LASAGNA BOLOGNESE WITH FONTINA BÉCHAMEL

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Greetings, rebel scum!

Before we get into this week’s recipe, I want to make a clarification about last week’s post: the chocolate babka. You might remember that one of us (okay, it was me) declared it to be an excellent treat for either Easter or Passover, whichever was your preference. We were inundated with literally several letters pointing out that the babka is yeasted, and a traditional Passover, one might say, tends to skew towards the unleavened. The Hebrews fleeing Egypt weren’t, after all, told “Take what you have and scarper, there’s no time to let your bread rise, oh, unless you’re making babka or something, that would be awesome, oh, good work on the pyramids btw”. So, my apologies for that slip, and please tell Uncle Mort it won’t happen again.

This week’s dish is so much recipe – very so much recipe, wow – we actually had to enlist the help of a third Nerd, our most excellent and game friend Heather, who stayed with us this weekend and whose initial idea it was to make lasagna. Now, I made lasagna at uni – I think we all did – and it’s the easiest thing imaginable, you buy your jar of Ragu and a good cheap packet of dried lasagna, bit of cheese of some kind, Double Gloucester probably, cheddar will do at a pinch, bit of milk, nutmeg, there you have it, one lasagna, lovely.

INGREDIENTS
For the bolognese:

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1lb ground beef chuck
• 1lb ground pork
• 4 oz. pancetta or bacon, finely chopped
• 1 14.5-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• For the pasta (if you're making from scratch)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

For the fontina béchamel:

• 1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups whole milk
• 2 cups Fontina, grated (about 6oz)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 clove minced garlic
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper

To assemble:

• 2 cups parmesan, grated
• Special equipment:
• A pasta maker/roller (see link in text above)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make the bolognese:
2. Combine the vegetables and garlic in a processor and mix until they’re finely chopped (just a few pulses should do it).
3. Heat a large Dutch oven or saucepan on the stovetop, add the oil, and once hot, add the vegetables and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until soft and starting to brown a bit. (10-15 minutes).
4. Add the pork and beef (and pancetta or bacon, if using) and cook until brown. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a spoon as you stir if it's getting dark. (15 mins). Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another few minutes. Add the liquid ingredients - red wine first, allowing to reduce for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, milk and stock. Add the bay leaves.
5. Simmer the sauce, uncovered, for 2 - 3 hours, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more chicken stock (or water) if the sauce starts to get too dry. When it’s done, fish out the bay leaves and leave to cool for 20 minutes (refrigerate when cool if assembling lasagna the next day).
6. .........................................

for full recipes please see : www.nerdswithknives.com

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