LASAGNA FOR AN ITALIAN DINNER PARTY
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED:
– One deep lasagna pan
– 1 box Barilla Wavy Lasagne
—-Tomato Meat Sauce—
(Canned crushed tomatoes with your own seasonings would be more classic, we opted for the following)
– 2 Jars Rao’s Homemade Tomato Sauce (1 Mushroom & Bell Pepper, + 1 Marinara)
– Black Truffle Tomato Ketchup Private Selection™ Kroger brand
– Salt and Black Pepper to taste
– Dash of hot sauce
– 1/2 cup good red wine for flavoring (all alcohol will cook out)
– 2 one-pound packages of ground mild Italian sausage
– 1 large green bell pepper, diced
– 1 large yellow onion, diced
– 1 large red onion cut into eighths through the stem end
– 3 stems of celery, sliced into 1/4th inch slices
– 1/8 cup chicken stock
– 1/2 pound bacon
– Extra Virgin. olive oil
——Bechamel Sauce——
– 6 + 1 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
– 1/4 onion finely grated
– 6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
– 3 3/4 cups whole milk, heated but not boiled
– salt to taste
– white pepper to taste
– a dash of ground nutmeg
– 1 package of Kroger Private Selection® Alpine Blend Swiss & Gruyere Thick Cut Shredded Cheese.
——Mushrooms——
– 1 carton white mushrooms, sliced into 1/8” slices.
– 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1 Good Splash Coors Banquet Beer for flavoring (all alcohol will cook out)
——Assemble the Lasagna–
– 1 package shredded mozzarella
– 1 jar or package Parmesan cheese shreds
PASTA INSTRUCTIONS
— Cooking pasta in salted water in a large pot on the stovetop, (we used most of a whole package of Barilla Wavy Lasagna Noodles) – cook until al dente (half a package at a time) – remove lasagna noodles to buttered baking sheets (it took 3 cookie sheets for ours), find an area to set these cooked noodles aside, noodles will be used when we assemble the lasagna.
MEAT AND TOMATO SAUCE INSTRUCTIONS
– Cook the vegetables. Sauté celery, bell pepper, and onion in a skillet until wilted and starting to brown. Place sautéed vegetables in a blender with a small amount of chicken broth and blend until smooth. Set aside to add to sauce.
– Cook the sausage. First cook the half package of bacon, rendering out the fat. Remove bacon and half of the drippings. Cook one pound of the sausage at a time in the rendered bacon fat in the large skillet, adding olive oil if needed to start the sausage browning. Chop the sausage as you cook until it is in small crumbles (no large clumps allowed in lasagna). Season lightly with salt and pepper (or steak seasoning) as you cook the meat. When meat is browned and in small curds, remove meat and set aside. Repeat with second pound of sausage using the other half of bacon drippings.
– Chop the cooked bacon into bits and reserve for the meat sauce.
– Into a large soup pot, add EVOO to the bottom and place red onions in to sauté. After three minutes, pour the tomato sauces on top of the onions.
– Add 2/3 of a bottle of Black Truffle Ketchup.
– Add the red wine.
– Add a dash of your favorite hot sauce.
– Now cook the tomato sauce for at least 30 minutes to reduce and mature the sauce, removing any raw flavor and alcohol from of the sauce. Stir every minute or so to keep the sauce on the bottom from burning.
– Switch to low heat, add the blended vegetables, cooked sausage, and bacon bits to the sauce and continue to simmer for 30 minutes or more to continue melding and reducing the sauce. Taste and adjust as needed.
– The tomato and meat sauce is now ready for the lasagna.
– Make the Béchamel sauce, then immediately assemble the lasagna.
MUSHROOMS
– Saute mushrooms in olive oil stirring until glossy and soft. Season with salt and pepper.
– Add a good splash of Coors Banquet Beer.
– Continue cooking until beer evaporates.
-Remove mushrooms to a plate and set aside.
BECHAMEL SAUCE INSTRUCTIONS
– In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
– Add onion and cook about 1 1/2 minutes.
– Add flour; cook, stirring frequently, until it has a slightly nutty aroma and thickens. (Flour must cook some to remove the raw flour taste.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
– Whisking constantly, pour in 2 cups milk, stirring until sauce is smooth.
– Add an additional 1 3/4 cups milk and whisk until smooth.
– Cook mixture, stirring constantly along the bottom of pan, until bubbling along the edges.
– Reduce heat to low.
– Stir in a dash of ground nutmeg
– Next stir in the whole package of Swiss & Gruyere cheese, a little at a time.
– Simmer, stirring constantly until cheese sauce is fully smooth.
– Stir in a Tablespoon of salted butter and stir until all elements are incorporated.
– Taste and adjust seasoning.
– Lasagna Béchamel is ready. Immediately assemble the lasagna.
——————
BUILD THE LASAGNA IN THE DEEP LASAGNA PAN
– First butter your lasagna pan
– Next put down a very thin portion of meat sauce followed by three strips of lasagna noodles side by side.
– Spread an adequate amount of tomato/meat sauce over the noodles.
– Next spread an adequate amount of béchamel sauce over the tomato/meat sauce (this is also the cheese layer) and scatter mushrooms every 2 1/2” over the entire casserole. Note: These sauces will not completely cover the noodles, play it as best you can. The sauces will blend as they cook.
– Make two layers of noodles, tomato/meat béchamel sauce and mushrooms.
– Then make two more layers of noodles with only tomato/meat sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese covering the sauce.
– Next, two more layers of noodles, tomato/meat & béchamel sauces.
– On top of the final layer of béchamel, cover the béchamel with shredded mozzarella cheese, then another good amount of shredded parmesan cheese to create that must-have cheese cap.
COOKING THE ASSEMBLED LASAGNA
– In a 375º preheated oven, bake the lasagna for 45 minutes covered with aluminum foil.
– Remove the foil and bake an additional 20+ minutes uncovered until the cheese is brown and bubbling. Use your eye for the correct appearance.
– Remove the finished lasagna from the oven and let it rest. (Until time to serve at your party.)
– We simply cut it into squares and served one to each guest. I would recommend re-heating the cheese topping, with 1 minute for each serving in the microwave.
LEFTOVERS
– The leftovers can be re-heated in the microwave or oven and the dish gets even better after a day (covered) in the fridge, even more flavor soaks into the noodles.
