Layering the Awesome. Classic Lasagna.

Posted by Michael on Apr 11, 2011 in Recipes | 3 comments

Lasagna serves a specific role in my house.

We often try to mix it up with dinner, eating different foods, trying new ideas, new techniques.  But every once in a while, all you want is something you know, something you have been eating for years and can always count on for satisfaction.

This sounds like a job for lasagna.

Last weekend my daughter was having a sleepover with one of her friends so I thought I’d whip up my go-to crowd pleaser, a classic lasagna.

Mine is made with fresh egg noodle sheets, which I prefer over the dried boxed lasagna noodles as I find those clumsy to work with and too heavy in texture.  I’ve also found the sauce doesn’t stick as well to those super-smooth dried noodles so the lasagna tends to fall apart too easily.

Fresh pasta solves all of those problems.  The sheets come together quickly with a KitchenAid stand mixer and the pasta roller attachment but a standard hand-crank pasta roller will work well too.   I roll the sheets quite thin (the number 5 setting on my pasta roller) so that there is an excellent balance between the various stuffings and the pasta in the lasagna.  Fresh pasta is always the clear winner with texture and sauce-clinging quality in any pasta dish and it’s no different with lasagna.

And as an added bonus, the lasagna can be assembled with the raw, fresh egg noodles so there’s no extra step of boiling and draining the noodles and trying to assemble with wet noodles and all that nonsense.  I actually find lasagna making easier with fresh noodles for this reason.

So here is my latest lasagna, a simple classic just like my mom used to make (although she used the boxed noodles – love ya Mom!).  Cottage cheese can be replaced with a fabulous nutmeg-infused bechamel sauce if you like, but a tub of cottage cheese is usually a more convenient and perfectly tasty way to go.

Classic Lasagna with fresh egg noodles

The pasta:

3 eggs

3/4 cup durum semolina

1.5 cups all purpose flour

pinch of salt

To make the pasta and lasagna:

Note:  I don’t normally put salt in a fresh pasta dough but since this pasta won’t be boiled in salted water like other pastas, I’ve put the seasoning right in the dough.

Add the durum semolina, the three eggs, salt and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour to the mixing bowl.  With the flat beater attachment, mix up the ingredients well for a minute at low speed.  Switch to the dough hook and add another half cup of all purpose flour.  Process at low speed, adding more flour in small increments until it’s all incorporated. Continue to knead for a couple minutes then move to a floured board.  Cut the dough into four equal pieces.   Have your other lasagna ingredients (below) ready and assemble the lasagna as you make each round of sheets.  Flatten one piece of dough with your hand and flour it well.  Pass it through the pasta roller at the widest setting.  Fold in half and flour it again on the board.  Pass it through again, folding and flouring, about three times or until it’s smooth and as wide as the pasta roller.  Flour it again and pass it through the roller at one lower increment at a time, flouring if it feels wet at all, until you reach 5 on the roller.  You should have one long sheet that you can cut to the length of your lasagna pan.  I like rolling and assembling the lasagna simultaneously, so the sheets are cut and go right in the pan as they’re made.

For the lasagna:

Fresh pasta sheets

Meat sauce (see below)

a 500 ml tub of cottage cheese

1 ball of pizza mozzarella

To assemble the lasagna, start with about 1/2 cup of the meat sauce on the bottom of the pan, spread evenly to coat.  Lay on a single layer of pasta sheets, slightly overlapping, then top with cottage cheese and mozzarella.  Layer on the next layer of pasta sheets perpendicular to the last one (this helps the squares hold their shape).  Add the meat sauce, spread evenly, then another layer of pasta sheets, again perpendicular to the last layer.   I tend to have just one large layer of meat filling and layer of cheese, plus a little meat sauce and cheese for the top of the lasagna.  Depending on the depth of your pan, you can add more layers if you like.  I really have to get a deeper pan.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Cover the lasagna with foil and baked for 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake another 15-20 minutes to brown the top a bit.   Remove and let cool for 15 minutes then divide into squares.  You may then proceed to eat way too much lasagna.  That’s how I roll.

A simple meat sauce:

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

1 lb ground beef (or a mix of beef and ground pork or sausage)

1 onion, finely diced

1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced

1 stalk celery, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

28 oz can tomatoes, passed through a food mill or pureed (or just moosh ‘em real good with your hands)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup chicken or beef stock or water

Good pinch each of dried oregano, basil, salt and pepper

Heat a large, high-sided fry pan (cast iron or non-stick preferably) over medium high heat for a few minutes.  Add the oil, then crumble in the beef.  Fry until well browned and cooked.  Add the onion, carrot and celery and reduce heat to medium.  Cook for about five minutes, stirring often.  Add the garlic and stir for another minute.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, stock or water, dried herbs and seasoning.  Bring to a simmer, reduce to medium-low and let simmer for an hour uncovered to thicken the sauce and tenderize the meat.  For lasagna, it’s best if the sauce is still on the watery side, a bit more watery than you might have for a standard pasta sauce.