Lasagna Bolognese with Fresh Spinach Pasta

Lasagna Bolognese with Fresh Spinach Pasta

Manly has always said that I wish I had been born Italian or at the very least that I wish I had married into a big Italian family. I would have to admit that that's an accurate assessment{Sigh}.  To console myself, I attempt to make the best Italian food a German-Irish woman can. A while back I conquered Sunday gravy, much to everyone's delight, and now I have a great Lasagna Bolognese recipe to add to my repetoire. The first time I made this I was intimidated by the fresh pasta so I used store-bought dried lasagna noodles which worked fine but the delicate fresh pasta is a much better match for the bolognese and bechamel sauces and since the pasta gets covered it doesn't have to be perfectly beautiful which mine was not. I omitted the chicken livers because I didn't happen to have 4 lonely chicken livers laying around but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. You'll need to check the saltiness of your bacon and ham (pancetta is more traditional but this combo has a bit more flavor) before adding more salt as I found out. Mario's pasta  recipe has you boil your noodles for 1 minute and then put them in an ice bath before you assemble the lasagna. I didn't bother with this. I just layered the uncooked pasta like you normally would. There is plenty of moisture from the sauces that blanching first is not necessary at all. This lasagna is well worth the effort and will have you wishing you had married into a big Italian family too ;). Enjoy!

Recipe: Lasagna Bolognese With Fresh Spinach Pasta

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

6 strips bacon, diced

1/4 pound ham, diced

1/2 pound ground veal or ground pork, or 1/4 pound of each

1 pound ground beef

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 pound thinly sliced mushrooms

3 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup dry white wine

3 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 chicken livers, finely chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach pasta

Bechamel Sauce, recipe follows

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

In a large pot heat the butter over medium high heat. Add the bacon and ham and saute until caramelized and light brown, about 10 minutes. Add the ground meats and cook over high heat until well-browned, stirring constantly, about 20 minutes.

Add the onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cloves and nutmeg to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook until almost evaporated.

Add stock and simmer over medium high heat until sauce is thickened and flavorful, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Add the chicken livers to the pot and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and parsley, and adjust seasoning if necessary. Set aside until ready to assemble lasagna.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a large rectangular baking dish, then spoon 1/2-cup of meat sauce onto the bottom of the dish. Cover with 1 sheet of fresh pasta. Top the lasagna with a layer of meat sauce (making certain that pasta is completely covered), a layer of bechamel, then a light dusting of cheese. Repeat layering lasagna, sauces, and cheese in this manner until all have been used, ending with a topping of bechamel and cheese.

Bake until the lasagna is bubbling and golden brown, about 1 hour. Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe: Bechamel

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons flour

4 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and stir in the flour, stirring constantly until smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk the milk into the flour, stirring vigorously to blend together. Set over high heat and quickly bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring. Allow to cook another 5 minutes, or until floury taste is gone. Remove from heat and add salt and nutmeg to taste.

Recipe: Fresh Spinach Pasta

Recipe copyright 2000, Mario Batali. All rights reserved.

Ingredients

4 extra-large eggs

6 ounces frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed very dry and chopped very fine

3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for dusting the work surface

1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Combine eggs and spinach. Mound 3 1/2 cups of the flour in the center of a large wooden cutting board. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the egg and spinach mixture and the olive oil. Using a fork, beat together the spinach, eggs and oil and begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well.

As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up from the base of the mound to retain the well shape. The dough will come together when half of the flour is incorporated.

Start kneading the dough with both hands, using the palms of your hands. Once you have a cohesive mass, remove the dough from the board and scrape up and discard any leftover bits. Lightly reflour the board and continue kneading for 6 more minutes. The dough should be elastic and a little sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions and roll each out to the thinnest setting on a pasta rolling machine.