Next Level Lasagna alla Valtellina
Lasagna alla Valtellina
Serves 8-10
The Pasta
Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup semolina flour
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
4 tsp olive oil
cold water
Instructions:
1. In a food processor, add flour, semolina and salt and pulse until combined.
2. Slowly add olive oil while the food processor is still running. Slowly add cold water (about 1 tsp at a time) until 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.
3. Once it comes together, take out, form into ball and cover with saran wrap and refrigerate.
Meat Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. 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 Tbsp Stella's Table Lemon Garlic Sea Salt
Instructions:
1. In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, cook meat until done, stirring consistently. Once done, pour extra grease into can or safe dish.
2. 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 and cook until tender.
3. Once meat is cooked and grease removed, add the wine until cooked down. Add the Lemon Garlic Sea Salt to taste.
4. Using an immersion blender, process the meat until smooth.
5. Add the vegetable mixture to the meat and stir.
6. Add the tomato sauce and stir.
7. Simmer for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
Bechamel Sauce
Ingredients:
8 Tbsp butter
8 Tbsp flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp salt
Instructions:
1. On medium heat in a sauce pan, melt butter. When butter is completely melted, add flour and whisk until smooth. Add salt.
2. Once smooth, add milk.
3. Stir on and off until mixture become thick and creamy, about 5-8 minutes.
4. Take off of burner and let stand until ready to construct the lasagna.
Lasagna alla Valtellina
Ingredients:
1 lb. homemade noodles (see recipe above)
Meat sauce (see recipe above)
Bechamel sauce (see recipe above)
1 lb. fresh ricotta cheese
1 lb. mozzarella cheese grated
1/8 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions:
1. Take pasta out of the refrigerator. Cut into about 1" slices. Using a pasta machine set to its widest setting, bring slice through pasta 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.
2. Boil water and salt like the sea. Add the noodles a few at a time until cooked, about 5 minutes.
3. Take the noodles out of the water using a spider whisk and placing over the top of a colander so they don't stick together.
4. Do this until all are cooked and set aside.
Now, construct your lasagna...
1. Using a deep 9 x 13 inch pan, begin with a liberal layer of Bechamel sauce to coat the pan.
2. Next, place a layer of lasagna noodles covering the whole of the pan, cutting them if you need to.
3. Next, spread a nice, thick layer of the fresh ricotta on the lasagna noodles.
4. Spread a layer of meat sauce on the ricotta.
5. Spread another layer of noodles, then another layer of bechamel and your first layer of mozzarella cheese.
6. Add another layer of lasagna noodles, meat sauce, mozzarella cheese and repeat this step until you are almost at the top of the pan, probably about 3 more layers.
7. For your last layers, add the final noodles, then add meat sauce and the rest of the bechamel sauce, finish with a layer of mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese to top it off.
8. Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 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.
9. You can also freeze your lasagna covered and cook another time. Just remember if you cook frozen it will take a minimum of an hour in the oven.
