This was
Pasticciata Bolognese, or
Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese.
I asked J what we should do with four large vine-ripen tomatoes from a local farm stand. J's answer was lasagna. Lasagna is not really a tomato-centered dish in my opinion, but it's my job to make J's dream come true. I wanted to create traditional Italian lasagna, not Italian-American style - meat sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses covered with tomato sauce. Lasagna bolognese - layers of fresh pasta sheets, Bolognese-style meat sauce, Béchamel sauce, and Parmesan cheese was my ideal.
I partly adapted the
recipe of lasagna bolognese by smitten kitchen and, for fresh pasta, the recipe of Spinach pasta and Pasticciata Bolognese by Lidia Bastianich. I liked the fresh Spinach pasta's beautiful color!
For Bolognese sauce, I used only 1 pound of ground beef and added all four tomatoes, which made my sauce less meaty but veggie rich, tomato-y sauce. I knew we would love it!
Béchamel sauce was easy to make. I used low-fat milk, which was fine. I skipped a clove of fresh garlic, but added some sprinkles of garlic powder. I wasn't shy to add grated nutmeg in the sauce, though. I like nutmeg flavor in white sauce like this.
Pasta layer again. Total five pasta layers; four meat sauce - Béchamel sauce - Parmesan cheese layers between pasta layers.
On the top of pasta layer, spread Béchamel sauce and Parmesan cheese. The lasagna was ready to go into the oven.
Voila!
The edge of pasta got crispy! Sauce was bubbling! It smelled yummy! Be patient for 10 minutes to rest.
The result was fantastic. It was so delicious. Layer of pasta, meat sauce and white sauce sounded rich and heavy, but actually the texture was very light, smooth and melt-in-mouth.
It took two days to make the lasagna from scratch. At the end, it was worth it!
