Neapolitan Style Lasagne

This is a fantastic recipe with great chef tips, Neapolitan food has always intrigued my palette and I hope you enjoy this recipe that was given to me as much as I have enjoyed it. You can find more recipes, I have learned by clicking here NEAPOLITAN 

Easy dish to make ahead for Thanksgiving! That is what I do.

Servings 8

For pasta

• 1 lb all-purpose flour
• 5 oz eggs
• ⅜ oz extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

For filling

• meat sauce
• pork sausage, sautè
• ricotta cheese
• egg, hard-boiled
• mozzarella cheese
• grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese or grated romano and parmesan mix

Preparation

1 hour preparation + 40 minutes cooking

Step 1

In a small casserole, gently fry the chopped lard with the oil and the chopped vegetables. Add the minced meat. Meanwhile hard-boil the eggs. ( be very careful not to over boil the eggs, see chef tips below)

Step 2

Brown the mixture for a few minutes, pour the wine over it, sprinkle with the marjoram and season with salt & pepper.

Step 3

When the wine has evaporated, mix in a small amount of flour and leave to cook for some minutes. Then add the tomatoes and finish cooking for about 1 hour, if necessary thinning with a little stock.

Step 4

While the sauce is cooking, make the fresh pasta. Roll the dough out into a very thin sheet and cut it into 4x6 inches rectangles. Cook the rectangles in abundant boiling salted water. Once they are cooked, drain them and cool them immediately in cold water.

Step 5

In a buttered oven dish, arrange the pasta in layers, dressing each layer with the meat sauce.

Step 6

On top of the sauce, uniformly distribute the sausage (previously fried in garlic and parsley) cut into in small pieces, the ricotta, the hard-boiled eggs in wedges or slices and the mozzarella in cubes.

Step 7

Close off with a sheet of pasta and sprinkle grated Parmesan on top. Put the dish into a moderate oven (350°F) for around 40 minutes. Once it is cooked, well-browned on the surface, leave it to rest before serving.

Chef's Tips

The eggs must be immersed in boiling salted water and left to cook for 9 minutes. In this way the yolk does not become green.
Then they should be cooled immediately under running cold water, so that they can easily be shelled. When the pasta is immersed in boiling water it must be stirred immediately, to avoid the sheets sticking to one another. It is a good idea to leave the lasagna to rest after cooking, so that the pasta absorbs any excess moisture. In this way the portions may be cut more regularly and uniformly.

Food history

Carnevale (Carnival) is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent and is associated with catholic faith.
The Italian word Carnevale derives from Latin Carnem Levare (to remove meat): the forty days of Lent serve to commemorate the Passion of Jesus and many foods, such as meat, are forbidden.
Before Lent, people take a large celebration and Carnival recipes are generally rich and nourishing.