus to fit pan. Place upright in a glass or small bowl to drain.

In a medium frying pan, add a bit of olive oil. When hot, add the mushrooms. Stir until they begin to wilt and give up their juices. Then add the leeks and one tablespoon chopped shallot. Add the thyme. Cook until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Place the pasta sheets in a pan of hot tap water while you prepare the sauce. A bread pan works perfectly.

In a medium pan, add the butter and cook over medium heat until melted. Add the shallot and garlic and cook just until tender being careful not to scorch them. Reduce heat if necessary.

Add the 1/4 cup flour and stir, cooking over low medium heat for several minutes. You want to "cook" the flour a bit without burning it or the shallots and garlic. When it turns "nutty," begin adding the milk in 1/3 cups, whisking well after each addition.

Add chicken stock 1/3 cup at a time. Continue to cook until thickened. Lower heat and allow to simmer for several minutes.

Add several grates of fresh nutmeg. Whisk and taste. Now add the cheese a little at a time and whisk until melted and incorporated. Remove from heat. Reserve one-half cup of the sauce.

Remove lasagna noodles from pan and, if necessary, cut to fit your lasagna pan.

Smear a thin layer of the sauce (just a couple of tablespoons) on the bottom of your pan. Cover with one layer of lasagna noodles. Cover that with 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Sprinkle one-third of your mushroom mixture over that. Arrange 1/3 of your asparagus over the mushrooms and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the smoked mozzarella and about 1/3 cup of the mixed Italian cheeses. Shred the ham over all.

Adding more cheese will not make your lasagna better.
It will only make it oily and greasy. Go light.

Repeat two more times ending with a top layer of lasagna. Spread that with the reserved 1/2 cup of sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover with greased foil and bake in a 350 F oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove cover and increase heat to 500 F and bake just until the top in golden brown.


Allow to cool 20 - 30 minutes before cutting. It needs this time for the pasta to absorb the cheese and the juices, otherwise you will have slices that are a runny mess.

Notes: I really debated to place asparagus on the top of the lasagna but decided against it. I really only wanted to do it for visual pizzazz. In the long-run, I figured they'd just get mushy and I prefer a golden-brown top. As soon as this came out of the oven, I put on some fresh oregano sprigs from the garden. Next time I'll put on more.

If your bechamel sauce begins to thicken, don't be afraid to add a bit more milk or stock.