Chat Recipes

It's no secret I have a butler. I receive hundreds of e-mails each week requesting that I please post some of my favourite recipes made by my butler. Being the nice Sonner that I am, I've decided to share my very favorite recipe. I hope you enjoy.

Italian-American Lasagna

2 pounds fresh or packaged whole-milk ricotta cheese (DO NOT use skim milk ricotta, you idiots)
Italian-American meat sauce (recipe follows)
Salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds lasagna noodles
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (use Kraft and face my wrath, chat scrap)
1 pound mozzarella cheese, preferably fresh, sliced thin (use Kraft shredded in a plastic bag and I will son you for life) l-)

Italian-American meat sauce

Two 35-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, diced (about 2 cups)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
5 to 6 meaty pork neck bones (about 3/4 pound)
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
Salt
4 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Sicilian type dried on the branch, crumbled
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup tomato paste
3 to 4 cups hot water

Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill fitted with the fine disc. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy 4 to 5-quart pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 8 minutes. Make a little room in the center of the pot, dump in the garlic, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the pork bones and cook, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and pork and season lightly with salt. Cook, stirring to break up the meat, until the meat changes color and the water it gives off is boiled away, about 10 minutes. Continue cooking until the meat is nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Add the bay leaves and oregano, then pour in the wine. Bring to a boil and cook, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the pot, until the wine is almost completely evaporated. Pour in the tomatoes, then stir in the tomato paste until it is dissolved. Season lightly with salt. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat to a lively simmer, and cook, uncovered, stirring often, until the sauce takes on a deep, brick-red color, 2 to 3 hours. Add the hot water, about 1/2 cup at a time, as necessary to maintain the level of liquid for the length of time the sauce cooks.

Skim off any fat floating on the top and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Directions for lasagna

Line a sieve with a double thickness of cheesecloth or a basket-type coffee filter. Place the ricotta over the cheesecloth and set the sieve over a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 1 day. Discard the liquid that drains into the bowl. Make the meat sauce.

Bring 6 quarts of salted water (pasta water should taste like the sea) and the olive oil to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat. Stir about one-third of the lasagna noodles into the boiling water. Return to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, set a large bowl of ice water next to the stove. When the lasagna noodles are al dente, remove them with a wire skimmer and transfer to the ice water. Let them stand until completely chilled. Repeat the cooking and cooling with the remaining two batches of noodles. When the cooked noodles are chilled, remove them from the ice bath and stack them on a baking sheet, separating each layer with a clean, damp kitchen towel.

While the noodles are cooking, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl until foamy. Add the ricotta and stir until thoroughly blended. Preheat oven to 375 F.

To assemble the lasagna, ladle about 3/4 cup of the meat sauce over the bottom of a 15x10-inch baking dish. Arrange noodles lengthwise and side by side so as to cover the bottom of the baking dish and overhang the short ends of the dish by about 2 inches. (a little "cut and paste" might be necessary. Also, the noodles will most likely overlap in the center of the dish. That is fine.) Spoon enough meat sauce, about 2 cups, to cover the noodles in an even layer. Sprinkle the sauce with 1/2 cup of the grated cheese. Arrange a single layer of noodles crosswise over the cheese so they overhang the long sides of the baking dish by about 2 inches, trimming the noodles and overlapping them as necessary. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles. Arrange a single layer of noodles lengthwise over the ricotta, trimming the noodles as necessary. Arrange the sliced mozzarella in an even layer over the noodles. Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce over the cheese and sprinkle 1 cup of grated cheese over the sauce. Cover with a layer of noodles, arranged lengthwise. Spoon enough meat sauce, about 2 cups, to cover the noodles in an even layer, and sprinkle the sauce with 1/2 cup grated cheese. Turn the noodles overhanging the sides and ends of the dish over the lasanga, leaving a rectangular uncovered space in the middle. Spread a thin layer of meat sauce over the top layer of noodles. Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes.

Uncover the lasagna and continue baking until the top is crusty around the edges, about 20 minutes. Let rest at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

I hope you losers will take the time to make this lasagna. It is certainly worth the time and love. So toss aside that box of Chef Boyardee lasagna and make a real Italian-American version. You'll love yourself for doing it.

Jimmy_Cinderella_Man_Braddock signing off.