Le Marche Lasagna Food

LE MARCHE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Place porchini mushrooms in a small bowl with enough warm water to cover; let stand 30 minutes.
• Drain mushrooms, reserving liquid if desired, for a more pronounced mushroom flavor. Strain liquid through a fine mesh sieve and set aside, if using. Chop mushrooms and set aside.
• Using a piece of kitchen twine, tie together bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme; set aside.
• Melt 12 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add prosciutto and saute for 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Add onions, celery, and carrots, reduce heat to medium, and cook until very soft, about 10 minutes, making sure vegetables do not brown. Reduce heat to medium-low, add tomato paste, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat melt 12 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add pork and cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer pork to colander and to drain off excess fat. Discard fat in skillet; set skillet aside. Transfer pork to saucepan with skillet; set aside.
• Set skillet over medium heat. Add Marsala and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour Marsala over pork and vegetables. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce to a simmer and cook until liquid has reduced by one-third. Add mushroom liquid, chicken stock, and cloves; stir to combine. Add herb bundle and push down to submerge in liquid. Partially cover saucepan and continue to let simmer for 2 hours. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper; set aside to cool. Remove herb bundle.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add porcini and white mushrooms and cook, stirring, until white mushrooms are soft and slightly golden, about 5 minutes. Fold mushrooms into pork mixture; set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the center.
• Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with melted butter. Top with pasta to cover. Sprinkle a generous 1/3 cup cheese over pasta. Ladle or spoon some of the pork mixture over cheese, spreading evenly with the back of ladle or spoon. Top with 1/2 cup bechamel sauce. Repeat process with remaining pasta, cheese, pork mixture, and bechamel sauce, keeping in mind you may not need to use all the pork mixture, and finishing with pasta. Top final layer of pasta with bechamel sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
• Transfer baking dish to a baking sheet and bake until sauce is bubbly, about 25 minutes. Increase heat to 400 degrees and continue baking until crisp on top, about 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand 20 minutes.
• Cut lasagna into squares and serve immediately.

LASAGNE AL FORNO WITH BOLOGNESE RAGU

Steps:

• Fry the vegetables in a little olive oil until they soften. (Some Italian chefs insist that the meat and vegetables be fried separately as they require different levels of heat)
• In a separate pan fry the minced meat in heated olive oil over a medium heat until it begins to brown and then add the vegetables. (you can also cook the meat with the veg)
• Add the wine and continue stirring. When the alcohol has evaporated, add the tomatoes and/or passata and the stock.
• Lower the heat and leave to simmer partially covered for at least 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the milk, stir and continue to let the sauce simmer for another 30 minutes.
• If you think the sauce is too liquidy you can remove the cover completely till it reduces. But if you are using fresh or uncooked pasta the sauce needs to be a little liquidy.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, incorporate the sifted flour and mix everything with a wooden spoon or whisk until you have a paste (roux)
• Cook the roux until it is golden, and at this point add the milk a little at a time, plus a pinch of salt and a ½ teaspoon of grated nutmeg. Continue to stir until the sauce reaches the consistency you want.
• If you are using dried pasta sheets partly cook them in boiling salted water. You may want to add a little olive oil to the water so they don't stick together or cook them one at a time!
• Then butter a rectangular baking dish and spread a little sauce on the bottom. Make a layer of lasagne sheets, cover them with a layer of sauce, some béchamel and a sprinkling of grated cheese.
• Then put another layer of pasta, then bolognese sauce, béchamel and cheese and so on until the ingredients are used up, leaving some béchamel for the final layer.
• Cover the last layer with béchamel sauce, grated parmesan and some butter flakes.
• Bake your lasagne al forno in a preheated oven at 170-180 °c (338-356°F)for about thirty minutes. When the surface is golden and the pasta is cooked (check using a fork) remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. If using uncooked pasta it's a good idea to cover the dish with aluminium foil for the first 15 minutes as otherwise the top may get golden before the pasta is cooked.
• Allow the lasagne al forno to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

VINCISGRASSI (LASAGNE FROM THE MARCHE REGION)

Steps:

• 1. Chop pancetta, chicken liver, stomach and / or hearts and rabbit fillets, set aside with the minced beef.
• 2. Finely chop onion and carrot.
• 3. In a saucepan, heat 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. oil and saute onion and carrot, then add the meats. Fry until the minced beef is crumbly, then add wine and broth.
• 4. Add tomato passata and salt, pepper and a pinch of cinnamon to taste
• 5. Cover and simmer on low for about 30 minutes.
• 6. Remove cover and simmer for 20 more minutes on medium heat
• 7. Meanwhile, make the bechamel sauce: melt remaining butter in a pot, stir in flour and fry until golden, then slowly add milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
• 8. Stir until smooth, season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg to taste and let simmer on lowest heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring
• 9. Preheat static oven to 200°C (400°F) or convection oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a lasagne form, cover the bottom wth a little of the sauce, then place the first layer of lasagna noodles in the form, add a layer of sauce, then some bechamel, sprinkle a little parmesan over it, then repeat until all the sauce is used up, but some bechamel and parmesan are left over. Cover the last layer of noodles with bechamel, sprinkle with the parmesan and dot with butter flakes.
• 10. Bake for ca. 35 minutes until surface is golden brown