Recipe created & provided by Chef Crusco Catering in Austin, Texas
Ingredients
Bolognese Sauce
- Chef Crusco’s Tomato Sauce
- 1/2 cup Heavy cream
- 1 slice of Bread
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1-2 tbsps. EVOO
- 6 ounces Pancetta – cut into small 1/4 inch pieces
- 1.5-2 lbs. Ground beef chuck
- 2 tbsps. Tomato Paste
- 1/2 cup dry white Wine
- Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
Egg Pasta Sheets
- 2 1/4 cups Double zero flour (if possible) or AP Flour (plus more as needed)
- 4 large eggs – at room temperature
Bechamel Sauce
- 2 cups Whole Millk
- 4 tbsps. Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 cup AP Flour
- 1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
Lasagne Assembly
- 2 tbsps. Kosher Salt
- Egg pasta Sheets
- Chef Crusco’s Tomato Cream Sauce
- Béchamel sauce
- Bolognese sauce
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese – grated and divided
- 2 tbsps. Unsalted Butter – cut into small 1/4 inch squares
- 1/4 cup Parsley roughly chopped – for garnish
Directions
- Make Chef Crusco’s Tomato Sauce. Once made, add the 1/2 cup cream and set 1 cup of sauce aside for serving purposes.
- Make the Bolognese Sauce. Start by soaking the bread into the milk. Crumble the bread with your fingers and set aside for a few minutes. Once the milk is absorbed, add to a food processor.
- Cook Pancetta in a large pot w/ EVOO on low-med heat. Cook until the fat renders & is golden brown in color (5-7 minutes). Remove from pot and place Pancetta into the same food processor. Blend until the pancetta is finely crumbled and thoroughly combined with the milk and bread. Set aside for further use.
- To the same pot that you cooked the Pancetta, increase the heat to high. Season the ground beef with salt and pepper. You should have enough fat (rendered from the pancetta) to cook the beef in (if not just add 1-2 tbsps. EVOO).
- Once the pan is hot, add the ground beef and sear the meat for 2-3 minutes. Then, break it up with a wooden spoon and cook until it is cooked through and no longer pink. Add the tomato paste and cook another 1-2 minutes until the paste turms maroon in color.
- Immediately add the white wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until more than half the liquid has evaporated. At this point, add the milk, bread and pork mixture and cook another 3-4 minutes (stirring occasionally) until most of the milk mixture has evaporated.
- Add the Tomato cream sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Reduce the heat to low and cook so that the sauce is barely simmering. Cook uncovered, stirring every 4-5 minutes, for about 1 hour or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and set aside for later.
- Make the Egg Pasta Sheets. Pour 2 1/4 cups flour in a mound on your work counter. Make a well into which the eggs will fit comfortably. Break 4 eggs into the center of the well and using a fork beat the eggs until the yolks are thoroughly blended.
- Mix a little flour into the eggs with the fork and continue adding flour until the mixture thickens enough to cling to the fork. Then start mixing with your hands to begin forming a dough (it should feel moist when you push your finger into it). If still wet/sticky just add a little more flour.
- Wrap the dough loosely in plastic wrap and set aside. Clean your hands and work surface.
- Unwrap the dough and start kneading it by using the heel of your hand and pushing away from you. Keep folding the dough into itself and pushing away. Knead until the dough is smooth (about 3-4 minutes). If sticky, add a little flour. If too dry, wet your hands with some water.
- Once kneaded and smooth, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes to a couple of hours. This allows the flour relax making it much easier to shape.
- Unwrap dough and knead a few times. Cut into 3 separate pieces. Lightly wrap with plastic wrap and cover (using a dish towel) the other pieces..
- Flatten the one piece of dough as best you can with your hands first. Then, using a pasta rolling machine, put it through the rollers set at the thickest setting a few times. Fold the dough into thirds like a letter, and put it through the rollers again with the folds perpendicular to the rollers. Fold the dough in half and put it through one more time, again with the folds perpendicular to the rollers.
- Lay the dough sheet on a clean kitchen towel and repeat the procedure with the other two pieces. Now you have to decide how many layers of pasta you need/want. I am using an 8 x 11 inch dish and looking to make 10 layers so we want 20 sheets that are 4 x 11 inch long (with 2 sheets sitting next to each other per layer).
- Once all the dough has been through the machine at the widest setting, adjust the rollers one notch down and put each sheet through a couple of times. Repeat, going down one notch at a time, until you reach the last setting. Cut each sheet of pasta in half crosswise, then put each piece through the machine at the thinnest setting. Cut each sheet in half crosswise again. The 3 pieces of dough should get you abuot 7-8 sheets each. As you are working make sure to cover the sheets with several kitchen towels so they do not dry too quickly.
- Make the béchamel. Place 2 cups whole milk in a small saucepan over med heat and heat until slightly warm. Meanwhile, melt all the butter in large saucepan over med heat. Add the flour and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cook (constantly whisking) for about 1 minute and then remove from the heat. You want the color to be white more than brown so do not cook for long.
- Add the warmed milk (a little at a time) to the pan and continue mixing with the whisk. It will be thick at first so just continue adding the milk slowly until it starts to thin out.
- Reduce the heat to low and season with salt, peper and nutmeg. Continue cooking until the sauceis thick and glossy (about 8-10 minutes).
- Assemble and bake. Bring water to a boil in a large pot on high heat with 2 tbsps. salt. Make an ice bath in a large bowl and set aside and keep it close to the stove.
- Once the water is boiling, put in 2-3 pasta sheets in at a time and cook for 1-2 minutes. Using tongs, immediately take them out of the water and place it in the bowl of ice water. Once they are cold, remove them from the ice water and lay them flat on dry kitchen towels. Repeat with the remaining pasta sheets until they are all done. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Coat the bottom of your baking dish with a little bit of the tomato cream sauce. Add a layer of pasta sheets, then a layer of the bolognese sauce, then the bechamel and then sprinkle the Parmigiano cheese. Continue doing this with all the sheets making sure you have enough to do all 10 layers.
- Cover the top layer of pasta with the remaining bolognese and bechamel sauces. Sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano over the top and dot with the butter.
- Bake the lasagne until the top has lightly browned (25-30 minutes). If not colored enough, you can put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes to turn golden brown in color. Take the lasagne out of the oven and let it rest for at least 20-30 minutes so that it cools off and sets up.
- To serve, place some of the Tomato cream sauce onto the plate. Place a large square of lasagne on top of the sauce. Garnish with more Parmigiano and parsley. Enjoy!
