I've eaten a fair share of lasagna in my life. They were all very adequate and tasty, but none really ever blew me away, which is probably the reason why I never had a desire to tackle this traditional Italian American dish.
When I finally did decide to attempt it, I found that there were generally two camps in the lasagna war: 1. Traditional American lasagna with ricotta. 2. Traditional Italian lasagna with bechamel.
There seemed to be no middle ground in the matter, so I went off and made each version to see which was better. What I found was that both versions lacked a certain elevation. Both were, what I deemed previously, 'adequate and tasty', but neither version blew me away. The bechamel version was creamy and smooth, but it felt monotonous and one note. The ricotta version ended up grainy and pretty dry.
It must be noted that I attempted the American ricotta version with both the supermarket brand Sorrento Organic Ricotta, and homemade ricotta made from milk, heavy cream, salt, and vinegar. Both ended up pretty grainy and dry.
So, the answer was pretty simple, combine the two. Yes, I did in my search for the ultimate lasagna recipe come across a few suggestions to combine the two, but they were very few and far between compared to the overwhelming consensus to either choose one or the other. But the combination of the two is absolutely perfect. You get the best of both worlds and end up with something creamy, luscious, decadent, but also with great texture and character. It blows away anything you could create just by limiting yourself to one version.
A few notes:
Before we begin, can I first say that I have
no fucking clue as to why there are so many, "best", "world's greatest",
"number 1", "ultimate" lasagna recipes online when EVERY SINGLE ONE of
them has the same generic recipe of, basic meat sauce, store bought
ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella, and traditional lasagna noodles. THEY
ARE ALL THE SAME RECIPE. I don't understand how so many different
versions of the SAME RECIPE can be posted and claimed to be the best.
My recipe that I present to you IS different. It takes a lot more work
and things have been added and changed to achieve a much better product
than every single generic recipe you can find online. At the very
least, I feel like I have earned the right to claim this as THE BEST
because I tried the generic recipes and mine is simply upgraded and
better.
I will not give out a tomato sauce recipe as plenty can be found online. There are also plenty of quick meat sauce recipes out there which are great. My one recommendation is to use my BELOVED TUTTOROSSO - CRUSHED TOMATOES IN THICK PUREE WITH BASIL. I swear by this stuff. I make all my tomato sauces with this. Also, I normally like my tomato sauces slightly sweet, but for lasagna, I tend to keep it more on the tangier side, as I think its much better to balance out the richness of the lasagna.
A 28 oz can of tomato sauce, which is commonly sold in supermarkets, is just under enough sauce to cover a 9 x 13 baking dish. Use a 35 oz can at the very least. I personally DO NOT like a bolognese for this lasagna. Most of the components are already rich and fatty, so a bolognese makes the flavor profile redundant. I like to use a basic meat sauce, simmered for 2 hours, with a good amount of brightness and acidity to it for this lasagna to better contrast the richness of the rest of the components.
I did not make fresh pasta because I made this with the intention of having it to sit out for a few hours before eating (work Thanksgiving). I don't know how fresh pasta would hold up in this situation, so I used Barilla No Boil Pasta sheets to be safe. I am not a fan of those big, thick, doughy, curly traditional pasta sheets. Barilla No Boil pasta sheets are much more similar to fresh pasta. Ideally, if serving immediately, I would make this with fresh pasta, but alas I did not ever get around to that and as such cannot make any claims as to how to go about using fresh pasta sheets in this lasagna.
I don't use mozzarella in my lasagna. It doesn't have much flavor and I found it tended to get lost in the lasagna unless I used a crap load of it, which by then it becomes very stringy and plasticy and starts to distract from the other flavors.
Instead, I use gruyere. It lends a nice sweet, nutty flavor to the lasagna without having to use a lot of it, and it is about the same price as mozzerella anyway.
DO NOT USE STORE BOUGHT RICOTTA. yuck.
All proportions are for a 9 x 13 baking dish.
You can assemble this, cover it tightly with oiled foil, refrigerate it for 1 day, then bake it off normally straight from the refrigerator in a pre-heated oven. I found that no extra baking time was needed because the 1 extra day in the refrigerator actually softened the noodles slightly more so they would cook properly and in time even though starting from a cold temperature.
Full ingredients list is at the bottom.
Homemade ricotta:
8 cups of whole milk
4 cups of heavy cream (+ 1 additional cup on the side)
1 1/2 tsp of table salt
12 TBL of white vinegar
you can make this in two batches if your pot is not big enough.
1. combine all ingredients EXCEPT vinegar and put over medium heat covered.
2. stir every few minutes to prevent the milk from burning.
3. you are aiming for 200 degrees on a thermometer and/or a substantial soft boil (just before a rolling boil). should take around 10-20 minutes.
note: if you do not heat up your milk enough, you will end up with ricotta soup and very tiny curds that are impossible to really collect. MAKE SURE the milk mixture is bubbling thoroughly and beginning to boil.
4. add vinegar, don't stir (will break up the curds), take off heat, cover and let rest for 5 min.
5. set up a strainer over a bowl and line with 2 paper towels. using a slotted spoon, scoop out curds of ricotta onto paper towel.
6. when curds get too small to spoon, poor mixture, 1 cup at a time, into a fine mesh strainer, shake until most of the liquid has drained, then dump curds onto the paper towel lined strainer. repeat this step until the entire mixture has been drained and all the curds have been collected.
7. let ricotta rest for 10 min, then using slotted spoon, scoop ricotta onto fresh paper towels, discard wet paper towels, then place ricotta on fresh towels into strainer to drain again. repeat this step one more time, then the ricotta will be ready to use.
note: you can use a cheese cloth and avoid some headache, but I'm a moron and never got around to using one.
Bechamel:
2 cups of whole milk
1/4 cup of flour4 tbl butter
pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper, 1 clove of garlic minced. ALL to taste
bechamel sauces can be tricky. i've had way too many separate on me. i believe the general rule is hot roux, cold liquid, or cold roux, hot liquid. but i have had it separate on me even following these rules.
the best way i know how to guarantee a bechamel doesn't separate is by 1, adding in the flour to the butter very slowly, and 2. adding in the milk in very very small quantities initially, like 1 tsp at a time, then mix vigorously over medium high heat for 1 minute until milk has been fully incorporated. after a few teaspoons of milk have been added, start adding in milk in 1 tbl increments and mix vigorously for a minute over medium high heat. after a few tablespoons have been added, increase to 1/4 cup increments, then finally just add in all the rest of the milk as it will be stable. Resist the urge to just dump in large quantities of milk to speed up the process. The roux will separate within seconds and be unsalvageable. Be patient and go slow.
1. melt butter over medium high heat. DON'T BURN.
2. as soon as its melted, add the flour very slowly and mix with whisk for a few minutes until golden brown.
3. add milk as instructed above.
4. add in salt, pepper, nutmeg, and minced garlic, taste, and adjust if necessary.
5. reduce heat to medium and continue to whisk every minute so the bottom doesn't burn and stick.
6. as soon as the sauce begins to boil, it should thicken up considerably. reduce heat to medium-low and continue to whisk for a minute then take off heat. As the bechamel cools and rests, it will form a crust on the top. Just give it a good mix right before you use it.
Ricotta Mixture:
You should have approximately 24oz of ricotta (3 cups?)
After letting the ricotta rest for 30-60 min, it should have dried out a decent amount. To the ricotta, add a pinch of salt, pepper, chopped parsley, 1 1/2 eggs, and anywhere between 1/2 - 1 cup of heavy cream. We want the ricotta mixture to be pretty wet. It should look super moist and creamy.
Cheese:
Grate around 4 oz (1/2-1 cup) each of parmesan and gruyere onto separate plates.
Assembly:
Preheat oven to 375 and adjust rack to lower middle position.
Have your bolognese or meat sauce warmed and ready to go.
You will need 16-24 sheets of pasta (4 sheets per layer, 4-6 layers). This will require 1 box of Barilla No Boil Lasagna.
note: how long you soak pasta noodles is actually a very important factor. The longer your pre-soak the noodles, the faster they cook, AND, the less liquid it will absorb. If you use completely dry pasta noodles while assembling, the final product will be very neat and stay together well, but it will be very dry, (too dry in my opinion). If you let the noodles soak for 5-10 min, I found the finished lasagna to be too wet, with the layers falling apart and it being overall too soupy. I found that just a 60 second soak in very hot tap water was a good middle ground to achieving a nice lasagna consistency.
1. Turn on tap water to hottest temperature possible and let run for 1 minute. Place 24 pasta sheets into a very large bowl and fill with very hot tap water until fully submerged. After EXACTLY 60 seconds, drain water and refill with cold water and allow pasta sheets to rest in the cold water while you assemble.
2. Spoon on a very thin layer of bolognese/meat sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Don't use too much sauce. Just enough to establish a thin layer.
3.
a. Place 3 layers of pasta over it. DO NOT OVERLAP. Use a scissor to slowly and gently cut 1 long strip from the 4th pasta sheet to cover any other gaps. Again, make sure there is no overlap but make sure there are no gaps as well. Overlapped pasta makes those areas very doughy and chewy.
b. Spoon on a solid layer of bechamel sauce and spread evenly.
c. Spoon on a solid layer of the ricotta cheese mixture and spread evenly.
d. Sprinkle on a solid layer of gruyere
e. Spoon on a thin layer of bolognese/meat sauce. Spread evenly.
f. Sprinkle on a solid layer of parmesan.
4. repeat step 3 three more times for a total of 4 layers of pasta.
5. Cut sheet of foil big enough to comfortably cover baking dish. Spray foil with cooking spray or just coat foil with thin layer of oil. Cover baking dish tightly then place into oven on middle rack.
6. After 30 minutes, take off foil and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes.
7. Broil on high for 2-4 minutes until top is browned and a nice crust has formed. DO NOT WALK AWAY as the top can burn in seconds.
8. Allow lasagna to rest for 20 minutes before serving. Have some extra sauce on the side available for spooning over the lasagna if desired.
Ingredients List:
Your own personal bolognese or meat sauce. Almost all recipes makes this sauce in bulk and will be more than enough for this lasagna.
9 x 13 baking dish
Foil
Cooking spray or oil
10 cups of whole milk
5 cups of heavy cream
12 TBL of white vinegar
4 TBL of butter
1/4 cup flour
4 oz parmesan
4 oz gruyere
2 eggs
parsley
1 garlic clove
salt
pepper
ground nutmeg
24 sheets of Barilla No Boil Lasagna (1 box)
No comments:
Post a Comment