It`s not typically nouvelle cuisine, it`s not low-calorie and it`s certainly not lightning-quick to make.
Still, if a poll were taken now, we would bet that Italian-inspired lasagna would rate as a winner in the favorite foods category.
The noodles of lasagna can be plain or green from spinach or even pink with fresh tomatoes. They should be curly-edged, and they should, Italian cookbook author Marcella Hazan says emphatically, be homemade:
”Lasagna is never, but simply never, made with anything but homemade pasta dough.”
Still, if there is one shortcut to be taken in the process of lasagna-making, we would opt for using boxed pasta, cooked just to an al dente texture to ensure that it isn`t mushy after the baking process.
Exactly what is nestled among those curly-edged noodles?
That`s where the debate heats up. Most would place a heavy, tomato-sauced meat mixture there, as well as a thick, cheesy layer of ricotta.
Hazan says, ”In the expatriate southern (Italian) style, lasagna spills over with sausages, meatballs, ricotta, mozzarella, hard-boiled eggs and anything else personal inclination may suggest.”
But what is classic?
Nothing as heavy or as hearty as that, say the experts. Hazan and Nika Hazelton, another respected author of food books, agree that bolognese sauce, a meat mixture that is not heavily tomatoey, is probably the most traditional. Alternating with that is traditionally a bechamel sauce, a delicate white flour-based sauce, ”no more than is necessary to bind the layers and maintain moisture during baking,” Hazan says.
In the classic version there is only the hint of the freshest possible parmesan, not even the suggestion of mozzarella or ricotta, or heaven forbid, anything as non-Italian as cream cheese or chevre.
Those last two cheeses show up in ”lasagnas” recently published in
”The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook,” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
(Workman, $11.95).
In leek lasagna, the chevre is included in a creamy bechamel, which alternates with a tomato-vegetable sauce and layers of leeks instead of pasta. In seafood lasagna, a seafood sauce goes between layers of pasta along with a filling of spinach, ricotta cheese and cream cheese.
Whatever the fillings, the authors seem to agree that layering should be delicately done, with not a lot of any one element overpowering the others. It should be baked to a lightly golden, gooey top and allowed to stand and
”set” for a few minutes before it is cut.
Whether you choose to go classic or wild in your interpretation of lasagna, we think the layered look is definitely in this season.
CLASSIC LASAGNA WITH BOLOGNESE SAUCE
Eight servings
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours
Bolognese sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup minced onion
1/2 cup minced celery
1/4 cup minced carrot
1/4 pound prosciutto or smoked ham, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 pound boneless lean beef round, ground twice
1/4 pound boneless lean pork, ground twice
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups beef bouillon
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 pound chicken livers, cut into pieces
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Bechamel sauce:
8 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
4 cups milk
To assemble dish:
1 pound curly-edged lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
1. To make bolognese sauce: Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in large, deep frying pan. Add onion, celery, carrot and prosciutto. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes. or until vegetables are tender. Transfer vegetables to 3- or 4-quart saucepan.
2. Add oil to same pan, then beef and pork. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until meat is browned. Use two forks to prevent meat from lumping. Stir in wine, and cook until pan juices have been reduced to a fourth, or have almost evaporated. Stir in beef bouillon and tomato paste and mix well. Add meat to vegetables in saucepan. Heat to a boil, then reduce heat to very low and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for 15 more minutes, or until mixture is on the thick side.
3. Meanwhile, in same frying pan, heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter and add chicken livers. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes. Stir chicken livers and lemon rind into meat for last 10 minutes of cooking meat. Set aside and reserve.
4. To make bechamel sauce: Heat 8 tablespoons butter in heavy saucepan. Stir in flour, salt, pepper to taste and nutmeg. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; do not brown. Gradually stir in milk. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens, is smooth and is beginning to boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. To assemble dish: Fill a 6-to 8-quart cooking pot with water, and add 2 tablespoons salt. Bring to rapid boil. Gradually add lasagna, taking care that water does not stop boiling rapidly. Cook without a cover, stirring frequently with long fork, until lasagna noodles are tender but still firm. Snip off a piece of noodle to test doneness. Drain in colander. Separate cooked lasagna and lay on paper towels to dry.
6. Using a buttered baking dish, 13 by 9 by 2 inches, spoon about 1 cup bechamel sauce over bottom of dish. Add a layer of lasagna noodles and enough bolognese sauce to cover pasta. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese. Layer more lasagna, cover with bechamel sauce and sprinkle more parmesan. Spread more bolognese sauce over lasagna and parmesan and sprinkle with more cheese. Another layer of lasagna is now covered with bechamel sauce and sprinkled with cheese. Repeat layering, ending with bechamel sauce to cover whole surface. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
7. Bake without cover in preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes, or until mixture is bubbly and golden brown. If necessary, broil for 1 minute to brown top.
8. Allow lasagna to settle 5 to 8 minutes before serving. Serve directly from pan.
Here`s a layered main dish using flour tortillas instead of pasta.
MEXICAN LASAGNA
Six to eight servings
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 can (15 ounces) Mexican-style beans
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can(4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 package (1 1/4 ounces) taco seasoning
6 flour tortillas (8 inches each), halved
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large skillet, brown ground beef and onions. Drain fat.
2. Stir in Mexican-style beans, tomato sauce, green chilies and taco seasoning.
3. Layer half the tortillas on bottom of 11- by 7-inch baking dish. Spread half the meat mixture over, and sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat layers. Bake 30 minutes in 350-degree oven. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
The following recipe is adapted from ”The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook,” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins (Workman, $11.95).
SEAFOOD LASAGNA
10 to 12 servings
Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Seafood sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups canned plum tomatoes (packed in tomato puree)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons Pernod liqueur
1 pound medium-sized shrimp, shelled, deveined
1 pound scallops
3 dozen mussels, steamed and shelled
2 dozen littleneck clams, steamed and shelled
1 1/4 pounds lasagna noodles, preferably fresh tomato noodles
Filling:
3 cups ricotta cheese
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 package (10-ounce) spinach, cooked, drained and chopped
1 pound cooked lump crabmeat, shredded
1 sweet red pepper, seeded, cored and diced
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1. To make seafood sauce: Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with puree and cook for 5 minutes more. Stir in wine, basil, fennel seeds, salt and pepper and cook uncovered over medium heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir cream into sauce and then pernod. Stir in all shellfish and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling salted water until tender but still firm. Drain and cool under cold running water.
5. To make filling: Beat ricotta, cream cheese and eggs in mixing bowl with wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in spinach, crabmeat, red pepper, green onions, basil and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Butter a large, rectangular baking pan. Spread a thin layer of sauce without any shellfish on bottom of pan. Cover with layer of noodles. Top with half the filling, then half the seafood sauce. Cover sauce with layer of mozzarella. Place another layer of noodles over mozzarella and spread with remaining filling. Top with another layer of mozzarella. Add final layer of noodles and then remaining seafood sauce. Cover with remaining cheese.
7. Bake lasagna until bubbling and browned, about 50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
