Hey gang, how’d we do last week? Can I hire you to be my professional pear poachers? I hope you had fun with it.
This week we take on the entrée. Wait. Let’s not call it an "entrée." This is the kind of dish your Italian grandmother would make, if you had an Italian grandmother (if I had an Italian grandmother). And you know she wouldn’t have called it an "entrée." Instead, I’m going to take a cue from my friend, Phil, who joined Nicole and me in the kitchen when we made this together. (He wasn’t there to cook, of course, but to "taste test.") When he smelled the garlic hit the pan of olive oil, with the aroma of onions and sweet sausage cooking through in the background, he inhaled audibly and declared: "It smells like love." So maybe that’s what we should call it: Love.
Please don’t be intimidated by the length of the recipe or the ingredient list. This recipe isn’t complicated and it’s very forgiving. It’s one of those cheesy, gooey dishes that’s not supposed to look pretty – only delicious. And it will. One tip before we begin: Since I’ve broken the recipe down into three cooking segments, be sure to go through the whole recipe when making your grocery list because you will find repeat ingredients.
Serves 4 (with leftovers).
Bolognese Sauce
(note: this is not a classic Bolognese but a tasty riff on the original meat and vegetable ragu)
- ½ lb sweet Italian sausage
- ½ lb ground veal
- ½ lb ground beef
- 2 onions, small dice
- 5 tablespoons olive oil, separated
- 8 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 – 28 oz. cans whole, peeled tomatoes
- 3 fresh basil leaves
- pinch of sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
First, put on a Claudio Baglioni CD and pour yourself a glass of red wine. Next, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat and saute the onions. After a minute or two, add the meat, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon as it begins to brown. When the mixture is cooked through, take it off the heat and strain it. The top part of a double broiler works well for this, or you can use a colander with small holes. We’re doing this to strain off the unneeded fat.
When most of the liquid is drained, put the mixture back in the pot you were cooking it in and turn it back on medium high heat. As the meat comes back to temperature, open the tomato cans. Drain the juice from one of the three cans and pour the remaining contents into a bowl. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get your hands in there (clean hands, of course). Massage the tomatoes – come on, you know you love it – to crush the tomatoes. When you’re done playing, and the tomatoes are well crushed, add them to the pot with the meat. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. At this point, take a teaspoon and taste a bit of the sauce. Sometimes canned tomatoes can be bitter because they were canned before they were really ripe. If they taste a little off, add a pinch or two of sugar. Now let the whole thing sit, simmering, for about three hours to let the water evaporate out of it, which will thicken the sauce.
While you let the sauce simmer, it’s time to let you in on the SECRET of this sauce. First thing you do is pull down the shades, lock all the doors and turn off all the lights. Huddle close now. Closer. Ready? The secret is adding the garlic – a lot of garlic – to the sauce near the end of the cook time, along with 3 tablespoons of olive oil that we will infuse. To do that, pour the oil into a small saute pan over the lowest heat. Then take the minced garlic and with the side of your knife carefully apply pressure and mash it a little on the cutting board to unlock the flavorful juices inside. Then add it to the olive oil and let that sit while the sauce cooks.
When the sauce has cooked for three hours and it looks rich and thick, it’s time to season. Add salt and pepper to taste along with the fresh basil, chopped. Then – drum roll please – add the secret ingredient, the garlic and garlic-infused olive oil. All of it goes into the sauce and stir it around. You think Red Bull gives you wings – the smell of the sauce, now, will send you into flight, up to the heavens, singing praise with the angels for something so aromatically divine. Now, let this continue simmering while we proceed to the rollatini.
- 16 oz. lasagna noodles
Get a large pot of salted water boiling and add the noodles. Cook until al dente and drain. Spray with cold water to stop them from cooking. Set the noodles aside.
Rollatini Filling
- 2 lbs. ricotta
- 8 oz. shredded mozzarella
- ½ cup grated parmigiano reggiano
- 2 eggs
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 fresh basil leaves
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil for greasing baking dish
This is the easy part, and if you have kids who like to cook, this is where they can lend a hand. Mix all the above ingredients together in one large bowl and set aside in the refrigerator until we are ready to assemble the rollatini.
Béchamel Sauce
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 12 oz. milk
- 2 tablespoons grated parmigiano reggiano
- 3 pinches salt
- a pinch nutmeg
The béchamel (or balsamella, in Italian) will serve as a rich base for our rollatini. Think of it as the creamy moisturizer you put on after you shower, before you dress and, if you’re a woman, put on your makeup. It will also keep the pasta from sticking to the baking dish.
You start by making a roux, which is a thickening agent. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the flour, whisking to cook and incorporate it. Then add the milk – keep whisking – and the cheese. When the sauce is smooth take it off the heat and whisk in the salt and nutmeg (best if freshly grated from a whole seed.) After everything is well incorporated, coat the bottom of a large baking dish with a layer of béchamel. Now it’s time to bring this dish all together and eat!
ASSEMBLY
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Take each lasagna noodle, one by one, and lay a mound of filling at one end (about two heaping tablespoons’ worth.) Roll the noodle over it jelly-roll style and lay in the baking dish. (It’s OK to create a second layer of rollatini in the baking dish if it’s not large enough to accommodate one layer.) When all the noodles are rolled, drizzle any remaining béchamel over the top. Then cover the dish lightly with foil and put in the oven just to heat the rollatini through. We’re not trying to crisp up the noodles. We want the rollatini to remain soft and pillow-like.
To serve, plate the rollatini and pour a generous heaping of Bolgonese sauce over the top. Garnish with a chiffonade of basil or a sprig of the same.
-- Chef J. Fortune
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