Strangolapreti (Trentino-Alto Adige)

Every time we come back from our summer holiday in the Alps I get obsessed with their luscious local dishes and specialties, and it takes some time to get over. And this is another example. Tasty gnocchi based on crushed bread and spinach (or similar green leafy veg), its name "Strangolapreti" translates to "Priest Chokers". There is no known sinister/criminal background to this dish however, the origin of the name is supposed that priests in the old days, typically hearty eaters, loved this dish so much and they used to scarf it down to the point they choked themselves. Typical way to serve it is with melted butter with fresh chopped sage. However it goes well with just about any sauce or condiments, and my favourite is wild mushrooms-bechamelle sauce (as shown in the second pic), which I will post separately!

For 2-3 people
150g day old bread, semi-dry, cut in small cubes
milk
150g frozen spinach, thawed
30g trentingrano (or grana padano, or parmigiano reggiano), freshly grated
dash of nutmeg
1 egg
flour

Preparation
-moisten the bread cubes with just enough milk (adding it little by little -- it shouldn't get too soggy), mix it well to even out the milk, let it stand for about an hour. (tossing the mixture a few times)
-microwave the spinach (the frozen spinach contain a lot of water, so no need to add any) for about 7mins, or until cooked. Let it cool.

-Squeeze the spinach very well, and add to the bread mixture, along with the rest of the ingredients.
-Buzz the entire mixture in a food processor, until it becomes a fairly consistent dough (it gets there pretty quickly, a few pulses, then 10-15 second
-roll the dough mixture onto a generously floured surface, knead briefly to give a little more consistency.
-Make several ropes of about 1,5cm thickness, then cut them into about 3cm long pieces.
-Boil a generous amount of water in a big pot, boil the gnocchi, preferably in two batches (it shouldn't be too crowded in the water, and the water temperature shouldn't drop too drastically)
scoop them out as they float into the surface.
Serve immediately with your favourite sauce/condiments.

Tagliatelle al cacao with Traminer sauce

I found this highly intriguing recipe on the latest issue of "La Cucina Italiana" and just HAD to try it out immediately. The result did not disappoint, faint touch of cocoa flavour from the pasta matches perfectly with the aroma of Gewurz Traminer, celebrated alpine wine famous for it's fruity refreshing fragrance, accented by speck, another delicacy which represents the alpine region. What's more, the dark chocolate coloured pasta does produce an interesting choreographic effect as well. The key is not to overcook the wine in order to maintain the distinct flavour and aroma!!

Tagliatelle al cacao with Traminer sauce

Ingredients (for 3-4 people)
-for pasta
220g flour (plus more for dusting)
30g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1tsp extra virgine olive oil
pinch of salt

-for condiment
180g speck*, finely julienned
250g onion, thinly sliced.
60g butter
360ml Gewurz Traminer
Freshly shredded parmigiano reggiano or grana padano
*if Speck is unavailable, try with a well smoked English style bacon

Knead the pasta ingredients thoroughly until the dough becomes elastic and smooth.
Roll out the dough thin, 1-2mm, and cut into strips about 5-6mm wide.
Let the pasta air dry a little, by hanging or on top of a dry clean cloth, lightly dusted.
(for the detail of pasta dough making technique consult this page)

In the meanwhile cook the condiment. Sautè the onion in the butter, when they begin to soften, add the speck and cook a few more minutes. Add the wine and bring it boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 7-8minutes.

Cook the pasta in a generous amount of boiling water, it takes just about a minute from the point the pasta floats up to the surface. Quickly drain the pasta and toss it with the condiment.
Serve with a generous amount of freshly shaved/grated parmigiano or grana padano

Pasta Salad alla Caprese

This is a lovely fresh tasting pasta dish for a hot evening, easy to prepare and you use the heat only to boil the pasta. The idea is taken from the classic Italian dish Insalata Caprese, I tossed in the pasta to make more substantial for a first course. Not only it tastes great, its red, white and green colour looks so typically Italian as well!! As with any simple recipes , the quality of each ingredients is the key. Make sure to use a good quality olive oil and fresh mozzarella, and the perfect tomatoes plump, red and firm, and oh, a fresh batch of basil leaves. This is a perfect example why it is so handy to grow a small shrub of basil at home during the warm months, even if you don't have a garden it grows very well on your balcony or window sill!!

Ingredients for about 2-3 people

200g dry pasta (short versions, like fusilli, orecchiette, farfalle etc.)
3-4 tomatoes
250g mozzarella, preferably of buffalo milk (di bufala)
generous handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
Extra Virgine Olive Oil
salt, pepper

Cook the pasta as indicated on the package, drain and rinse under the cold water. Drain
Eliminate the stem and core from the tomatoes, then roughly chop them
Chop the mozzarella into bite sizes. (Or you can use the "bocconcini" version, which come in small balls)
Toss the pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, add salt and pepper to your liking, sprinkle with the basil leaves then drizzle the olive oil.
Preferably let the salad rest for at least half an hour, as the flavours blend together better while resting.

Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma is one of widely loved pasta dishes originating in Sicilia (city of Catania to be exact). According to the legend, the name Norma comes from Bellini's opera Norma. the composer hails from Catania and the fans who were taken by the beauty and the excellence of this opera starting to use "alla Norma" to express something particularly well crafted, and this includes this recipe.

Pasta alla norma (Sicilia)

80-120g of dry pasta a person, depending on appetite/custom*
for 4 people (with 320-480g pasta)
2 slender type aubergene, cleaned and sliced in 1cm thickness then quartered
3-4 shallots or 1 onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic
olive oil (to fry, as needed)
6-7 firm, ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped(peeled if prefered)
evoo
salt and pepper
Ricotta salata**
fresh basil leaves
coarse granuled salt


Soak the aubergene chunks in a large bowl of cold water, sprinkle some salt and leave for about 30min.-1hour

Rinse the aubergene, pat dry very well.

Fry the aubergene in hot oil until golden, taking care not to burn. Drain the excess oil on an absorbent paper and keep warm.

Sautè the shallot/onion and garlic until tender and golden in a large skillet.

Add the chopped tomatoes, season with salt and pepper.

Cook further until excess liquids are somewhat thickened.

Toss together piping hot pasta cooked al dente, tomato mixture, aubergene.

Dress the pasta with chopped basil leaves and freshly grated ricotta salata generously and serve hot.

*use your choice of pasta shape, short or long. My personal favourites are orecchiette, penne or fusilli.

**ricotta salata is a Sicilian specialty, much more solid and much less moist than regular ricotta and salted. If not available aged pecorino (ideally Siciliano) or parmigiano reggiano can be used.

Homemade pasta

Nothing beats freshly made homemade pasta, and it is actually quite simple to make!! Of course if you have an electric mixer and an Imperial type pasta cutter it makes the process much easier but even without them it is not a mission impossible, until two years ago when we bought them, I used to do it all by hands quite regularly, and it's really worth the effort, also you can make enough for 2-3 dinners in one go as it keeps in the fridge for several days!!

1 egg to every 100g of flour
Have some water in a little cup/jug handy

1. Kneading

-with an electric mixer

Put the flour in, then make a slight dent and crack the eggs into the dent.
Turn on the mixer, first on slower, then turn it up gradually. If the dough is too dry, add a little water, a few drops at a time. The dough must remain full of body, and shouldn't turn sticky or runny. When the consistency of the dough stabilises turn the mixer up to a vigorous cycle near full speed. Let it knead for about 5-10 minutes, checking intermittently, until the dough is smooth, elastic and very compact.

-by hand
Before you start, keep extra flour handy, make sure your hands are dry and covered with flour.
Pile the flour on a clean, smooth, flat work surface, thoroughly dusted with flour. Make a well in the centre. Beat the eggs, and carefully pour the mixture into the well. Carefully let the top edges of the flour into the eggs, then smoothing up the flour from the outer sides towards the centre to guide into the eggs, let it slowly incorporate into the pile of flour. If the egg spew out don't panic, swiftly push the "lava" into the flour and continue to work. Once the eggs are roughly amalgamated into the flour, start kneading vigorously, thoroughly from every angle, utilising your body weight. If the dough is too dry and crumbly, add just a few drops of water (and no more) at a time, to make the dough smooth enough to work with but never let it become sticky or runny. Sprinkle generous amount of extra flour on the work surface as needed. Continue to knead in the same manner for at least 20 minutes, until the dough is elastic, smooth and compact.

If you are rolling out the dough by hand,
Cover the dough with a plastic film, and let it rest for about an hour. This resting will "tame" the elasticity and make flattening process easier.

2. Flattening

Again prepare a clean, smooth, flat surface to work, strewn with flour and smear more flour onto your hand as well, and more flour ready nearby.

-with a pasta cutter

Secure the pasta cutter on the work surface.
Separate the dough into smaller pieces in order to fit them through the cutter easily and evenly. First Roll each pieces out on the thickest setting.
Narrow down a couple of notches and repass each pieces. If it gets too long, cut in half.
Continue until each piece is about 1,5mm thick sheets for lasagne or filled pasta (ravioli, tortellini etc.), 1mm for tagliatelle, trenette etc.

-by hand

Separate the dough in a few pieces. With a rolling pin flatten out each piece evenly, gradually working into thin sheets, 1,5 mm for lasagne or filled pasta (ravioli, tortellini), 1mm for tagliatelle, trenette etc. Do not worry if the dough spreads into irregular shape, in the end the odd ends can be sliced off, and there is always a way to utilise them. Make sure to cover the work surface with additional flour from time to time as the dough absorbs the loose flour.

3. Cutting:

Tagliatelle/Trenette: With a pasta cutter, choose the size of the pasta form and cut each sheets. By hand, slice them with a sharp, fairly large, smooth bladed knife into desired width. They are best air dried first before being put away, if you have a rack, that will be ideal so every strip will be aired all around.

Lasagne: if they are reasonably regular size, leave as is or slice them into roughly the same sizes.

Ravioli: use a round ravioli cutter, to be filled and folded over in half moon shape, or alternatively put spoonful of filling with even spaces directly on to the sheets, then cut through in between the filling (making sure there is enough space around the filling to secure the edges all around) to make square shapes.

Extra remains: It is normal for you to be left with some odd bits and pieces. They also have a "status" and are called "maltagliate" in Italian. If they are rather large slice them into tagliatelle like strips, and enjoy with sugo, ragù etc. just as you would with other pasta.

4.Hang dry

Let the cut pasta dry for about half an hour, a special rack shown in the above picture is an ideal equipment, however you can also use a rack from your oven as well.

5.. Storing:

Coat the pasta with dry flour as you put them in a container that closes tightly. If you stack lasagne sheet or ravioli, use a sheet of wax paper in between.

6. Cooking:

Fresh pasta cooks very fast. After dropping the pasta into generous amount of boiling water, two minutes will suffice for the pasta to be ready.
For filled pasta, watch carefully and scoop each pieces out as they float onto the surface. Do not overcrowd the water so as not to affect the temperature too drastically.
To make lasagne, no need for precooking the pasta. Lay them directly between the layer of sauces and cheeses. Make sure the surface of the pasta is covered completely with the sauce before baking, so it will be cooked properly.

Lasagne di Pane Carasau

Lasagne di Pane Carasau (Sardinia)

Pane Carasau is a Sardinia's answer to the Mexican tortilla, just as versatile and typical. It is a large, round paper thin crunchy sheets of bread, also called "Carta da musica", or music sheets. It is great munching on as it is, or some condiments, however it is also famous for making an alternative lasagne.. Some people use ragù, or bolognese type meat based sauce, but I personally prefer this without meat, as it goes perfectly well with the light texture of pane carasau!

5-8 sheets of Pane carasau (depending on the size), or as needed
300-400g of fresh mozzarella
coarsely ground fresh bread crumbs*
grated parmigiano reggiano or grana padano, ideally pecorino sardo

Sauce
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 small stalk of celery, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
2 bay leaves
Tomatoes, for a quick recipe you can use about 800ml-1lt of mixture of crushed tomatoes from a tin + passata/tomato puree, but using ripe, fresh tomatoes in season (chopped) greatly improves the flavour. I usually take the happy medium and use about 5-6 fresh tomatoes then add 1 tin (400ml circa) of crushed tomatoes. (Note) Fresh tomatoes does also take longer to cook until they thicken.
Salt, black pepper
Handful of fresh basil leaves (or dash of dried, flaked oregano+basil)
olive oil.

*for bread crumbs, the best option is crushing some slightly stale dried bread in a food processor, however the commercial bread crumbs can used also.

Prepare the sauce by sautèing the onion, carrots, celery and garlic in just enough amount of olive oil. When they are completely softened, add the tomatoes and bay leaves, season with salt. (also add the oregano-basil at this point if dried herbs are used.)
Cook the sauce until it attains a consistent, thickened texture, about an hour. Add chopped fresh basil leaves and black pepper towards the end of cooking.

Chop or slice the mozzarella into small pieces.

Grease the bottom of a baking dish (about 20x30cm), then pour some of the sauce just to thinly cover the bottom.
Take pane carasau, sheet by sheet, dip quickly (but thoroughly) in a lukewarm water and lay evenly to cover the surface of the baking dish, breaking the bread as needed to fit into the dish. (of course some overlapping is expected!)
Cover the surface of the bread again with the sauce, not too heavily.
Arrange the pieces of the mozzarella on top, not completely covering but evenly dotted throughout the surface.
Repeat the procedure with pane carasau-sauce-mozzarella twice over. finishing with the mozzarella.
On the fourth layer, after the pane carasau and the sauce, sprinkle generously with the bread crumbs, then the parmigiano/grana padano/pecorino.
Cover the surface with the foil and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180°C, then take off the foil and continue cooking in the oven, cranking up the oven to 200°C. Cook another 10-15 minutes or until the surface is golden brown.

Serve hot!

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (Lazio)

This is another classic pasta recipe from Rome. It is also very easy and simple to whip up, a perfect tasty and quick dinner for any occasion. There are two schools among the traditional recipes, with onion or without onion, so this is up to you, but as a firm believer that sautèed onions make everything taste better, I always add them!! Also carefully controll the spiciness with the amount of red peppers. If you are very sensitive to spicy food, you may want to opt for a generous sprinkling of coarsely grated black pepper.

Bucatini al Amatriciana
80g-120g of spaghetti a person, depending on their appetite.
about 30-50g of smoked bacon or pancetta per person, chopped
1 shallot or 1/2 small onion per person, finely chopped
1/2 garlic clove per person, minced or finely chopped
red pepper flakes, or ground cayenne pepper (as much or little as preferred), or coarsely ground black pepper
tomato base
-option 1: chopped ripe tomatoes
-option 2: diced tomatoes from tin
-option 3: passata, or pureed tomato
(option 3 for a thicker, uniform effect)
evoo
salt to taste
freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, grana padano or pecorino romano

Sautè the bacon/pancetta with shallot/onion and garlic in evoo until golden.
Add the pepper, salt and tomato to your liking, let it cook further.
If using fresh tomatoes or diced tomatoes, cook a little longer to let the excess liquid evaporate,
with passata just to heat it up.
Toss with piping hot bucatini (or spaghetti) cooked al dente.
Serve hot with generous amount of grated pecorino romano, parmigiano reggiano or grana padano.

Oven baked pasta alla ricotta & mushrooms

This was another improvisation that came out a winner on my recent experiment. I came up with this idea when we had a lot of ricotta on hand. The key is the naturally lumpy ricotta needs to be whipped well with the milk to the smooth, cream like texture, and not to cook the pasta all the way as it will finish cooking itself inside the oven. As a mushroom lover, I think I will increase the amount of the mushrooms the next time though, IMO one can never put too much mushrooms in a dish ;-P

500g dry short pasta (I used fusilli)
700g ricotta
milk - as needed
50g(+ or -) grated parmiggiano/grana padano
500g mushrooms (button mushrooms are fine, but I would like to try with oyster mushrooms next time!)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 tsp dried oregano
olive oil, as needed
more grated parmiggiano(grana padano) and bread crumbs for topping
salt
pepper

Finely slice the mushrooms and onion. Sautè them well in enough olive oil with smashed garlic.
Beat the ricotta in a bowl, adding some milk little by little gradually, to make a smooth, creamy (not too runny) mixture.
Meanwhile cook the pasta, remove from the pot and drain about 2 minutes before the suggested cooking time. (should be still quite chewy to the teeth)
Mix in the large bowl the sautèed mushrooms/onion, ricotta mixture and pasta until the pasta is evenly coated with the condiments.
Pour the mixture in a baking dish, top the surface with the mixture of bread crumbs and parmiggiano.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 175°C, or until the topping is golden brown.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Lazio)

This famous, and delicious pasta dish is one of the traditional recipes to represent the Roman cuisine. It is called "coal miner's spaghetti" (alla carbonara) because the generously sprinkled black pepper reminds you of coal dusts. Very simple to make, yet it requires a few tricks to perfect the dish. The key to attain the creamy texture, instead of creating a spaghetti mixed in scrambled eggs is, to have the eggs at room temperature and prepare the well beaten mixture with the cheese before tossing into the piping hot spaghetti!!

80g-120g of spaghetti per person, depending on their appetite.
roughly 1 egg per person. (room temperature)
about 30-50g of smoked bacon or pancetta per person, chopped
half a shallot or about 1/4 small onion a head, thinly sliced
little cooking cream (optional)
generous amount of freshly grated aged pecorino romano, or parmigiano reggiano
coarsely ground black pepper
evoo

Take out the eggs from the fridge some time before starting to cook, to bring them to the room temperature.
Fry the bacon in a little olive oil. When they starts to take on colour, add shallot/onion and continue to cook, until they are thoroughly sautèed.
Beat the egg well with the cheese (to attain an extra creamy texture, mix in some drops of cooking cream).
Toss all together the bacon mixture, egg mixture with piping hot spaghetti cooked al dente.
Shower the spaghetti with black pepper at the table as it is served HOT.

Pesto alla Genovese

Pesto alla Genovese (Liguria)

This bright green condiment for pasta has an incomparably rich, refreshing aroma and flavour, but be sure to carefully choose the ingredients!! (good quality extra virgine olive oil, well aged hard cheese, and fresh basil leaves in season are the absolute must!) Then you will taste the EMORMOUS difference from those jars available at supermarkets!! you will need...

-a big bunch of fresh basil leaves separated from the stem and well rinsed, then well drained

-Extra virgin olive oil about 3/4 of amount (in grams/ozs) of the leaves.

(please experiment with the amount of below items, adding them gradually... to your personal taste...for a rough measure I use about 75g of cheese, 2 big cloves of garlic 75g of nuts to make about !/2 lt./1lb. of pesto)

-well seasoned parmigiano, pecorino cheese or grana padano cheese, freshly ground

-cloves of garlic

-mixture of pine nuts and cashew

First you whip the basil with oil in a blender/food processor to make a smooth goo, adding the oil gradually. Then add the next 3 items and mix further until everything is well blended.
It can be frozen in portions (using ice cube tray or small container), make sure you pack it well and it will freeze fairly quickly. To keep in the fridge you put it in a bottle, and cover the surface with extra olive oil, to avoid the contact with the air. It will last about 2 weeks.

Pizzoccheri alla Valtellina

Pizzoccheri alla Valtellina (Lombardia)

Pizzoccheri is a very special type of pasta made with buckwheat flour, a specialty of Valtelline, the alpine region of Lombardia, north of Italy. Buckwheat gives an earthy nutty flavour to the pasta, making this recipe truly unique. It is so tasty, you may explore many possibilities using different ingredients, apart from this well preserved traditional recipe!

Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese

Ingredients for 4 (approx):

-250g of buckwheat flour
-100g of regular flour + extra for dusting the board
-pinch of salt
-200g potatoes, peeled and diced in small cubes (1 large or 2-3 smaller ones)
-600g of shredded vegetable – the traditional recipe calls for cabbage, but I find chopped broccoli, halved brussel sprouts or spinach tastier.
-1 Onion, finely chopped
-150g of cheese, alpine cheeses from northern Italy, such as casera, bitto, fontina would be ideal, also gouda, edam, emmental or any kind that melts well with heat can be used. A few different kind of cheeses can be mixed as well, a little gorgonzola (about 50g of it) will add a lovely flavour!
-100g of grated parmigiano or grana padano
-2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
(if available) A few leaves of fresh sage, finely shredded
-100g butter
-dash of white pepper

-knead vigorously together the flours with a pinch of salt, adding just enough water. You need to play around the amount of water, adding little by little for a right consistency taking care not to get it too soggy. The consistency should be on the firm side. Keep on kneading well for at least 15 minutes until it attains a smooth somewhat elastic texture (but not as elastic as the egg based pasta).

-roll out the dough on a flat surface well dusted with flour (keep more flour handy as you work!), stretch it out with a rolling pin to about 3mm thickness (a bit thicker than regular fresh pasta) then cut into short strips about 1cm x 6-8cm (1/3 inch x 2-3 inch).

-cut the cheeses in either small cubes or slices.

-Steam the vegetable to a desired doneness (I prefer them on the al dente side, with the bright colour still intact!)

-In a skillet melt the butter, and gently sautè the chopped onion, minced garlic and sage. When the onion softens and become semi transparent, add the steamed vegetable and mix them well. Turn off the heat and cover and keep warm (if the pasta is not ready at the time).

-Meanwhile boil plenty of water in a large pot, add a pinch of salt then the pasta and potatoes, bring it back to boil and continue to cook for 5 minutes (or until the pasta is cooked al dente, taste a piece before draining).

-drain the pasta+potatoes well, then quickly toss them in a big bowl with the garlic/veg/butter mixture, cheeses and dash of pepper until cheeses are melted and well blended in.

-serve it piping hot.

Note 1: You may be able to find a ready made pasta dried and prepackaged (called pizzoccheri) in a specialty food store or large supermarkets which stock imported items. This will save some work but it will take longer cooking time (anywhere from 10-15minutes, consult with the instruction on the package).

Note 2: Modification from the above recipe, instead of the steamed cabbage/broccoli etc., I also like sautéed radicchio or mushrooms, which can be cooked with onion, garlic and butter. With radicchio, sometimes I may add shredded speck for additional flavour.

Creamy Mushroom Lasagne

I just love shrooms, and love to invent dishes dedicated to this adored ingredient of mine... I whipped up this lasagne on a whim, and turned out to be a big hit! :-D The description became a little long and ended up looking complicated, but if you ever made a regular lasagne, the method is pretty much the same... just the difference of using mushroom mixture instead of tomato based meat sauce. Warning: like so many of my recipes, the exact amount of ingredients were never measured... they are all approximate, so please prepared to be a little flexible! (I am sure if you are interested in this recipe, you wouldn't mind a little extra mushrooms, or cheese or bechamel, so better to be on the generous side :-) )

Ingredients:

Egg based lasagna sheets: about 400g, or enough to cover 20cmx30cm (8x12 in.) baking dish in 4 layers. Fresh ones are ideal (especially home made!), but you can also use certain type of dry sheets, for example Barilla "oven ready" http://www.barillaus.com/Home/Pages/Lasagne_OvenReady.aspx.

2 large onions, or 3 smaller ones, finely chopped
800g-1kg button mushrooms (champignons), thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
3 generous tablespoons of butter
dash of majoram
dash of oregano
generous fistful of fresh flat leaved parsley, chopped (optional)
salt & pepper

250-300g solid mozzarella (the kind generally used for pizzas, sold in larger block or log, not the pure white moist ones conserved in liquid), diced or thinly sliced*

500ml+ bechamel sauce (Packaged Bechamel can be found ready to use in supermarkets, but it is also fairly easy to whip up. recipe is listed below!) **

60-80g freshly grated parmigiano or grana padano

Method:

1. In a large skillet melt the butter, add the onions, mushrooms and garlic, season with the majoram, oregano and s+p. Cover and simmer on a moderate heat, stirring occasionally.
Continue to cook until onions and mushrooms are completely softened.
By keeping the cover on you will extract the liquid to cover the bottom of the baking dish. If it gets too watery, remove the cover and let it evaporate.

2. Line a 20x30cm baking dish (or 8x12 in... normal rectangular size?) with a wax paper as neatly as possible. Or you can generously butter the surface alternatively.

3. Scoop out the liquid from the mushroom mixture, and generously and thoroughly wet the bottom of the dish.

4. Lay the first sheet of the lasagna pasta sheet.

5. Spread some of the mushroom mixture evenly on the surface (keeping in mind the shroom layers going to be repeated 3 times)

6. then sprinkle over the mozzarella cubes/slices. considering the cheese will melt and spread out, you don't need to cover the surface entirely. (you are going to run out of the cheese way too early!) sort of dot them over the mushrooms as evenly as possible.

7. sprinkle a little bechamele over, again sort of dot them around, otherwise you will get a lasagna swimming in bechamelle "soup"!

Repeat the procedure from 4. to 7. 2 more times.

8. Now Pour the bechamelle this time generously over the surface, making sure you will cover every corner of the pasta so it won't dry out in the process of cooking.

9. Cover the baking dish tightly with a foil and bake in the oven at 180°C/350°F for 30min.

10. Take out the dish and remove the foil. Turn up the oven to 210°C/425°F. Sprinkle generously with the grated parmigiano/grana padano.

11. Return the lasagne in the oven, bake for another 10-15min. or until the surface becomes golden brown.


*if the right kind of mozzarella can not be found, you could use a good quality ricotta, or other type of cheese that melts well with the heat, such as provola, fontina, gouda, emmental etc.

**Bechamel sauce
50g butter
500ml whole milk (room temp.)
50g flour
salt
pinch of nutmeg (optional)

melt the butter in a double boiler on a medium heat.
vigorously whisk the milk and flour together until smooth.
add the milk/flour mixture into the double boiler and stir well.
season with a little salt and nutmeg
Stir often in order to keep the texture smooth, and continue to cook until the mixture attains a desired density.