Lasagne alla Bolognese
- Difficulty: Average
- Prep time: 2 h
- Cook time: 3 h
- Serving: 8
- Cost: Average
PRESENTATION
Lasagne alla Bolognese is the dish that Emilia-Romagna built its culinary reputation on — and the one that most of the world gets wrong. The American version tends toward thick noodles, heavy tomato sauce, and ricotta. The original uses fresh egg pasta, rolled thin enough to be almost translucent, layered with a ragù that has been cooking for at least two hours and a béchamel that binds everything without overwhelming it. The result is lighter than it looks and more complex than the ingredient list suggests.
This lasagna bolognese uses green pasta — spinach worked into the egg dough, which is the Bolognese tradition — and the layers are built with patience: ragù, béchamel, Parmigiano Reggiano, pasta, repeated until the dish is five layers deep. The top goes on last with extra ragù and a generous handful of Parmigiano that browns in the oven into a crust. The corner pieces go first, always — the edges where the pasta has crisped slightly against the pan and the sauce has concentrated. Let it rest for ten minutes before cutting. The layers hold better and the temperature evens out.
This is Sunday food in Bologna, made the day before and reheated, always better the second day once the layers have had time to settle into each other.
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INGREDIENTS
- Ingredients for spinach egg pasta layers
- Remilled durum wheat semolina 2.1 cups (350 g)
- Type 00 flour 1.3 cups (150 g)
- Spinach 8.8 oz (250 g)
- Eggs 2
- Egg yolks 3
- For the Bolognese sauce
- Beef 10.6 oz (300 g) - (minced, coarsely ground and mixed)
- Pancetta 5.3 oz (150 g)
- Carrots ½ cup (50 g)
- Celery ½ cup (50 g)
- Yellow onions 1 cup (50 g)
- Red wine ½ cup (100 g)
- Tomato purée 1 ¼ cup (300 g)
- Vegetable broth to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
- Fine salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- For the béchamel sauce
- Butter 0.3 cup (70 g)
- Type 00 flour 0.6 cup (70 g)
- Whole milk 1 quart (1 l)
- Fine salt 1 pinch
- Nutmeg to taste
- To season
- Butter to taste
- Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese 2.3 cups (270 g)
How to prepare Lasagne alla Bolognese
To prepare lasagne alla Bolognese, start with the meat sauce. Prepare the vegetable broth and ensure to keep it warm. Then take the pancetta bacon, cut it into strips first 1 and then chop it well 2. Separately, finely chop the carrots, onions, celery and set aside 3.
In a saucepan, pour a drizzle of oil and the pancetta bacon. Use a ladle to spread it well 4 and let it brown for a few minutes. Then add the chopped vegetables 5 and cook for 5-6 minutes 5. Then add the minced meat 6. Stir and raise the heat. Let the meat brown slowly, it must be well browned to seal the juices and be soft.
Deglaze with red wine 7 and let it evaporate completely before adding the tomato puree 8. The Bolognese sauce must cook for two hours. When it starts boiling again, you can add some hot broth, one or two ladles 9, and let the sauce cook for another couple of hours at least.
Let it cook with the lid on, without covering the pan completely 10. Check and stir from time to time, add more broth when needed and let it cook. Now move on to the pasta. First, pour the spinach into a pan 11, add a little water, cover with a lid 12
and cook until they are wilted, it will take 5-6 minutes in total 13. At this point, drain them, let them cool and squeeze them well 14. Transfer the spinach to a mixer 15
and blend them until you get a puree 16. You will need to get approx 3.5 cups (100 g) of it. Now on a pastry board pour the semolina and 00 flour 17, add the spinach and create a fountain shape. Add the lightly beaten eggs 18
and egg yolks 19. Begin to knead everything starting from the center 20, this way the eggs will not slip out of the fountain. Knead well until you get a homogeneous dough 21.
Wrap it in plastic wrap 22 and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. In the meantime, prepare the béchamel sauce. Heat the milk in a saucepan 23, without boiling it. In another pan, place the butter 34 and let it melt.
Add the flour in one go 25 and cook for a few minutes until you get a golden roux 26. Then, pour the hot milk in three times 27, mixing well.
Add salt and flavor with nutmeg 28. Continue to mix until you get a creamy béchamel 29. Transfer to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside. As soon as 30 minutes have elapsed, take the dough back and take a piece 30. Cover the rest of the dough with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
With the help of a little semolina flatten it slightly on the pastry board to form a rectangle and roll out the dough in the machine 31. Start from a wider thickness, then fold the dough and pass it over. When you feel it is too wet, sprinkle with a little semolina. Gradually reduce the thickness until you get a sheet just over 0.2 inches (0.5 mm) thick. Transfer it to a pastry board and cut into large rectangles 12x8 inches (30x20 cm) 32. Continue this way until the dough is finished and in the meantime put a pot of water on the stove and add salt. When it starts to boil, immerse one sheet at a time 33,
wait 30-40 seconds and using a skimmer drain it 34. Transfer it to a tray with a cloth 35 and dab to remove excess water. Continue this way, placing the cooked sheets side by side, without overlapping them. As soon as the Bolognese sauce is ready 36, season with salt and pepper and proceed to the composition of the lasagna.
Take a large 12x8 inches (30x20 cm) lasagna pan and grease the bottom 37. Add a thin layer of béchamel and one of Bolognese sauce 38. Then place the first sheet 39,
add a layer of béchamel and a layer of meat sauce 40. Add grated Parmesan cheese 41 and place another sheet of pasta on top 42.
Add another layer of béchamel and one of meat sauce 43, add grated cheese 44 and continue like this until you have 5 layers. After placing the last sheet, add the Bolognese sauce 5
in order to completely cover the pasta sheet 46. Sprinkle with grated cheese, add some tufts of butter 47 and bake in a preheated static oven at 338°F (170°C) for 40 minutes 48.