Lasagna di Livorno

Lasagna di Livorno

1 and ½ cups – Unsalted Butter
4 – Garlic Cloves, minced
1 – Small Sweet Onion, minced
2 – 9 Oz. Bags of Spinach Leaves
1 Lb – Ricotta Cheese
1 – Large Package of White Mushrooms (chopped into 1 inch pieces)
1 Cup – Merlot Wine (Any Red Wine will do)
½ Cup – Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley
1 Quart plus ½ Cup – 2% Milk
½ Cup All-Purpose Flour
½ Tsp – Ground Nutmeg
1 Cup – Pecorino-Romano Cheese (grated)
12 to 16 Sheets – Lasagna Noodles
3 – Large Eggs
8 Oz. – Fontina Cheese
14 Oz. – Mozzarella Cheese
1 Cup – Sun-Dried Tomatoes (no salt added) (chopped)
2 Tbsp – EVOO
8 Oz – Baby Bella Mushrooms (sliced)

Roughly chop the tomatoes and place in a small bowl…douse liberally with the olive oil and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt 1 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tsp of EVOO and sauté half of the onions for 3 to 4 minutes over medium heat until softened, add 2 cloves of the minced garlic and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Add one bag of the spinach and stir thoroughly and put lid on the pan. After 2 to 3 minutes, lift lid and stir to combine ingredients further and then place lid on again for an additional minute, remove lid and stir until spinach is completely wilted. Drain contents into a colander and leave it to drain. Repeat for the other onion, garlic and spinach…add to the colander. Once the spinach mixture is well drained, add it to the ricotta cheese mixture and eggs in a bowl. Also grate ¼ Cup of the Pecorino-Romano Cheese and mix well. Set aside.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in the same skillet over medium heat, add mushrooms with salt and pepper (to taste). Cook until the mushrooms are softened and slightly browned (about 8 minutes). Then add the sun-dried tomatoes and oil into the pan and let cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes). Pour the ½ cup of the wine into the hot pan and use a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Cook additionally until the liquid has almost evaporated. Transfer to a medium bowl.

In a medium saucepan (over medium heat), heat 1 quart milk and melt 1 stick of butter…when the butter bubbles, sprinkle in the flour (slowly and incrementally), whisking continuously, until it is bubbly and starts to become thick. Remove from heat and stir in 2 Tsp of salt, ¼ Tsp White Pepper, the Nutmeg, and the remainder of the Pecorino-Romano Cheese.

Preheat oven to 350°. Assemble the lasagna: Spread enough sauce to just cover the bottom of the 9x13 roasting pan. Place a layer of the lasagna sheets (uncooked) to fit. Make sure that the noodles do not touch the sides (so that they will be able to be completely submersed in sauce to cook in oven) and overlap so that there are no gaps between sheets; spread Spinach and Ricotta mixture as a layer, then spread the mushroom and tomato mixture to cover; spread a layer of the Fontina cheeese (liberally); then repeat the steps above; place final layer of noodles on top and top with remaining cream sauce and then sprinkle Mozzarella over the top. Bake covered with tin foil for 45 minutes.

Remove the foil and continue to bake the lasagna until golden brown (approximately 30 to 45 minutes). Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Just before serving, melt 2 Tbsp butter and a douse of olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the Baby Bella Mushrooms (season with salt and pepper) and cook approximately 10 minutes. Add the remaining wine. (If you want a thicker sauce – use a thickener – such as Cornstarch).

Remove from heat and add parsley. Pour this mixture over the pieces of lasagna (as served).

Some Additional Pesto Information and Variations

First I wanted to add that if you are just making a pesto and tossing it with pasta - I wanted to add the following addendum to the Pesto Recipe in the previous post: 

Stir 2 Tbsp of the boiling pasta cooking water and 1 Tbsp of butter into the pesto to loosen it and then toss with the drained pasta.

I also often will make the pesto and mix with pasta and then slice some tomatoes and onions and pile on top of the pesto in the serving bowl and then I always shave or grate more Parmesan on top.  The picture below was earlier last week and I used Rigatoni Pasta as opposed to the classic Angel Hair or Spaghetti. 

One last thing I would like to add is that sometimes if you don't have quite enough Basil Leaves on hand - you can use other leaves to make up the difference.  Three that work very well are Watercress, Arugula and Baby Spinach.  I also don't always have Pine Nuts on hand - I have found that Cashews (not salted) work very well and change the flavor slightly - but still very delicious.

To me, Home-made Pesto is always better than store bought.  Unless a deli makes it - I just don't like buying things that are made to sit on a shelf for a long-time...if I can make them quickly at home...But that's just me!

Classic Pesto

Classic Pesto

2 Cups – Basil Leaves
½ Cup – EVOO
2 Cloves – Garlic, Minced
¼ Cup – Pine Nuts
¼ Cup – Grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ Tsp – Kosher Salt
¼ Tsp – Fresh Ground Pepper

**Note if the Parmesan is quite salty in flavor, as is sometimes the case, then omit the Kosher Salt.

Place the basil leaves in a blender or food processor and puree while slowly adding the oil. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until even consistency. Usually only takes 5 to 10 seconds of additional blending.


Voila!  Perfect Pesto.