About the Recipe
Antonia's lasagne is about as epic as the dish gets. Rich, creamy, and totally melt in your mouth, this lasagne is absolutely worth the time it takes to prepare.
Ingredients
for the pasta:
400 g 00 flour
4 ea large eggs
4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
for the red sauce:
1 lb marrow bones, cross cut
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 14.5-oz can stewed tomatoes
1 6-oz can tomato paste
2 24-oz bottles passata
48 oz water
1 ea yellow onion
1 ea carrot
for the white sauce:
4 c whole milk
½ c unsalted butter
½ c flour
1 Tbs kosher salt
pinch ground nutmeg
to taste ground parmigiano reggiano cheese
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 450 F. Place the marrow bones on a baking sheet lined with foil, and coat with the olive oil. Roast in the oven until golden, about 45 min-1 hr. Drop the temperature of the oven to 350F.
While the marrow bones roast, prepare your pasta dough. On a clean countertop, heap the flour, then form a well in the middle to place your eggs, but making sure there is flour at the bottom of the well (you shouldn’t see the countertop at the bottom. Crack in the eggs, and drizzle in the olive oil, then use a fork to whisk the eggs and olive oil together without incorporating any flour. Once the eggs are mixed, begin to incorporate the flour from the sides of the well, until a slurry forms. Start to mix in more and more flour, until you can begin to knead the dough together. Knead until the dough is smooth and shiny, then wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge about an hour, then take it out and let it come to room temperature before using.
Using a pasta machine, roll the pasta out to desired thinness. Begin at the thickest setting, and run the pasta twice through each setting before tightening. Use more flour as needed, to prevent pasta from sticking. Cut pasta sheets to the length of your baking dish, and layer on a tray with a bit of flour in between until ready to cook.
To cook the pasta, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil, and prepare an ice bath in a bowl next to the pot. Plunge the pasta sheets a couple at a time into the boiling water for about 30 seconds, then immediately transfer into the ice bath to stop them cooking. Remove from the ice bath and place on a tray lined with parchment. Put a layer of parchment paper between pasta sheets to prevent them from sticking.
Open stewed tomatoes and place in a large bowl along with all of the liquid. Use your hands to crush the tomatoes as much as possible. Add to a pot with the tomato paste, passata, water, whole yellow onion, whole carrot, and the roasted marrow bones. Place over medium heat to bring up to a simmer. Cook at least an hour, until the onion and carrot are soft, but up to 2-3 hours to really make the sauce flavorful. Discard the carrot and onion, or save for another dish.
For the white sauce, warm the milk in a pot, but do not let it scald or simmer. In a separate pan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour to make a roux. Continue to whisk for about 5 minutes over medium low heat to cook out the flour, but don’t let the butter brown.
Slowly whisk in the milk, and season with the salt and nutmeg. Raise the heat to medium, and whisk until sauce is smooth and thick, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat.
To build the lasagne, spoon a thin layer of red sauce over the bottom of a deep 9x13 casserole dish. Add a layer of pasta, then a layer of white sauce. Continue to add layers of pasta, alternating white and red sauces between the layers. Finish with a layer of red sauce over the top.
Cover the casserole dish and bake at 350F for 90 minutes. Remove the lasagne from the oven, and switch to the broiler. Sprinkle the parmigiano over the top, then place under the broiler for just a minute or two, until the cheese is golden.
Let the lasagne rest for about 20 minutes, then slice and serve.