Ciao i miei amici.
This is fairly typical of what we find here and is the recipe presented in class.
Ingredients:
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 stick of celery
- ~1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- ~ 1/8 cup butter
- 1 cup of red wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2×28-oz cans of whole tomatoes
- 1 cup of milk
- 1/2 lb ground chuck
- 1/3 lb ground pork
- bechamel sauce
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 2 boxes lasagna noodles
- 1 lb parmesan cheese, grated
Directions:
- Dice the vegetables and set aside.
- Strain the tomatoes in a mill or pulse in a food processor until finely chopped but not pureed.
- In a large pot, heat about 1/2 cup of the olive oil with a couple of tablespoons of butter. Add the onion/carrot/celery and saute until fragrant.
- Add the pork and saute until it has released its fat.
- Add the ground chuck and continue to brown until fragrant.
- Add the red wine. Allow to simmer for several minutes. Add the tomatoes and herbs. Return to a boil. Cover the pot and allow the sauce to simmer slowly for approximately 5 hours (or do like we did: don’t cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour).
- When the ragu is ready, add the milk and return to a simmer. Heat oven to 400°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop a couple of noodles into the water and pre-boil for about a minute. Remove the noodles and set aside on a kitchen towel. Repeat until both boxes of noodles have been processed.
- Ladle a half to a cup of ragu into bottom of a 9-by-13-inch sheet cake pan. Place a layer of noodles on the sauce. Ladle another cup to a cup and a half of ragu on the noodles. Drizzle on some bechamel. Top with a generous sprinkling of parmesan. Begin again with more noodles/ragu/bechamel/parmesan. Keep repeating until something runs out but be sure to end with the cheese.
- Bake for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to rest for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
Ciao!
