Slow cooking school

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Lasagna

We love to cook lasagna when the fall starts, and every time we create a new version. Here is the basic way to make it, but at our cooking class we do several variations with zucchini, artichokes and more!

 First of all, here are some of our  secrets: 

Choose a minced meat with a knife that is very fresh: pork of Cinta Senese for the fat part, Chianina veal for the lean and light  part. That means choose organic meat!

A good tomato sauce with a low degree of acidity is ideal for meat sauce. I prefer the organic tomato in glass bottle

Choose a fresh egg puff pastry, the quality of the final dish will increase dramatically.

Choose to prepare a homemade bechamel sauce, it is the secret ingredient of any successful baked lasagna. The one you can buy at the supermarket generally is really fat and full of preservatives.

Use a Parmesan aged for at least 24/36 Months!

 

Ingredients:

  • •   fresh egg pasta (same as tagliatelle recipe fro this blog)

  • •   sea salt 


  • •   extra virgin olive oil 4 table spoons.

  • •   2 glass jars of organic plain tomato sauce from Italy or better from our organic kitchen garden 


  • •   freshly ground black pepper 


  • •   half glass of red wine.

  • •   600 g hand-made béchamel 


  • •   2 handfuls of 2-year old vintage parmesan cheese, freshly grated

  • •   400 gr of pork and 400 gr of veal (you can mince it or cut with the knife, even better).

  • •  sweet stretched  pancetta of cinta senese

  • • 1 onion, 1 celery and 2 carrots

Directions:

•    
 In a large casserole-type pan, slowly fry with 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and finely chopped onion, celery, and carrots,  until they are golden.  Better to do it with slow flame for about 20 minutes.  

•   Then add  the meat, when it looks brown. And high the flame, than add half glass of red wine and evaporate the alcool.

•   Then add  the tomato sauce.

•   
 Cook for about 120 minutes. The more it cooks the better it is. If the sause dry add some hot water.

•    
Place on a baking tray a sheet of lasagna pasta, one of béchamel with the tomatoe sauce, then pasta, and repeat the process (we like minimum 3 layers of the ingredients, but it is up to you)

•   . 
• Preheat the oven to 200oC/400oF/gas 6.

•   Roast in the oven for the last 20 minutes
. At the end, add parmesan and bread crumbs together with pepper or fresh organic basil