Food Porn....
Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta, Sundried Tomato Bechamel and spicy Italian Sausage --
This was the first attempt and was pretty successful, though there are a few things I would change. The idea is to capture what I remember to be the perfect balance of salty, sweet and spicy... while maintaining an interesting texture more suitable for the Lasagna.
The traditional Ricotta Pesto Lasagna was the base recipe (though handling the noodles in a more traditional fashion) - and I wanted to experiment with the other two main flavors to achieve the finish.
ingredients
1 recipe green lasagna, 1 recipe yellow lasagna, 1 batch fresh pesto w/2 T fresh Ricotta, 1 batch fresh Bechamel w/pureed sun dried tomatoes, Italian sausage sauted in fresh chili oil, feta, mozarella di bufala and grana padano.
pasta
Roll out both recipes of dough. Cut most of the yellow dough into traditional wide lasagna but cut some of the yellow and all of the the green into thinner strips using a ravioli cutter - about 1 in wide. These will be woven diagonally (like a pie) for the top layer of the lasagna. Cut the remaining green noodles inot whatever shapes you want and dry for later use.
Pesto Ricotta
Make a normal batch of fresh Pesto... but substitue in two T of fresh ricotta for the same amount of butter. Don't salt until after you have incorporated the grana padano.
Sundried Tomato Bechamel
I doubled the recipe and I pureed the full 8 oz of sun dried tomatoes and their oil. Because of the oil, I only used half the butter. While the 4 cups of goat milk heats, melt the butter in a sauce pan on low heat, add the pureed tomatoes mixing well. Slowly add the flower until all the flour is absorbed into the butter making sure the mixture does not burn or brown. Just before the milk comes to a boil turn the heat to low and begin adding the milk into the butter/flour mixture two tablespoons at a time stirring continuously. Once about half the milk has been added, turn up the heat on the butter/flour/milk to medium and start slowly pouring the milk while stirring. Once the milk has been added continue to heat while stirring until the sauce thickens to a paste.
Sausage
Use 2 T Fresh Chili oil (Chili oil is 2/3 C EVO, 2 fresh red chili peppers, splayed and seeded, 1 T fresh Paprika, heated on high until peppers begin to sizzle, remove peppers, let cool a bit and add the paprika), 1/2 onion finely chopped, mild unsweetened italian sausage crumbled with fork, pinch of chili flakes.
The Lasagna
Butter the baking dish, add a layer of wide, yellow noodles. Spoon on an even and liberal layer of Ricotta pesto, a layer of sausage, a thinner layer of the bechamel, space a layer of thinly slized mozarella about 3/4 in. appart, Add a sprinkle of the feta to taste followed by a good grating of the Grana Padano. Repeat for several layers until the final.
For the final layer, take an equal number of the thinner-cut yellow and green lasagne. Angle the dish diagonally and lie the strips across the surface in alternate colours both from top to bottom and left to right, leaving about 1/4 inch space between. Cut the noodles that hang over the pan, leaving about 1/4 in on each side.
Thread the noodles like a pie, tucking the ends into the last layer of ingredients. Spoon a dollop of the remaining bechemel into the resulting diamond shapes, add a bit of feta and some toasted pine nuts.
Cook on 400 for about 15 min - 20 min.
~ Post Script
- Be careful with the salt. Pesto, Feta, Grana Padano and Sausage can all be very salty... so don't salt anything to taste. Reduce the amount of grana padano in the Pesto and on the layers. Only slightly salt the sausage while cooking.
- Bechamel was fabulous... but got a little lost both texture and flavor. The creaminess of the ricotta and the bechamel was a bit much... want something with a bit more bite. The sweetness got a little lost with all the salt. Next time - Maybe add the Feta to the Bechamel and fry the tomatoes with the Sausage. Definately will be using this Bechamel in the future with other dishes.
- Sausage - I love the chili oil - but need to make it more spicy.
- Liked the crunchiness of the toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top.
- Woven top layer was beautiful!!!
This was the first attempt and was pretty successful, though there are a few things I would change. The idea is to capture what I remember to be the perfect balance of salty, sweet and spicy... while maintaining an interesting texture more suitable for the Lasagna.
The traditional Ricotta Pesto Lasagna was the base recipe (though handling the noodles in a more traditional fashion) - and I wanted to experiment with the other two main flavors to achieve the finish.
ingredients
1 recipe green lasagna, 1 recipe yellow lasagna, 1 batch fresh pesto w/2 T fresh Ricotta, 1 batch fresh Bechamel w/pureed sun dried tomatoes, Italian sausage sauted in fresh chili oil, feta, mozarella di bufala and grana padano.
pasta
Roll out both recipes of dough. Cut most of the yellow dough into traditional wide lasagna but cut some of the yellow and all of the the green into thinner strips using a ravioli cutter - about 1 in wide. These will be woven diagonally (like a pie) for the top layer of the lasagna. Cut the remaining green noodles inot whatever shapes you want and dry for later use.
Pesto Ricotta
Make a normal batch of fresh Pesto... but substitue in two T of fresh ricotta for the same amount of butter. Don't salt until after you have incorporated the grana padano.
Sundried Tomato Bechamel
I doubled the recipe and I pureed the full 8 oz of sun dried tomatoes and their oil. Because of the oil, I only used half the butter. While the 4 cups of goat milk heats, melt the butter in a sauce pan on low heat, add the pureed tomatoes mixing well. Slowly add the flower until all the flour is absorbed into the butter making sure the mixture does not burn or brown. Just before the milk comes to a boil turn the heat to low and begin adding the milk into the butter/flour mixture two tablespoons at a time stirring continuously. Once about half the milk has been added, turn up the heat on the butter/flour/milk to medium and start slowly pouring the milk while stirring. Once the milk has been added continue to heat while stirring until the sauce thickens to a paste.
Sausage
Use 2 T Fresh Chili oil (Chili oil is 2/3 C EVO, 2 fresh red chili peppers, splayed and seeded, 1 T fresh Paprika, heated on high until peppers begin to sizzle, remove peppers, let cool a bit and add the paprika), 1/2 onion finely chopped, mild unsweetened italian sausage crumbled with fork, pinch of chili flakes.
The Lasagna
Butter the baking dish, add a layer of wide, yellow noodles. Spoon on an even and liberal layer of Ricotta pesto, a layer of sausage, a thinner layer of the bechamel, space a layer of thinly slized mozarella about 3/4 in. appart, Add a sprinkle of the feta to taste followed by a good grating of the Grana Padano. Repeat for several layers until the final.
For the final layer, take an equal number of the thinner-cut yellow and green lasagne. Angle the dish diagonally and lie the strips across the surface in alternate colours both from top to bottom and left to right, leaving about 1/4 inch space between. Cut the noodles that hang over the pan, leaving about 1/4 in on each side.
Thread the noodles like a pie, tucking the ends into the last layer of ingredients. Spoon a dollop of the remaining bechemel into the resulting diamond shapes, add a bit of feta and some toasted pine nuts.
Cook on 400 for about 15 min - 20 min.
~ Post Script
- Be careful with the salt. Pesto, Feta, Grana Padano and Sausage can all be very salty... so don't salt anything to taste. Reduce the amount of grana padano in the Pesto and on the layers. Only slightly salt the sausage while cooking.
- Bechamel was fabulous... but got a little lost both texture and flavor. The creaminess of the ricotta and the bechamel was a bit much... want something with a bit more bite. The sweetness got a little lost with all the salt. Next time - Maybe add the Feta to the Bechamel and fry the tomatoes with the Sausage. Definately will be using this Bechamel in the future with other dishes.
- Sausage - I love the chili oil - but need to make it more spicy.
- Liked the crunchiness of the toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top.
- Woven top layer was beautiful!!!