Duane,
You asked for it. You want Lasagna? Here is the most hardcore Neopolitan recipe that had been tried and true among most of the Italian grandmothers who have adapted this technique and recipe in their heads that I know from my neighborhood. I grew up with mostly Italian friends which explains my Crooklyn accent if you ever heard me on the phone. It's perhaps the most elaborate recipe I know to date. But I've tried it from three different chef grannies and it's unmistakably awesome. They all had their little variations but this one is in the books. There are three parts. Part three is the assembly of the lasagna.
Neapolitan Meat Sauce:
Ragu Napoletano
1/2 pound beef chuck, cut into chunks
1/2 pound veal, cut into chunks
1 onion, finely chopped
4-5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup red wine
28-ounce (2) cans peeled San Marzano tomatoes and juices, passed through a food mill or strained and put through a food processor.
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausages
1 teaspoon salt
One Pinch of chile flakes
In a large pasta pot, combine the veal, beef, onion and oil over high heat and cook until meat is seared on all sides and meat juices have evaporated, 10 to 13 minutes.
Add the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until wine evaporates and meat is darker brown, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, sausages, salt, and chile flakes. Reduce heat to simmer and cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally and skimming fat as necessary.
Remove from heat and remove meat from ragu. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Makes 4 cups, for 8 pasta servings
Neapolitan Meatballs:
Polpette alla Napoletana
3 cups day-old bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/4 pounds ground beef
3 eggs, beaten
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup pecorino, grated
1 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped to yield 1/4 cup
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted for 2 minutes in a 400 degree F oven
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In a bowl, soak the bread cubes in enough water to cover. Remove the bread cubes and squeeze by hand to wring excess moisture.
In a large bowl, combine the bread, beef, eggs, garlic, pecorino, parsley, pine nuts, salt, and pepper and mix by hand to incorporate bread into meat. With wet hands, form the mixture into 12 to 15 meatballs, each of a size somewhere between a tennis ball and a golf ball.
In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, heat the oil until almost smoking. Add the meatballs, working in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan, and cook until deep golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. Serve warm or at room temperature, note that Italians would rarely serve meatballs with pasta.
Finally, the entirety..:
Neapolitan Baked Lasagne:
Lasagne Napoletane
1 recipe basic pasta dough, recipe follows
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 recipe ragu Napoletana, cooled, meat reserved for another use and sausages thinly sliced, recipe follows
3 cups ricotta
1/2 recipe cooled polpette (meatballs), recipe follows
11/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 pound fresh mozzarella, shredded
Make the pasta dough according to a basic recipe and roll out to the thinnest setting on a pasta rolling machine. Cut the pasta into strips 5 inches wide and 10 inches long. Cover with a damp towel and set aside. (You can used boxed lasagna pasta as well.)
Bring about 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Set up an ice bath next to the stovetop and cook the lasagna 1-minute in the boiling water. Drain, refresh in the ice bath, and drain again. Lay out on clean, damp towels.
In a 10 by 20-inch lasagna pan, layer the lasagna, beginning with 3/4 cup ragu, then a layer of pasta, then a layer of ricotta, then a layer of polpette and sausage, then a layer of Parmigiano and mozzarella. Use all ingredients. The top layer should be covered with cheese.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until edges are bubbling. Let rest 15 minutes before slicing.
Duane,
You can use either of the three recipes for a myriad of other applications seperately. Once you try this recipe, there's no going back.
Shelby
