Lasagna with Fresh Pasta - That Will Change Your Life _ Christine Cushing

Hi , I'm Christine Cushing and welcome to another helping of my favorite foods .

Today , I wanna share with you a recipe that's a culinary game changer for me .

It is the perfect balance of a rich meaty sauce , thin layers of homemade pasta and a delicate creamy sauce .

All baked to bubbly perfection .

Get ready for lasagna .

This is a recipe that people actually have stopped me on the street about and say I love this recipe .

So I wanna share it with you .

There are three components .

There is a rich meaty sauce which is simmering on the back for the step by step .

Details about that one .

You're gonna click on my meat video .

Second part is the pasta and you wanna click on that video too .

Step by step .

Everything you wanna know about making fresh pasta .

Third component is the which I also have a video for you wanna click on that for the details because there are some details that I have up my sleeve to make a perfect OK , let's get started on pasta is step one .

All right , I love to make my own pasta for this recipe .

This recipe I would consider very epic .

So I wanna cut this in half .

So I'm cutting it into four .

Certainly you can buy prepared pasta .

But every little step of a detour that you make is gonna change the outcome .

And what I want to end up here is with thin and I really mean thin sheets of pasta .

Now , this looks pretty thin , right ?

Do you dare me to go thinner ?

That's the whole point .

I want ultra thin layers of pasta .

Here's the final one .

This is what I am looking for .

It's number five on my machine here on my dial .

OK .

Look at that .

I can use this as a scarf .

It's that delicate here because I'm making lasagna .

I don't know what my final dimensions are gonna be .

So I'm just gonna cut it into thirds evenly and then put some flour between each layer .

So this part here putting flour between the layers , very important .

So they don't stick together .

I really wanna tell you the story of this recipe because it's absolutely epic .

This recipe is from an amazing chef in Bologna when I visited there years ago doing a show named Silver .

And when I said it was a game changer for me , there's these recipes that kind of change your life .

This bone lasagna was one of those recipes that changed my culinary life .

And it's so incredible .

All the little intricacies and details that make it just like you start salivating when you think of this recipe .

OK .

We got a rapid boil going here and now in are gonna go the sheets a few at a time .

So they don't stick together .

The water is heavily salted .

So I'm going to drive four at a time .

And literally by the time this comes back to a boil , it's time to pull them out .

Why am I even boiling this ?

I've seen so many people make lasagna with noodles that are not boiled even with fresh pasta .

What's gonna happen ?

There is the water from your sauce from the meat sauce is gonna get sucked up by the pasta and then you're gonna get a dryer lasagna .

So for me , I don't want to make a lasagna house that you know , is like a house of cards that all stands up straight .

It's gonna be and gooey and soft and you can cut it with a fork .

That's what is great about this lasagna .

So you see it's come back to a boil .

These babies are coming out and then right away .

What I like to do is I don't put this in a cold water bath which would stop the cooking right away .

That's one thing you could do , but then it's gonna wash off all that starch .

So what do I wanna do instead of that is take a little olive oil and drizzle it on top .

So this little part here can be a bit messy and a bit tricky .

But really the key is to have lots of olive oil in here .

So the pasta doesn't stick because it's gonna continue to cook in the baking sheet and you see how it's big .

I spread them out and then after it's gonna cool down , I can pull them apart .

Ok .

That's the key here .

These guys are ready to come off as well .

These little steps all make a difference here .

I want to let this cool down so that I can actually hold it and assemble .

OK .

I'm just going to wipe down my surface here to get ready for phase three , which is the bechamel .

This recipe is all about the timing and actually timing is a really big thing in the kitchen in general .

I think that's the thing that people have a lot of challenge with bechamel butter is in , I'm gonna add my flour and we can talk because I have a few grievances about bechamel .

By the way , the step by step directions for this .

You want to click on my bechamel video .

I have some really cool tips about it .

But in general , let's just put this out there .

A white sauce which this is a beam has always been and will always be equal parts butter and flour because there's a lot of comments online about that .

So you start with equal parts butter and flour .

But what is going to change is the amount of milk that you use ?

So what I'm making here would be considered a loose beam or a light beam because I want it to be loose because I'm anticipating all the other layers .

So if you want a thicker bechamel , you just increase same quantity of flour and butter .

If you want like a super thick beam , then you can , you know , double it essentially .

So that's the key and that's what's so cool about the sauce , the beam , it's very versatile , but always those two elements are constant , equal parts flour and butter .

I feel so much better after sharing that with you .

All right .

So butter and flour is good .

I'm gonna add my milk .

Remember this whole recipe is going to be below the description .

So do not fret about it .

Silver taught me so much about making pasta .

And essentially he introduced me to this whole idea in the north of Italy that it's about the cream , it's about the cheese , it's about the butter .

It's not about olive oil or tomatoes , it's really about those elements .

And what I also learned is that the further north you go in Italy , the softer the wheat gets .

So that kind of explain the mystery when you have a Southern Italian pasta dish .

It's generally made with durum wheat , semolina , harder flour .

So it's , you know , spaghetti , things like that , extruded pastas .

When you get further to the north , the wheat is softer and then you get these egg pastas that are generally , you know , rolled by hand because they're easier to work with .

He me that but oh man , the first bite , I still remember that first bite when we really , we made it together and then I took my spoon and tasted it and I just was transported , I was just in a daze .

Really ?

So , every time I taste it , I'm back in Bologna at that moment with silver and we need some , which of course is from that region right inside the OK .

Now it's assembly time layer one is gonna be just a little bit of meat sauce in the bottom .

Each layer of pasta needs to have a little bit of meat and a little bit of bechamel .

Now , I wanna make sure that I save a little bit of that bechamel because the top layer is going to be bechamel .

So a little bit of that and just a a good little drizzle and we repeat just alternating layers .

Now , you might notice that there's a lot of layers of pasta and that's what's so great about this lasagna .

They're super thin , but there's many of them .

OK ?

I just want to trim this .

I'm not too concerned about everything matching up because I can just trim it as I go .

Yeah .

Mhm In between .

Also you want a little bit of that Parmigiano perfection and I keep going , you'll also notice by the time I assemble it , that beam with the cheese in it , it started to thicken even more .

Right .

This is a good workout too .

Oh , yeah .

Final on top .

Just a little bit more Parmesan .

Just to get that golden crust .

The smell right now is crazy .

All of these beautiful sweet cream cheese meat sauce .

I'm anticipating it already .

All right .

My oven is set for 3 75 .

I do have it a bit high because I want those golden crust .

It's gonna be about 40 minutes or so .

Not longer than that .

You don't have to wait too long .

Don't worry , 40 minutes are up .

You gotta see this .

Look at that ridiculous .

I think I discovered a new Italian cologne .

Here it is .

Oh my goodness lasagna .

Who wants it ?

Look at how phenomenal this baby looks still a little bit hot but you know what ?

It's all gonna be worth it because you're gonna see what's happening in here .

Do you see what I'm talking about ?

I cannot contain myself .

Remember I said you could cut it with a fork .

Look at this crazy how good this smells .

Oh man .

It is so tender in the mouth .

The flavors are insane .

This is what I'm talking about .

I'm right back in Bologna .

You are gonna absolutely love this Bolognese lasagna recipe .

Thank you for joining me another helping of my favorite foods .

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Make sure you let me know what you want me to cook and try this lasagna