Lasagne e Bologna

Lasagne alla Bolognese, as the name indicates, is from Bologna, the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, not far from where my father was born and raised. It is a beautiful medieval city known for its food (ragú, tortellini, lasagna) and university- the oldest existing in Europe. When people go on about how great Florence is, my response is typically, "yeah, well, I prefer Bologna". They usually have not been there (except to the train station to change trains on their way to Florence from either Milan or Venice), so they can't argue with me. I like that the sidewalks are in colonnades away from the street, so you dont have Vespas or cars zooming by you and you don't have to negotiate passing other pedestrians walking in the other directions like you do in Florence. I love the color of the buildings and architecture.

There is a food market area, of the kind where certain streets specialize in selling particular foods- fish, produce, pasta, etc.

I also like that it is a university town, so there is a young, edgy, artsy feel to it and there's some good graffiti as well--especially by the train tracks which I didnt capture last time I was there unfortunately. But here is an example of a mural and more that I took in 2005. 

On to the lasagne....
So, when Im looking to cook something Italian I seek advice and recipes from three sources, my mother, Essentials of Italian Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan and Italian Regional Cooking by Ada Boni. I have made lasagna once before and decided to use the same recipe, Ada Boni's. I looked at Hazan's (who is from the 'Romagna' side of Emilia Romagna) and was surprised at how different her recipe is for Bolognese ragú and the lasagna in general.

First of all, I should point out that these two books are completely different in style. Boni's book was first published in 1969 and as the link on her name above reports, she was a professional food writer in Italy starting in 1915. She, along with Artusi, are considered the first to collect and write recipes for Italian cooks. Artusi might be considered the Escoffier of Italy.  Early cookbooks did not really explain as much how to cook, but rather gave the ingredients and directions and assumed the cook knew the rest. This is where Julia Child comes in, but I digress. Currently in the U.S. it seems Hazan is the most popular and the 'go to' guide for Italian cooking. Her recipes are written for the American consumer and are modern cookbooks; i.e. they give detailed descriptions on how to actually cook the food, the ingredients, etc.

Comparing the two, Boni's lasagna recipe seems to me to be the more 'authentic' in that there is very little tomato in Boni's recipe. It is mostly meat, and quite a variety of it at that! Both of their recipes for lasagna combine (bolognese) ragú with béchamel for the filling (= traditional lasagne) and neither would ever use boxed pasta. I bought sheets of fresh pasta at a local grocery store. Boni's cooking time for the lasagna is 45-60 minutes, while Hazan insists that you do not bake it for more than 15-20. Not having yet tasted Hazan's regú recipe, I can not say anything about taste, however, I can say that Boni's really tastes authentic to to what I have had in Emilia-Romagna. I will make Hazan's recipe in the near future to compare and let you know what I find.

mis en place

Here is the recipe adapted from Ada Boni:
Lasagne Bolognesi
There are three fillings: ragú, mushroom in milk and béchemel.

5 -6 sheets of egg pasta (the ones I bought were about 10 x 12 inches)
a lot of grated parmesan
Preheat oven to 375

    Ragú: 3 Tbsp butter          
              2 Tbsp olive oil
              1 onion finely chopped
              1 carrot finely chopped
              1 celery stalk finely chopped
             ⅔ cup pancetta
             ¾ cup ground beef
             ¼ cup sausage meat
             2 chicken livers, chopped
             ⅔ cup dry white wine
           4 tsp tomato paste
           1 cup (approx) light chicken stock
           ¼ cup milk
           salt and pepper to taste

Heat the butter and oil in a deep frying pan. Add the onion, carrot, celery and pancetta and fry over low heat until the vegetables soften and the pancetta browns. Add all the meat and fry gently until they begin to brown, crumbling it with a fork.

before the liquids are added.

 Add wine and cook until it evaporates. Dilute the tomato paste with a little stock and stir it into the sauce. Cover and cook slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally and adding the remaining stock as it is absorbed, every 15-30 minutes. I cooked it for 2 hours like this (Boni: 1 1/2) and then added the milk and continued cooking it until it reduced, another hour. (Hazan insists it should cook for no less than 3 hours and likes to add the milk before the acids).

Mushrooms:
200 grams cremini mushrooms
1 oz. dried porcinis
⅔ cup water
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup milk

Hydrate the porcinis in hot water. Chop or slice thickly the creminis. Melt the butter and cook the garlic clove until golden brown and discard (or eat). Add the fresh mushrooms and cook. Once reconstituted, dry and chop the porcinis, reserving the liquid. Add them to the pan along with their liquid and milk and pinch of salt. Simmer until evaporated.

Thin béchemel sauce:
6 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp flour
6 cups milk
salt to taste

Follow this link on how to make it, I would just add that you want to add the milk slowly at first, while making the roux and add a couple scrapes of fresh nutmeg.

Combine half or ¾ of the béchamel with the meat sauce and add some to the mushrooms, leaving a bit to spread on top later.

Okay, now that you have the components, you are ready to build the lasagna.
Oh, you have to cook the sheets of pasta first! If you are using fresh, as I did, cook it in salted boiling water very briefly. Just put a sheet in, when it comes back to a boil, or about 20 seconds later, take it out and put it in a cold water bath. Rub off all the starch, gently and put on a towel to dry. You HAVE to rub off the starch! as I learned the hard way, because I didn't listen to Hazan and it stuck to the towels.

Now, butter the dish that you are using and drizzle some béchamel at the bottom. Lay a sheet of pasta down and spread the meat/béchamel mixture down, along with a tablespoon or two of grated parmesan cheese. Add another layer of pasta and this time spread the mushroom mixture and parmesan. continue alternating the ragú with mushroom mixture for 5-6 layers. At the top, spread a layer of béchamel and 2+ Tbsp of parm. and dots of butter. Bake in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes, until bubbling and the top is brown and the edges crispy. Et voila!