Recipe of the Day Categories:
Recipe Home
Recipe Index
Recipe Search
Appetizers
Beef
Beverage
Bread
Breakfast
Cake
Chocolate
Cookies
Fish
Fruit
Main
Dish
Pasta
Pies
Pork
Poultry
Salad
Seafood
Side Dish
Soup
Vegetable
Surprise!
Green Olive, White Bread, Parmesan and Olive Oil
Photographic Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
|
|
Your
patronage of our affiliate
partners supports this web site.
We thank you! In other words, please shop at LBC
Gift Galerie!
Cucina
Art Print
Gorham, Gregory
Buy at AllPosters.com
La Belle Cuisine
Lasagne Verdi e Bianco
Bon Appetit Archives
Bon Appetit - One Year Subscription
Herbed Tomato Béchamel Sauce
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
Generous pinch dried oregano
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup thick tomato purée
3 egg yolks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped pine nuts or almonds
3 pounds fresh spinach, cooked until wilted,
squeezed dry,
and finely chopped, or
five 10-ounce packages frozen spinach,
thawed,,
squeezed dry,
finely chopped
Freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup raisins [we prefer golden raisins]
1 pound ricotta, drained
1/2 pound spicy Italian salami, minced
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons minced parsley
1 tablespoon dried basil
Salt, pepper
8 ounces fontinella cheese, shredded
8 ounces Asiago or Parmesan, grated
3 ounces Gruyère or Swiss cheese, shredded
1/2 to 3/4 pound lasagne, cooked al dente,
rinsed and drained on paper
towels
For the sauce: Melt 1/4 cup butter in a heavy
saucepan until it is bubbly. Remove from heat and whisk in flour, basil,
thyme and oregano. Cook,
stirring constantly, about 3 to 5 minutes being
careful not to let the flour
brown. Gradually whisk in the half-and-half.
Increase the heat slightly
and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce has
thickened. Stir in the
tomato purée. Remove from heat and let cool 5
minutes. Whisk in the
egg yolks. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to
taste. Transfer to a
storage container. Spread 1 tablespoon butter over
sauce to prevent a
skin from forming. Cover and refrigerate until ready to
use.
For the lasagne: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add
onion and cook, stirring frequently, until browned and caramelized,
about
25 to 30 minutes. Stir in garlic and nuts and cook about 30 seconds.
Mix
in spinach and cook, stirring frequently, until dry. Remove from heat
and
season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Blend in raisins. Set
aside
and cool.
Combine the ricotta, salami, green onion, egg yolk, parsley, basil, and salt
and pepper to taste in a medium bowl and blend well.
Mix the fontinella, Asiago, and Gruyère cheeses in another medium bowl;
reserve 1 1/4 cups for topping.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9- by 13-inch baking
dish or 2
medium baking dishes. Whisk through the chilled sauce several
times to
lighten, Spread a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of the pre-
pared dish.
Cover with a layer of pasta. Top with a thin layer of spinach.
Dot with
ricotta mixture and sprinkle with fontinella mixture. Repeat layer-
ing,
ending with pasta. Pour the remaining sauce over lasagne and sprinkle
with
reserved
1 1/4 cups cheeses. Bake until bubbly and lightly browned,
45 to
60 minutes. Turn off heat; let lasagne stand in the oven 20 minutes before
cutting into squares and serving.
Variation: Spread each lasagne noodle with thin layers of spinach
and
ricotta mixture. Roll each noodle up jelly-roll fashion, tucking a small
stalk
of steamed broccoli into each roll. Arrange in bottom of buttered
baking
dish. Sprinkle with Fontina mixture. Cover and freeze or refrigerate.
Pour the Herbed Tomato Béchamel Sauce over the pasta rolls just
before
baking.
Note:
Either variation of lasagne can be assembled without sauce and
refrigerated
up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months. Sauce can be prepared
3 days ahead and refrigerated.
Featured Archive Recipes:
Classic Lasagne (Mario Pei)
Everybody Loves Lasagna
Asparagus Lasagne
Grilled Vegetable Lasagna (Emeril)
Vegetarian Lasagne (Martha Stewart)
Index - Pasta Recipe Archives
Index - Main Dish Recipe Archives
Daily Recipe Index
Recipe Archives Index
Recipe Search
|