Lasagna alla Valtellina
Serves 8-10
Ingredients for lasagna (pasta, meat sauce and Béchamel sauce):
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup semolina flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons olive oil
Cold water
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound Italian sausage
3 medium carrots chopped
3 celery stalks chopped
1 medium yellow onion chopped
1 cup red wine
90 - 120 oz. tomato sauce (based on how saucy you want it)
Olive oil
1-2 tablespoons Stella's Table Lemon Garlic Sea Salt
8 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound fresh ricotta cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese grated
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
To make the pasta dough, add flour, semolina, and salt into a food processor and pulse until combined.
Slowly add olive oil while the food processor is still running. Then slowly add cold water (about 1 teaspoon at a time) until the dough forms into a ball. Make sure to give it time to come together before adding more water. You do not want your dough sticky.
Once the dough comes together, take it out of the food processor and form into ball. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate.
To make the meat sauce, cook the meat in a large sauce pan or dutch oven. Once the meat is cooked, pour the extra grease into can or a safe dish.
In the meantime, prepare a separate frying pan with the olive oil and add the onions. Cook until translucent and then add the carrots and celery. Cook until tender.
Once meat is cooked and grease removed, add the wine until cooked down. Add the Lemon Garlic Sea Salt to taste.
Using an immersion blender, process the meat until it is in small pieces.
Add the vegetable mixture to the meat and stir.
Add the tomato sauce and stir.
Simmer for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
For the Béchamel sauce, on medium heat in a sauce pan, melt the butter. When the butter is completely melted, add flour and whisk until smooth. Add salt.
Once the butter and flour mixture is smooth, add the milk.
Stir on and off until mixture become thick and creamy, about 5-8 minutes.
Take off of burner and let stand until ready to construct the lasagna.
To assemble the lasagna:
Take pasta out of the refrigerator and cut into 1" slices. Using a pasta machine, set it to its' widest setting and then feed the slice of pasta through the machine. Each time, change the setting to a thinner setting until you have a long lasagna noodle. It should be thin, about an 1/8" inch. Set on a floured pan, making sure not to set on top of each other. You will want approximately 1 pound of pasta sheets.
Boil water and salt the water (it should taste like the sea). Add the noodles a few at a time until cooked, about 5 minutes.
Take the noodles out of the water using a spider whisk and place over the top of a colander so they don't stick together.
Do this until all are cooked and set aside.
Using a deep 9 x 13 inch pan, begin with a liberal layer of Béchamel sauce to coat the pan.
Next, place a layer of lasagna noodles covering the whole of the pan, cutting them if you need to.
Then spread a thick layer of the fresh ricotta on the lasagna noodles.
Spread a layer of meat sauce over the ricotta.
Spread another layer of noodles, then another layer of Béchamel sauce and your first layer of mozzarella cheese.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles, meat sauce, mozzarella cheese and repeat this step until you are almost at the top of the pan, about 3 more layers.
For your last layers, add the final noodles, the meat sauce and the rest of theBéchamel sauce. Finish with a layer of mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese to top it off.
Cook in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the lasagna is bubbling with joy. You can cover the lasagna for a portion of the cooking if you think it is getting too dark on top.
You can freeze your lasagna covered and cook another time. If you cook frozen it will take a minimum of an hour in the oven.
