Lasagne al Forno
An 8 ounce can minced plum tomatoes
1/2 pound ground beef
2 ounces prosciutto
1 ounce dried porcini
1/2 an onion, minced
A small carrot, minced
A 6 inch stalk of celery, minced
A few leaves of basil (if its in season), and a small bunch of parsley, minced
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 cups grated Parmigiano
2 cups milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of flour
Olive oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste
A pound of store-bought lasagne, either fresh or dried
Set the dried porcini to steep in a half cup of boiling water.
To make the sugo, start by mincing the prosciutto, onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté the mixture in two tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan till the onions translucent, then add the meat and continue cooking till its browned. Drain and chop the mushrooms, straining and reserving the liquid. Add the mushrooms, the parsley and basil, the salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg, and the red wine to the sugo, and simmer it over a low flame till the wines evaporated. Then thicken the sugo with a half tablespoon of flour stirred into the reserved mushroom liquid, let cook for a few minutes, and add the canned tomatoes. Check the seasoning and simmer the sugo over a low flame, for at least a half hour.
Make a béchamel sauce by melting a the butter and adding the remaining flour, stirring to keep lumps from forming. Cook until the flour begins to brown, then add the milk, a few drops at a time, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming. Should they form anyways, remove the pot from the flames and stir them out before adding more milk. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg (optional) and continue cooking over a low flame till the sauce thickens somewhat. Set it aside.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil, adding a tablespoon of oil to it to keep the sheets of pasta from sticking to each other. Butter an oven proof dish while the first few sheets of pasta are cooking. Remove the pasta with a slotted strainer when its a little bit al dente. Drain it well and add some more sheets to the water. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 385 ºF.
Lay the first layer of pasta in the dish, following it with a layer of sugo, another layer of pasta, a layer of béchamel with cheese, and so on, till the pasta, sugo, and béchamel are used up. Go easy on the Parmigiano with the top layer, because it can become bitter as it browns. Heat the lasagne through in the oven (they should be lightly browned) and serve them with more grated Parmigiano on the side.
Serves four to six.
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