Daring Bakers: Spinach Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce

The March 2009 Daring Bakers challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

There are many kinds of lasagna and even in Italy every cook has his own recipe. But this is the real, traditional lasagna that is made in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, the birthplace of fresh egg pasta. It is made with homemade fresh spinach pasta, bechamel sauce and bolognese sauce. That's it. Each of these three components can be made at separate times, so there isn't so much to do all at once. You can certainly make the bolognese sauce a day before and the bechamel can even be made in the morning and allowed to cool.

I like to grind my own meat because I know exactly what's in it if I grind it myself.  And freshly ground meat is really, really nice to cook with.  I have this meat grinder and I really like it.  It's so worth doing.  If you have a KitchenAid mixer, consider getting this meat grinder attachment.

If you don't care for spinach, don't be put off by the spinach pasta.  You can't really taste the spinach, but the spinach gives a great texture to the pasta that you will really like.  Brian and I loved this lasagna - in fact, we thought it was the best lasagna we've ever eaten.  Really.  



Spinach Lasagna with Bolognese Sauce

for a printer friendly recipe, click here

serves 6
makes an 8x8 pan

For the Bolognese Sauce:
8 ounces ground pork
1 pound ground beef (chuck preferred)
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup red wine
15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 cups beef broth
2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 bay leaves

For the Bechamel sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk (whole preferred, but can be made with 1%)
1 chicken boullion cube (Knorr preferred)
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

For the Spinach Pasta:
5 ounces fresh spinach
2 to 2-1/2 cups flour
3 eggs

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Make the bolognese sauce:
In a large heavy pot, brown the meats. Remove from the pot and set aside. If there is a lot of fat in the pot, drain but do not wipe clean. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add all the vegetables (not the garlic) and saute these slowly for several minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the wine and cook for a couple of minutes and then add the tomato sauce and put the meat back in the pot. Add the broth and cook, uncovered, for one hour until the sauce is greatly reduced. Check for salt and add to taste. Cook until the liquid is reduced down but not completely evaporated. At this point you can let cool and refrigerate until you are ready to use.



Make the bechamel sauce:
In a heavy saucepan melt the butter. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a whisk, for a couple of minutes. Add the milk slowly, whisking, until all the milk is added. Add the boullion cube and the grated nutmeg. Whisk and cook over medium heat for several minutes, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and pour into a heatproof bowl or Pyrex cup. Let cool.


Make the pasta:
Steam the spinach until just wilted. Cool a little and squeeze all the liquid out. Chop finely. Mound flour on work surface. Make a well in the center and break eggs into the well. Beat lightly with fork and add the spinach into the eggs. Mix with fork. Start incorporating the flour until all the flour is added. If still sticky, add more flour, little by little, until you have a dough that is not too dry and not too sticky. Knead by hand for 5 minutes. Wrap in well floured plastic wrap and set aside to rest at least for 30 minutes.

Cut a section of dough and put through pasta maker rollers on widest setting. Fold in thirds, dust with more flour, and put through rollers again. Do this a few times and then adjust rollers to next number. Put pasta through the rollers, adding flour if you need to so it doesn't stick. Adjust rollers to next number and run pasta through until you run the pasta through setting #5 (this is the thinnest I make these noodles). Lay pasta out on well floured surface and cut to length of your pan.

Bring a large pot of well salted water to boil and prepare a large bowl filled with ice water. Cook the lasagna noodles, only 2 or 3 at a time for just a minute or so. Take out with a large spider and place the pasta in the ice bath for a couple of minutes. Remove the pasta and place on a clean towel. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assemble the lasagna:

Place a thin layer of bechamel in your pan. Add a layer of pasta. Add layer of bechamel on the pasta and a layer of the bolognese sauce. Repeat until you have four layers of pasta. On the last layer of pasta, spread the last of the bechamel sauce and sprinkle some parmesan on top. Cover with foil* and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

* Use Reynolds Wrap Nonstick foil for lasagna.   If you don't know about this foil, it truly does not stick to foods like cheese, which makes it perfect for removing from lasagna.  It's the only foil I buy now.  

If you like lasagna, check out these other lasagnas I have posted about:

Lasagna with Red Pepper Sauce

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

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Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

(Please note that I have moved my blog as of September, 2009. This post is now at: http://tinyurl.com/y9z5k38. Please hop on over and visit me at my new site. Thanks!)

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Zucchini Gratin: Finding Ways to Use All That Zucchini

People really want zucchini recipes right now, and I'm glad to give them one. In the summer, we're all thinking of ways to use up zucchini but not keep making the same old boring zucchini bread over and over. So here are some ideas to help you consume all that zucchini.

If any of you have read the wonderful book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, you know how she writes about finding ways to use their out of control zucchini from their garden. She and her daughter provided some great recipes, including one for really good zucchini chocolate chip cookies and a great zucchini orzo. If you don't have the book, you can find those recipes here on their website.

And over at Spinach Tiger, Angela has posted a delicious looking zucchini chocolate cake that I may have to make soon. And that young food whiz, Tony Tahhan, shows how to make a gorgeous zucchini and goat cheese pizza.

Now, don't you feel better about all that zucchini in your garden?

As for this recipe, I think you'll love the addition of the pancetta to the zucchini, which gives it a nice salty kick. Try making your own bread crumbs and using fresh rosemary. It really makes a difference.

Zucchini Gratin

for a printable recipe, click here

1 large sweet onion, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
kosher or coarse sea salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 medium zucchini
10 slices pancetta
1/3 cup bread crumbs *
2 large springs rosemary, minced
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and slice them lengthwise, about 1/4 of an inch thick until you have 10 slices. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute the sliced onions with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and large pinch of salt until soft. Add garlic and black pepper and saute for a couple of minutes. Place the onions in an oven-proof dish.

Season the zucchini slices with some salt and pepper. Top each one with a slice of pancetta. Layer the zucchini over the onions in the ish, slightly overlapping. in a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, rosemary an cheese. Sprinkle over the zucchini and drizzle with additional olive oil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. You can turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes at the end if you need the pancetta to crisp up some more.

* Tip: Make your own bread crumbs with leftover bread. They are far superior to what you can buy in the store. Just place the bread, with the crusts removed, in your food processor and grind away. Fresh bread crumbs can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for quite a while. I make whole wheat bread crumbs all the time from leftover good quality whole grain bread.

For another zucchini recipe, try my mom's Zucchini Lasagna:

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