As promised, here are my favorite recipes for "traditional" Italian-American Sunday Gravy and the real deal lasagna passed down through generations of my family.
TRADITIONAL LASAGNA WITH BECHAMEL from Toscana
INGREDIENTS
1- 8oz can minced plum tomatoes-San Marzano if possible
1/2 Lb ground beef-chuck
2 oz prosciutto
1 oz dried porcini
1/2- yellow onion minced
1- small carrot minced
1- 6" celery stalk minced
3 basil leaves
small bunch of parsley-Italian parsley-minced
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry red wine-good quality Italian
2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2 cups milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of flour
Olive oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Nutmeg, basil, salt and pepper to taste
1 Lb of store bought lasagne, fresh if possible, if you wanna break your mama's heart: dried.
Option: 1 chicken liver, adds a layer of taste, not for everyone though.
PREPARATION
Steep dried porcini in a half cup of boiling water-set aside.
To make meat sauce, start by mincing prosciutto, onion, carrot and celery. Saute the mixture in two tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan till the onion is translucent, then add the meat (now it's the time for the liver, start with a quater as sauce cooks through taste and determine if you need more live), continue cooking till it's browned.
Drain and chop the mushrooms, straining and reserving the liquid. Add the mushrooms, the parsley, basil, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg, add the red wine and simmer the sauce over low flame till the wine's evaporated. Then thicken the sauce with half tablespoon of flour stirred into the reserved mushroom liquid, let cook for a few minutes, add the canned tomatoes. Check seasoning and let simmer over low flame for about an hour.
Make bechamel sauce by melting butter and adding the remaining flour, stirring constantly to keep lumps from forming. Cook untill the flour begins to turn caramel color, then add milk a few drops at a time, keep stirring briskly, should lumps form remove pot from heat and stir them out before adding anymore milk. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg and continue cokking over low
heat till the sauce thickens somewhat, set aside.
Meanwhile bring a pot of lighlty salted water to a boil, add a tablespoon of olive oil to keep the sheets from sticking. Butter an oven proof dish while the frist few sheets of paste are cooking. Remove the pasta with a slotted strainer when al dente, drain it well add more sheets to the water, preheat oven to 385 F.
Lay the first layer of pasta in the dish, follow with a layer of meat sauce, another of pasta, a layer of bechamel with cheese, continue in this ordertill pasta, bechamel and meat sauce are used up. Pop into pre-heated oven for an hour. Ease up on the parmigiano on the top layer because if over cooked it will turn bitter. When serving make sure lasagna is heated through.
Enjoy with a Chianti, Barolo or an Amarone (my favorite.)
PS I'll post my gravy seperately.
