Best Lasagna - EVAH!

WARNING -SUPER-MEGA-FOODIE POST FOLLOWS!

We were supposed to be getting together with Gaius Derf and Agent W on New Year's Eve to make lasagna but Derf caught the flu when he was visiting his daughter and family in Phoenix. Wife and I decided we would do a scaled down version on our own but then Wife came down with some reaction to some bad lunch meat so that pretty much finished off New Year's Eve. This was the only thing we had planned this whole holiday so I was sort of bummed.

Wife was fine today so we decided to go forward with it.

I have been making lasagna for decades and have a pretty good reputation among my family and friends for making a very good dish. Today, we were really just trying to make the best out of a lot of leftovers. But what transpired was without doubt the best lasagna I have ever made!

There were two things that really set this apart; the sauce and the pasta. My sauce was really cobbled together but had a number of principles I will not forget. The pasta was an extension of experiments I've done the last few times using home made pasta.

THE SAUCE

This is leftover pepperoni from our Christmas pizza. I have found that some kind of cured meat is a go to ingredient to add depth of flavor in a lot of dishes. Here I'm dicing it fine.

Other sauce ingredients included some leftover sauce from a previous sauce making (in the back), two kinds of tomatoes from the summer (roasted and confited) and some of my turkey broth from a couple of days ago.

I sauteed the pepperoni in olive oil

This is meat leftover from a stock I made a few weeks ago that I shredded to put in the sauce.

I pureed the tomatoes with the turkey stock.

Some of the dried chiles from our garden this summer.

I added the shredded meat, chiles and a little red wine to the pepperoni/oil mixture and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Then I added the tomatoes and the tomato sauce. The three critical ingredients that made the difference in the end product were the deep flavor of the pepperoni, the sweetness of the tomato confit, and the heat from the chiles. I let this cook for about 40 minutes.

Gaius Derf says no pasta or pizza making can be successful without the consumption of wine. here is the nice 10 year old Spanish wine that was offered to the cause. Wife is holding the neat pasta drying rack she got me for Christmas.

THE PASTA

I know there are probably a billion blog posts about making pasta but this is my first.

Make a well in a cup or so of flour.

Add two eggs.

Beat the eggs.

Start incorporating the flour.

When it starts to come together, use your hands to create a dough ball that is not too dry or too sticky.

Knead your pasta for at least 8 minutes - This is very important to get the right consistency.

Cut the pasta ball into pieces and run it through the machine. You gradually go down the numbers to the thinness you want. I went to #8.

I let the pasta dry for about 30-40 minutes. This made it much easier to handle.
I cooked it for 2 minutes only, then drained it and rinsed in cold water to stop the cooking process.

THE CHEESES

I developed years and years ago a technique to lighten up the ricotta cheese.
I take eggs and I whip them to a froth so they are expanded double. I put in fresh chopped garlic and parsley.

Then I gradually beat in the ricotta cheese. This adds a lot of air to the mixture which causes it to be less dense when it is cooked.

Slices of whole mile mozzarella - it has to be whole milk or you won't get the runny, stringiness you want. Also lots of grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

ASSEMBLY

Put some olive oil in the baking dish and make sure all the sides are covered. Then put down a layer of pasta.

Next some of the meat sauce.

The ricotta mixture

Mozzarella and Pecarino

In this case I got two layers done.
My last layer not only covers the top bu is pushed down the sides to totally encase the innards.

Cover with some more sauce and Pecarino cheese.
In the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 or until it is bubbling all around the edges.

The finished product.
Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before serving to allow it to set a bit.

Served up with great wine.

What made this lasagna so much better was the pasta. It was so thin and light that it transformed what is usually a very delicious but heavy dish up to another plane. That plus the balance of the sauce with the intense meat flavor from the pepperoni, the sweetness of the tomato confit and clean heat from the chiles.