Le Lasagne Meridionale

This is the most amazing lasagna! It's a lot of work but worth every minute of it!

Authentic Sicilian Recipe

from the kitchen of Jeff Jackson

Ragú: ½ - 1 lb of ground pork (for traditional Sicilian ragú) or beef 1 small yellow onion 3 cloves of garlic 1 rib of celery 1 carrot ½ cup olive oil 2 cups of chicken stock (not broth) 1 can tomato paste (6 oz.) 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz.) 1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz.) 1 cup frozen peas 1 tsp oregano 1 T sugar or ½ cup white grape juice Salt Pepper 2 boxes Barilla flat lasagna noodles 1 lb mozzarella in small cubes 1 ½ - 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese 2 eggs beaten

Besciamella: 1 ½ sticks butter (not margarine) ¼ cup flour 3½ cup milk dash of nutmeg dash of salt dash of pepper

Directions

Ragú: Finely chop the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot (you can do this in a food processor if you wish).   On medium-high heat in a large non-stick stockpot, sauté the finely chopped onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in half of the olive oil (i.e., ¼ cup) until the onion becomes soft.  Add the remaining olive oil and let it heat up.  Add the meat, stirring constantly until it is cooked through.  Put a lid on and turn down the heat to medium low and let it cook for 10 minutes.  Turn the heat back up to medium-high and add the chicken stock.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down to low, cover, and let simmer gently for 30 minutes.  Add peas, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes.  Add oregano and sugar or white grape juice; salt (it probably won’t need much) and pepper to taste.  Stir and cover, leaving it to cook for at least 30 minutes more (the more it cooks the better it is), stirring occasionally.

Besciamella: Heat milk in the microwave until hot (do not let it boil); meanwhile, melt butter in a non-stick saucepan over medium heat.  Slowly add the flour to the melted butter, whisking constantly for two minutes after completely mixed.  Slowly whisk the hot milk into the flour and butter.  Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Just before it can start to boil, reduce heat to low and stir constantly for 20 minutes.  Then remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 400^○.  Prepare a 9 x 13 casserole dish by coating it with cooking spray (I recommend Pam olive oil spray).  Cover the bottom of the pan with ragú.  Create at least 3 layers of noodles through the following procedure: cover a layer of slightly-overlapping lasagna noodles (dry) with ragú, besciamella, Parmesan, and mozzarella.  Cover the last layer with abundant ragú, and the rest of the besciamella, Parmesan, and mozzarella.  Beat egg(s) after adding 3/4 tsp of salt to them.  Evenly distribute the eggs over the top. Place in oven and bake until the lasagna noodles are soft (check with fork) and the top is golden brown (35 – 45 minutes).  Once cooked, remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.  BUON’APPETITO!