GREEN LASAGNA BOLOGNESE & FRIENDS

Lasagna and carbonara recipes galore~trash-talking chefs~a pasta memory with Fanny Singer and her Mom, Alice Waters~another egg laid in the kitchen~Port wine and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Traditional lasagna alla bolognese with green pasta made with spinach

LASAGNA FIVE WAYS

Flavor fatigue is real. It comes along several times a year. For example, I’m kinda over grillin I want to finally use the oven to braise and bake. I love cooking and eating seasonally. This spells baked pasta for me, so I took a 10-page deep dive into Google for lasagna so you wouldn’t have to. I also consulted my memory of TIME-LIFE Foods of the World. I found a recipe for lasagne only to recall one made with spinach noodles, no tomato sauce, a white sauce called béchamel made with butter, flower, and milk. This delicate recipe has stayed with me forever. So, when a dear friend requested I make it again, I absolutely couldn’t control myself.

For starters, here’s a guide from The Clever Carrot to making homemade lasagna noodles. Take note, there are several versions of lasagna from different regions of Italy. If you hunger for even more variety, check out two dozen more versions at The Spruce Eats.

Green Lasagna alla Bolognese

There are actually two types of lasagna alla bolognese, both of which come from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. In America, we are most accustomed to lasagna pasta sheets being pale yellow, but the more traditional lasagna recipe actually calls for green pasta ala The Spinach Tiger, made from spinach which is easy to do at home. I like to buy sheets of spinach pasta to save time if I can find them, at some—but not all—Whole Foods plus some specialty markets or grocery stores. In both cases, beef is not the singular meat ingredient in the bolognese. Ground veal and pork are used as well. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and béchamel are also primary ingredients for lasagna alla bolognese.

[Recipe adapted from TIME-LIFE Foods of the World published in 1968.]

BECHAMEL

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp butter

• 6 Tbsp flour

• 2 cups beef stock

• 2 cups milk

• 1 cup heavy cream

• pinch of ground nutmeg

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1/2 cup freshly grated imported Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a heavy 2- to 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter over moderate heat and stir in the flour.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the milk and cream all at once, beating with a whisk until the flour is partially dissolved. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring constantly with the whisk.

3. When the sauce comes to a boil and thickens into a smooth cream, reduce the heat and simmer, still stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season with nutmeg and salt.

BOLOGNESE

To make 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound smoked ham, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

• 1 cup coarsely chopped onion

• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped carrots

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery

• 4 Tbsp butter

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 1/4 pound ground beef

• 1/4 pound ground lean pork

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 2 cups stock (beef, chicken, or vegetable)

• 1 cup milk

• pinch of ground nutmeg

• salt

• freshly ground pepper

Optional ingredients: pine nuts, garlic, parsley, fresh thyme, fresh basil, chicken broth, mozzarella, pecorino romano, porcini mushrooms, pancetta, guanciale, chicken, chicken livers, tomato paste.

Directions

1. Combine the chopped ham, onions, carrots, and celery on a cutting board and chop together into very small pieces.

2. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter over moderate heat in a heavy 10- 12-inch skillet. When the foam subsides, add the the mixture and cook, stirring frequently for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

3. Transfer to a heavy 3- to 4-quart saucepan. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in the same skillet. Brown the beef and pork over moderate heat, stirring constantly to break up.

4. Stir in stock and milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer, partially covered for 45+ minutes, stirring occasionally.

ASSEMBLY

1. Spread a layer of bolognese or béchamel about 1/4 inch deep evenly over the bottom of a buttered casserole.

2. Spread over it about 1 cup béchamel or bolognese. Lay 1/3 of the lasagne on top, overlapping the strips slightly. Repeat the layers two more times, alternating as before. Allow about 2 inches to hang over the edge of the dish with the last layer, which you should fold over the top of the lasagne. Top with the rest of the bolognese and béchamel. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

3. Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 30 minutes, remove the foil, and bake until the top has a nice crust. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

Bolognese, béchamel, then pasta

More bolognese

Then Parmesan

Then final pasta layer

Ready to eat!

Lasagna alla Norma

The Pasta Project offers a Sicilians eggplant recipe. Eggplant is an ingredient in numerous traditional Sicilian pasta dishes. Lasagna alla norma includes roasted eggplant, grated ricotta salata cheese, tomato sauce, and basil.

Lasagna alla Genovese

The city of Genoa in the Liguria region of Italy is world-famous for its pesto, so it only makes sense that their traditional lasagna recipe is made with pesto sauce. Here’s a recipe from Eataly, the spectacular worldwide food emporium with stores in nine U.S. cities.

Lasagna alla Napoletana

The traditional lasagna recipe from Naples from Serious Eats is a pasta dish that is usually only served during carnevale, a holiday festival before Lent. The reason for this is that lasagna alla napoletana is extremely decadent and over-the-top. Not only does it contain the bolognese sauce and ricotta cheese for which lasagna is famous, but includes meatballs, too.

Taleggio Lasagna

This lasagna recipe, again from The Pasta Project, comes from Treviso, a city located in the Veneto region in northeast Italy near Venice. There are versions of lasagna from this city that are completely vegetarian, but you can also add pancetta. The star ingredients are radicchio, local Taleggio cheese, shallots, and mushrooms.

THE MANY WORLDS OF CARBONARA

Charming stories about carbonara abound, maybe because it’s so powerfully delicious. Simply put, it’s eggs and bacon pasta. But simple doesn’t tell the story since there many variations. Here’s David Leite’s—one serious food icon—history about its origins from Leite's Culinaria. But let’s begin with a classic recipe for carbonara from The Spruce Eats, with variations calling for mushrooms, tuna, salmon, or chicken. Alexandra’s Kitchen has a great sounding recipe for carbonara with leeks and lemon. Surprisingly, the dish has even broken through a glass ceiling into the internationally famous kitchen at Restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, which makes use of housemade smoked mushroom garum in its carbonara.

For a real changeup, try this insane carbonara salad! Take these ingredients—unctuous guanciale (pork cheeks) or crisped pancetta (pork belly), egg yolks emulsion, grated pecorino romano, pasta water, and black pepper—and put them atop romaine lettuce rather than swirl in rigatoni or spaghetti. Another dish to absolutely try is from Food & Wine, combining rich carbonara and live clams in the shell. A dish with canned clam (a mortal sin to some Italian chefs!) sauce and spaghetti comes from Serious Eats. For what it’s worth, I only use canned clams. Call me lazy, call me hooked on spontaneity, or call me a remorseless sinner. Additionally, The Bittman Project tells us not to salt our water when making pasta with clams, plus offers several tips to making clam spaghetti I’ve never tried. Buona Domenica has a don’t miss ambitious recipe using oil-poached garlic, almond milk, and grana padano cheese.

Italian Chefs Trash Talk Kicky Carbonara Recipes

Fanny Singer’s “Always Home” cookbook & Mom, Alice Waters

I Layed Another Egg in My Kitchen

Formerly attractive ceramic Staub oval baking dish

In July, my first “egg in my kitchen” happened trying to replicate the utter deliciousness of canned tuna in olive oil. This time I was trying to keep from washing another pan—more correctly, trying to avoid causing my wife to wash yet another pan. So, I tried to make a roux in this ceramic—thinking somewhere in the back of my mind it was really cast iron—baking dish by heating butter then pouring cold milk into it. Note: Ceramic can’t take the stovetop heat like cast iron can. Seems, according to my wife who’s actually counting, I did this before with a vintage Emile Henry oval baking dish that had been a favorite of hers! This mindless disaster elicited a barely muffled shrieky grumble, whereupon I soon reordered a new one from Crate & Barrel. This particular baby Staub comes with a bigger companion in a set of two. These matte black oval ceramic baking dishes are George Clooney handsome. Yup, that handsome, I tellin’ ya.

Vintage Port: Queen Elizabeth II’s After-Dinner Drink

I have it on good authority from someone who dined with Queen Elizabeth II on a few occasions that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth favored port enough to serve it often at meal’s end. Custom also had it, however, that when she arose from her seat after a meal, inconveniently, all would rise with her, leave the room, and regularly leaving old, spectacularly delectable port sitting in glasses all around having gone undrunk. I just know the wait staff had a lovely night afterward having collected all remaining port for themselves, just sayin’.

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