Please review my Base Meat Lasagna recipe for reference. I modified that recipe to take the super heaviness out of the dish. Please experiment! Cooking is about trying stuff to see if it sticks (pun intended). In this recipe, I made the pasta sheets, so fresh pasta vs. commercial boxed dry. My pasta was 50/50 semolina to 00 flour with 5 eggs and some water. Also, I don’t precook my pasta sheets. Here we go!
1) Spread about 2 C. of Ragu’ Bolognese sauce on the bottom of a deep roasting pan. Lay pasta sheets side by side on top of the sauce. Try not to overlap as you want those layers of sauce and meat and cheese to intermingle and bubble up during cooking.
2) Here is the key to keeping the dish light vs. heavy: there is no need to build out a inch of sauce, cheese etc. for each layer.
3) Here is the order of battle:
1 ladle of Bolognese sauce dotted or dribble over the layer of pasta (have 4-6 cups on hand)
1 ladle of Bechamel sauce (look for my base recipe) dotted or dribbled over the Bolognese (have 4 cups on hand)
Spread little pieces of Mozzarella over the Bechamel sauce. I slice Mozzarella and tear tiny pieces (2 balls of Mozzarella on hand)
Grate some Parmesan and Pecorino Romano on this layer. (Blocks of cheese, fresh tastes so much better)
4) Repeat until you run out of fillings, pasta or sauce or room in the roasting pan. I typically have about 4-6 layers when I am all said and done.
5) Put in a 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You can put foil on but you don’t need to cook much here as you have fresh pasta. For 10-20 minutes, crank up the heat a bit to add some crust for those how love those crunchy corners. Once done, let cool 10 minutes minimum prior to cutting and serving. Put a ladle full of Bolognese sauce on each portion and maybe a dash of cheese.
Eat.Drink.Savor.
