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

[Music] hi I'm Christine Cushing and welcome to another helping of my favorite foods today I want to 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 too bubbly perfection get ready for Bolognese lasagna this is a recipe that people actually have stopped me on the street about and say I love this recipe so I want to 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 going to click on my neat video second part is the pasta and you want to click on that video to step by step everything you want to know about making fresh pasta third component is the bechamel which I also have a video for you want to click on that for the details because there are some details that I have up my sleeve to make a perfect bechamel okay 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 want to 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 going to change the outcome and what I want to end up here is with thin and I really mean thin sheets of pasta [Music] 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 okay 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 [Music] so this part here putting flour between the layers very important so they don't stick together I really want to 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 Silverio and when I said it was a game-changer for me there's these recipes that kind of change your life this Bolognese 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 okay we've got a rapid boil going here and now in our gonna go the sheets a few at a time so they don't stick together the water is heavily salted so I'm gonna 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 drier lasagna so for me I don't want to make a lasagna house that you know is like a house of cards it all stands up straight it's gonna be gooey 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 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 okay 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 okay I'm just going to wipe down my surface here to get ready for phase 3 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 bechamel 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 gonna change is the amount of milk that you use so what I'm making here would be considered a loose bechamel or a light bechamel 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 bechamel then you can you know double it essentially so that's the key and that's what's so cool about the sauce the bechamel it's very versatile but always those two elements are constant equal parts flour and butter ah I feel so much better after sharing that with you alright so butter and flour is good I'm gonna add my milk remember this whole recipe is gonna be below the description so do not fret about it Silverio 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 explained 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 taught 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 Silverio [Music] and we need some parmigiano-reggiano which of course is from emilia romagna that region right inside the bechamel okay now it's assembly time layer one is gonna be just a little bit of meat sauce in the bottom [Music] [Music] each layer of pasta needs to have a little bit of meat and a little bit of bechamel now I want to 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 to look a good little drizzle [Music] 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 okay I just want to trim this I'm not too concerned about everything matching up because I can just trim it as I go [Music] [Music] [Music] in between also you want a little bit of that parameter on Ruggiano perfection and I keep going you'll also notice by the time I assemble it that bechamel with the cheese in it it started to thicken even more right that's 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 alright my oven is set for 375 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 forty minutes are up you gotta see this oh look at that ridiculous I think I discovered a new Italian Cologne here it is so my goodness Bolognese 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 bowling as it was on your recipe thank you for joining me on another helping of my favorite foods be sure to subscribe make sure you let me know what you want me to cook and try this Bolognese lasagna

Channel: MyFavouriteFoods ChristineCushing

Views: 112,783

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Id: rpU5-fTxadM

Length: 14min 11sec (851 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 18 2019