MAKING A BASIC LASAGNA

There are three critical elements to lasagna that, once mastered, will assure you of a deliciously savory, rich, and yet light-textured meal every time. The first, of course, is the pasta, and we urge you to make your own in order to have the gorgeously silken texture that Italian cooks strive for. We’ve had lasagna in Italy that has had as many as ten different layers of pasta, yet the dish as a whole was light in texture and delightful, each delicately thin layer simply embracing the other ingredients. Of course, not everyone has the time to roll out the pasta, so we understand if occasionally you turn to packaged lasagna. But we urge you to use one of the fine, artisanal pastas with which Italy abounds. Di Martino, Faella, and Rustichella d’Abruzzo are among several firms that make boxed lasagna. We also encourage you to make lasagna from scratch every now and then—just so you’ll know the difference.

The second-most important element is the béchamel (besciamella), the white sauce that provides lasagna with a comfortable bed, cushioning the more assertive flavors of the sauce. We make our béchamel with milk that has been steeped with aromatic vegetables and herbs to give extra flavor and structure to the dish, then beat the hot strained milk into a roux of butter and flour and cook until it is thick enough for the task. (see here for directions.)

And finally, of course, is the meat sauce or ragù—which is not always meat, by any means, although it is always the structural foundation of the lasagna. Sometimes indeed a vegetarian lasagna may be what’s called for, and it’s a sumptuous way to present a vegetarian dish. But seafood can also provide that critical link.

If you think of lasagna as an architectural construct, then the pasta provides the bricks, the béchamel the mortar, and the ragù is the foundation that defines the structure—and that tells you what style and period the building represents. Many of our recipes for ragù can be used in lasagna, indeed are intended for that very purpose. The ragù should be made ahead, but each of the other elements—the béchamel and the pasta—should be prepared shortly before you’re ready to put the lasagna together. Once ready, they cannot be held, so be sure you have everything else set to go.

For the pasta: Use the recipe and directions here for Mita Antolini’s pasta fresca, using 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour and 3 eggs for a lasagna to serve 6. When it is time to roll out the dough, you may do so with a rolling pin and board or you may use a pasta machine. In either case, pull off about one-sixth of the pasta dough that you’ve made and keep the rest covered with loose plastic wrap or a clean dish towel while you work. Lightly dust the piece of dough with flour and roll it out on a board as thin as possible. Cut it into rectangles 4 to 5 inches by 10 inches. Or put the dough through a pasta machine, gradually reducing the size of the opening until you have reached the smallest and thinnest one. Lay the lasagna sheets out on a clean kitchen towel and proceed with the next batch of dough. As you proceed, cover each layer of lasagna sheets with a clean, dry kitchen towel.

When all the dough has been rolled, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt to the water. Have ready a bowl of ice water near the stove to receive the lasagna sheets as they finish cooking. Drop a sheet into the pan of boiling water (you can do several at once) and cook for just 1 minute. Use a wide slotted spoon or spatula to remove the sheets and drop them into the bowl of ice water. Leave them for 30 seconds, then lay them out flat, once more on clean, dry kitchen towels. Repeat until all the sheets are done.

At this point in the process you will have your ragù (you will need about 3 cups), your béchamel (4 to 5 cups), and your pasta. What more do you need?

1 to 2 cups freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

Freshly ground black pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

A little extra-virgin olive oil

Set the oven on 375ºF.

Combine about ⅓ cup béchamel with ¼ cup ragù and spread it over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch ceramic or glass baking dish. Cover it with several overlapping layers of pasta sheets. Combine ⅔ cup béchamel and ½ cup ragù and spread over the pasta, then sprinkle with about ¼ cup grated parmigiano and a good sprinkle of pepper. Continue in this fashion until all the pasta has been used up. Your topmost layer should consist of about 1⅓ cups béchamel mixed with ¼ cup ragù and topped with ½ cup grated cheese. Dot the top with the butter, dribble olive oil over the top, and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting. Serve immediately.

MAKING CORZETTI FOR PESTO

Corzetti (singular, corzetto) are round stamped pasta shapes typical of the Riviera di Levante, the Ligurian coast east of Genova. They are said to resemble a medieval coin called a corzetto. To make corzetti you need a two-piece wooden tool, typically cut from pear wood, made up of a round cutter and a round engraved stamp carved in a design that embosses itself on the pasta. (These tools, hand-made in Liguria, are available by mail order from Fante’s Kitchen Shop in South Philadelphia, www.fantes.com, or, if your travels take you to the delightful town of Chiavari in Liguria, you can buy them from master corzetti carver Franco Casoni.) Use the cutter to cut out the corzetti from a freshly rolled pasta sheet, then press each corzetto between the two sides of the stamp, pressing a logo or your initials or a fanciful design onto the pasta disk. Lightly dusted with a little semolina or fine cornmeal, they should be laid out on a sheet pan in a single layer until ready to cook. They look really cool on the plate, even if we aren’t convinced they taste different from trofie, tiny matchsticks of hand-rolled pasta, also typically served with Genovese pesto.

MAKING PASTA ALLA CHITARRA

You must have a chitarra for this, a large open box, strung with wires sort of like a guitar, traditionally used in the Abruzzi to make a long, thin spaghetti pasta that is square in section. The dough is rolled out (easily enough with a rolling pin, but you can also use a hand-cranked pasta machine) to a thickness equal to the width of the gap between the chitarra wires, that is, about ⅛ inch. The sheet, which should be roughly the length and width of the chitarra, is then draped over the wires. The sheet is gently pressed through the wires, using a rolling pin, and the cut pasta falls to a tray below. Then the strings are gathered up, turned into a little nest, and dusted gently with semolina or finely ground cornmeal.

Chitarra pasta is traditionally made with durum wheat flour and eggs, making a strong and flavorful mix. Use the recipe for Mita Antolini’s pasta fresca (see here), but substitute durum flour for the all-purpose in the recipe.

Another nice touch: Because the Abruzzi is famous for its saffron, steep a pinch of saffron in the water to be used in the pasta dough, doing this several hours ahead of time. It gives both color and a subtle flavor.

The pasta may be cooked and sauced just like any of the other pastas in the book. A simple tomato sauce is traditional, but so is a more complicated lamb ragù, as in the recipe here.