Classic Lasagna

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot (6-quart minimum)
• •9-by-13-inch baking dish
• •Large pot for boiling pasta
• •Sheet pans for laying out noodles

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the meat

   Set a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. When it shimmers, add the beef and pork, breaking them into rough chunks. Let them sit undisturbed for two minutes to develop a proper brown crust. Then stir, breaking into smaller pieces, and continue cooking until deeply browned all over, about ten minutes total. The color matters. Pale meat makes pale sauce.

   Do not crowd the pot. If your pot is small, brown the meat in batches. Steamed meat will not give you the depth of flavor this sauce needs.
2. 2

   Build the aromatics

   Push the meat to one side of the pot. Add the diced onion to the cleared space and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden at the edges, about five minutes. Add the garlic, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir everything together and cook until the garlic smells sweet, about one minute. Clear a small space and add the tomato paste, letting it toast against the hot pot for thirty seconds before stirring it into the meat.

3. 3

   Deglaze and simmer

   Pour in the red wine. It will sizzle and steam. Scrape up all those beautiful browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let the wine bubble until it reduces by half, about three minutes. Add the hand-crushed tomatoes with all their juices. Drop in the parmesan rind if you have one. Stir well, bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to low.

   Crushing tomatoes by hand gives you texture: some pieces will melt into the sauce while others stay chunky. A food processor makes everything uniform and lifeless.
4. 4

   Slow-simmer the sauce

   Let the sauce simmer uncovered for at least one hour, stirring occasionally. The surface should barely bubble. You are not cooking so much as coaxing: the tomatoes will break down, the fat will emulsify, and everything will deepen and concentrate. Taste at the forty-five minute mark. Adjust salt. Stir in the torn basil during the last ten minutes. Remove the parmesan rind before assembling.

5. 5

   Prepare the ricotta filling

   While the sauce simmers, combine the ricotta, beaten eggs, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, nutmeg, a half teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper in a large bowl. Stir until smooth and creamy. The nutmeg should be subtle: you should not taste it directly, but you will miss it if it is not there. Set aside.

6. 6

   Cook the noodles

   Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the lasagna noodles one minute less than the package directs. They will finish cooking in the oven. Drain and lay them flat on oiled sheet pans in a single layer to prevent sticking. If using fresh pasta sheets, blanch for thirty seconds and proceed the same way.

   Some cooks skip boiling and use no-boil noodles. I find them rubbery. The few extra minutes of real pasta are worth it.
7. 7

   Assemble the layers

   Heat your oven to 375 degrees. Spread one cup of meat sauce on the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Lay down a layer of noodles, overlapping slightly. Spread one third of the ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles. Spoon one and a half cups of meat sauce over the ricotta. Scatter one third of the shredded mozzarella. Repeat this layering twice more: noodles, ricotta, sauce, shredded mozzarella. Top with a final layer of noodles, the remaining sauce, and all of the torn fresh mozzarella.

8. 8

   Bake until bubbling

   Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for thirty minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the top is golden and blistered in spots, the edges are bubbling vigorously, and the fresh mozzarella has melted into soft, bronzed pools, another twenty-five to thirty minutes. The kitchen will smell like Sunday at your grandmother's house.

   If the top is browning too quickly, tent loosely with foil. If it is not browning enough, raise the heat to 400 degrees for the last ten minutes.
9. 9

   Rest before serving

   Remove the lasagna from the oven and let it rest for at least fifteen minutes before cutting. This is not optional. The layers need time to set, the cheese needs time to firm slightly, and the sauce needs to stop bubbling. A lasagna cut too soon collapses into a beautiful mess. Scatter fresh basil over the top just before serving.

Chef Tips

• •Seek out whole-milk ricotta from a local dairy if you can. The fresh stuff, sold in tubs at farmers markets, has a sweetness and texture that supermarket ricotta cannot match.
• •Save your parmesan rinds in the freezer. They add body and depth to any long-simmered sauce, then slip out before serving.
• •Make friends with a butcher who will grind beef and pork fresh for you. The flavor of freshly ground meat is incomparably better than the pre-packaged kind.
• •Do not skip the resting time. Fifteen minutes transforms a sloppy mess into clean, layered slices.
• •In summer, when tomatoes are at their peak, you can make this sauce with fresh Roma tomatoes. Blanch, peel, core, and crush them by hand. Use about four pounds.

Advance Preparation

• •The meat sauce improves with time. Make it up to four days ahead and refrigerate, or freeze for up to three months.
• •The ricotta filling can be mixed up to two days ahead and refrigerated.
• •Lasagna can be assembled, covered tightly, and refrigerated for up to two days before baking. Add ten minutes to the covered baking time if baking from cold.
• •Baked lasagna keeps refrigerated for five days. Reheat individual portions covered with foil at 350 degrees until warmed through, about twenty minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 335g)