Roman Lasagna

A number of months ago, I posted my American lasagna recipe.  I specified that it was American because I knew I was going to post the recipe for Roman Lasagna at some point.  That time has now arrived.  This is an authentic Italian recipe--my husband's family lived in Italy for a few years a long time ago, and this is one of the recipes they brought back with them.  I can recall my mother-in-law making this one of the first times I came to visit when my husband and I were still dating.  It was delicious then and just as delicious now.  This is a meatless recipe (unless you add panchetta, but I never do), and a good way to get extra veggies in your meal.  The lasagna layers two kinds of sauces and 2 kinds of cheeses. The addition of nutmeg is imperative; I think it adds the best flavor to this dish...it's there, you can sense it, but it's not overpowering.  This is not a very fast recipe to make, and it does require a number of steps, but it's worth it!  Enough background information, time for the recipe! :)

Ingredients:

Red Sauce:
1/4 c. olive oil
1 carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
panchetta (optional)
2 15-oz. cans tomato sauce
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper
White Sauce:
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
pinch of nutmeg (approx 1/4 tsp.)
1 1/4 c. milk

Lasagna noodles, cooked
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese

Oven Temp: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Gather all your ingredients together to start off--there are a lot that you need, so it's helpful to at least have them all handy.

I always start out by putting the water on to boil for the lasagna noodles.  Pretty simple.

Then, it's time to work on the red sauce while you wait for the water to heat up.  Here are the red sauce ingredients:

Start out by chopping up/grating the veggies and placing them into a pot with olive oil.

Saute the veggies for a few minutes.

Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, and chicken bouillon.  Stir well and allow to simmer, uncovered.

By now, your water should be boiling, so go ahead and throw the pasta in.

I find that lasagna has a tendency to stick together, so I also added some oil to the pot once the lasagna softened up a bit.  Boil until noodles are tender.

While the noodles are boiling, it's time to start working on the white sauce.

Place the butter in a medium saucepan and melt it at a med-low heat.  Add the butter and a pinch of nutmeg, stirring well.  Allow it to cook for a minute or two before adding the milk.

Add the milk.  Stir well and allow the sauce to thicken over med-low heat.

Meanwhile, the lasagna noodles are probably cooked and ready to be drained.

While you wait for the white sauce to finish thickening up, make sure to keep the lasagna noodles wet; I spray them with water and move them about a bit to keep them from sticking together.  You can also place a layer of the red sauce on the bottom of your 9x13" pan and place the first row of noodles on top of it.

By now the white sauce should have thickened and be ready to add to the lasagna.  You will be creating layers and repeating them about 6 times.  Noodles, red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan cheese...repeat!

When you come to the last layer of noodles, rather than topping the sauces with Parmesan, you're going to use mozzarella cheese.

Check out all the layers!

Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and serve up nice and hot!  Goes great with a crusty loaf of bread and a garden salad!