This is another Giada recipe and I must say one of my favorites from her. I made this lasagna a couple of weeks ago and froze it to take it with me to Michigan for one of our meals during Christmas week.
If you have a fast internet connection you should be able to keep up with me but if you have a slow dial up connection good luck. There are over 20 pictures in this episode so we better get this show on the road if we want to finish tonight.
We must first introduce you to the cast of characters for tonights episode.
Quite a good looking cast this week eh? I don't make this very often for one big reason, it's very time consuming. Let's keep rolling.
We start by making the bechamel sauce.
It's not very hard it just takes some stirring. Once it is all cooked I add a cup and a half of our tomato sauce we made a couple of days ago. This makes it turn a orange color as you will see in a few more pictures.
Next, time to brown the sausage. This is where I differ from Giada's recipe because I use a 1/2 pound of Hot Italian Sausage and 1/2 pound of Sweet Italian Sausage.
Next it is time to drop the pasta noodles in some boiling water. My choice today is whole wheat. I find the whole wheat is a good balance to the whole milk, cheese, and real butter in this recipe to make it somewhat healthy. Well maybe not but it makes me feel better.
After our meat is browned and the pasta is cooking it's time to mix up the ricotta mixture.
Now it's time to assemble, try to keep up if you can.
Here is everything we need to assemble our lasagna.
Notice the orange sauce in the upper right corner? That is our bechamel sauce with the simple tomato sauce added.
First a little bechamel sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Next a layer of noodles.
Meat....
Now cheese, in my case provolone.
More noodles.
Ricotta mixture.
Spinach. More healthy food.
More bechamel suace.
More noodles.
Are you still with me?
Some more sauce and ricotta mixture. If you actually read the recipe down below you will realize I got a little out of order but does it really matter in the end?
More cheese on top.
Yippe Kay Yayee where done assembling and time to cook.
As much as I wanted to eat this as soon as it came out of the oven I knew I had to save it for the following week. This lasagna was traveling to Michigan to be eaten during Christmas week by the family.
Time to fast forward to the following week and once again we catch the lasagna coming out of the oven once again only this time it is 450 miles from the original oven it was cooked in.
Pretty simple from here just stick it in the oven, set the table.....
....cut into nice squares.....
...and eat.
Pretty darn good too. This is my favorite lasagna I love the spinach in it. If you have the time and you like lasagna I would recommend this recipe to you.
Classic Italian Lasagna
Béchamel Sauce:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for the lasagna
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk at room temperature
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, recipe follows
Salt and white pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound ground chuck beef
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
3 large eggs
1 pound lasagna sheets, cooked al dente
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Béchamel sauce:
In a 2-quart pot, melt 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When butter has completely melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps from forming. Continue to simmer and whisk over medium heat until the sauce is thick, smooth and creamy, about 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of wooden spoon. Remove from heat and add the nutmeg and tomato sauce. Stir until well combined and check for seasoning. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
In a sauté pan, heat extra-virgin olive oil. When almost smoking, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Brown meat, breaking any large lumps, until it is no longer pink. Remove from heat and drain any excess fat. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
In a medium sized bowl, thoroughly mix the ricotta and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Into the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread 1/3 of the béchamel sauce. Arrange the pasta sheets side by side, covering the bottom of the baking dish. Evenly spread a layer of all the ricotta mixture and then a layer of all the spinach. Arrange another layer of pasta sheets and spread all the ground beef on top. Sprinkle 1/2 the mozzarella cheese on top of the beef. Spread another 1/3 of the béchamel sauce. Arrange the final layer of pasta sheets and top with remaining béchamel, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into 1/4-inch cubes and top lasagna.
Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place lasagna dish on top, cover and put on the middle rack of the oven and bake until top is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue to bake for about 15 minutes.
Simple Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
In a large casserole pot or Dutch over, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.
Add 1/2 the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.
Printed from FoodNetwork.com on 11/12/2008 © 2008 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved
3 comments:
I tried your basic sauce on spaghetti. It was very good! I don't make lasagna often, but next time I do, this will be it!
wow, it looks like that might be worth the effort. i love the picture of your lasagna noodles. i notice things like that.
do you have your chili recipe posted anywhere?
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