Mama Damato's Lasagne
Source of Recipe
Buddy Cookbook
List of Ingredients
Meat Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds Italian Sausage
8 ounces lean ground beef
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped, or 1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 to 3 bay leaves
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar, to taste
1 teaspoon fennel seed, coarsely crushed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
3/4 cup dry red wine
salt, to taste
Fresh Lasagne Noodles (recipe follows)
Ricotta Filling:
1 egg
1 15-ounce container whole milk ricotta cheese
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounces whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Recipe
Meat Sauce: Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, then add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes more. Set aside.
In a large skillet, brown the sausage and ground beef over medium heat breaking the meat up as it cooks. Drain off the juices into a fat separator and set aside. Add the meat mixture to the onion mixture in the Dutch oven.
Pour the crushed tomatoes into the Dutch oven. Stir in the basil, oregano, bay leaves and sugar. Add the fennel and red pepper flakes, if desired. Stir in the red wine. Add the meat juices from the fat separator. Cover the pan and simmer over low heat for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add salt, to taste. Cool the meat sauce to warm before assembling. Makes about 8 cups of meat sauce.
While the sauce is simmering, prepare the Fresh Lasagne Noodles (recipe follows).
Ricotta Filling: In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, parsley and salt.
To Assemble: Spoon 2 tablespoons of the meat sauce and a tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of a 13x9 or 14x11-inch baking dish. Layer the fresh (uncooked) lasagne noodles lengthwise in the baking dish. Spread about one-third of the ricotta filling over noodles and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Top with 2 cups of the meat sauce, spreading it evenly over the noodles. Sprinkle some of the mozzarella cheese over the meat sauce. Repeat with 2 more layers. Add a forth layer of noodles, top with the meat sauce and the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano and mozzarella.
Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake the lasagne in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for about 25 minutes more, until lightly browned and bubbly. Remove from the oven and immediately garnish with 3 tablespoons fresh parsley. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting. Serves 8.
Option: Two pounds (approximately) dried lasagne noodles boiled may be used in place of the fresh lasagne noodles.
Lasagne Noodles
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
3 large eggs
Place the flour on a smooth countertop. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. With a fork, gently beat the eggs, incorporating some of the flour as you stir, until a paste forms. Using your hands, continue to incorporate as much of the flour as possible, creating a stiff ball of dough. Knead the dough lightly, adding more flour as needed to keep it from becoming sticky. It should be very firm and fairly uniform in texture. Wrap the dough in plastic and allowed it to rest 15 to 20 minutes before kneading in the pasta machine.
To knead with the pasta machine, divide the rested dough into the same number of parts as eggs used (e.g., 3 parts for 3 eggs). Set the machine on the widest setting. Dust the dough with flour and feed it between the rollers. With each pass through the machine, fold the dough in thirds, one side overlapping the other, to form a neat square. Dust and repeat as needed to create a pasta of the desired firmness and smoothness. How much flour you add at this step depends on how firm the dough was in the previous step. Usually, three or four dustings with a total of ten passes through the machine will produce the proper consistency. Two good indicators are the dough should appear smooth without wrinkles and be light in color.
Before you begin the final stage of stretching and cutting, establish a place to set the pasta while you work. Dusting a large dish towel with flour or using a pasta rack will save a lot of frustration. Pass the portions of pasta through each setting of the machine. With each pass, the pasta will become thinner and longer. As the pasta lengthens, you may wish to cut the pieces in half for easier handling. The final thickness determines the type of pasta you will make before cutting. For lasagne, use #6, the thinnest setting possible.
Before cutting the pasta, allow it to air dry on a flour-dusted dish towel or pasta rack for 10 to 15 minutes. If it is slightly dry on the surface, but still supple and not brittle, it will be less likely to stick together when handling and cooking.
To cut the pasta into lasagne noodles, lay a sheet of pasta next to a baking dish and cut it to length. The fresh noodles do not need to be boiled. They will cook as the lasagne bakes. Recipe makes enough noodles for a 4-layer lasagne in a 13x9 or 14x11-inch baking dish.
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