Linguine with White Puttanesca Recipe

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 10 min | Total time: 20 min

Serves 4-6

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 anchovy fillets, chopped
pinch of salt
pinch of crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon capers
12 oil-cured black olives, pitted
1 pound linguine

1. Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook uncovered over high heat until al dente.
2. After you add the pasta to the pot, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add garlic, anchovies, salt and red pepper. Cook until garlic starts to soften.
3. Add capers and olives, and oregano. Continue cooking until garlic is lightly browned.
4. Drain pasta, add to pan with the sauce and stir vigorously until well combined and the linguine is coated with the oil.

Puttanesca Sauce is loosely translated to “street walker’s sauce.” There are a lot of stories about how this name came about. The most popular is that prostitutes used to make Pasta alla Puttanesca and put it out on the windowsill so that the aroma would attract prospective clients. Kind of a silly story, but people seem to like it.

Now, lets talk about anchovies. I know there are probably a lot of people out there who think they don’t like anchovies, and may be tempted to make this excluding them. You certainly can do that if you want, but I am going to ask you nicely not to. Please try it at least once with the anchovies. Chopped up they practically dissolve into the oil when sautéing them, so you don’t have to worry about biting directly into or tasting anchovy. What you will taste, however, is a depth of flavor that will be missing if they are left out. Trust me.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca Recipe

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 25 min | Total time: 35 min

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
6 anchovy fillets, chopped
pinch of crushed red pepper
1 35 oz can imported italian plum tomatoes, crushed with their juices
1 tablespoon capers
12 gaetta olives, pitted
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 pound spaghetti

1. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add garlic, anchovy, and red pepper cook until garlic is lightly browned.
2. Crush tomatoes and add with juices. Fill the empty tomato can 1/4 of the way with water and pour into the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce to a simmer.
3. Add capers, olives, and oregano. Cook at a simmer for 20 minutes, until sauce thickens.
4. While the sauce is cooking bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the Linguini and cook uncovered over high heat until al dente.
5. Drain pasta, toss with sauce and serve.

Pasta with Grape Tomatoes Recipe

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 15 min | Total time: 20 min

Serves 4

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves sliced thin
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1 pound spaghettini pasta
2 large basil leaves, torn into pieces by hand
freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

1. Add olive oil and garlic to a large sautè pan over medium heat. Cook until garlic is lightly browned, then add the sliced tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and salt.
2. Saute the tomatoes until they are softened and have started to release their juices, about 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring a pot of liberally salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook until al dente.
4. Strain pasta and transfer to the sautè pan with the sauce. Add the basil, and toss until completely coated.
5. Dish out into individual serving bowls and serve with grated Parmagiano-Reggiano.

The magic of sausage! It can take an ordinary lasagna and turn it into something special. Yet, even before the sausage, this is no ordinary lasagna. Fresh homemade pasta for the noodles, the Ricotta-Béchamel sauce from Chef Silvia’s Hand Rolled Lasagna and fresh mozzarrella already take this to another level. Add the sausage and it’s breathing down the neck of the venerable Lasagna Verde Bolognese in the race for the title of my favorite lasagna.

Sausage Lasagna Recipe

Prep time: 45 min | Cook time: 1 hour | Total time: 1 hour and 45 min

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
1 pound sweet Italian sausage meat (stuffing from 4 links)
1 35oz can of imported Italian tomatoes
salt & pepper to taste
3 fresh basil leaves
1 recipe Ricotta-Béchamel (see below)
1 pound of fresh mozzarella cut into small cubes
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese
1 recipe of homemade fresh pasta rolled out and cut into 13 inch long pieces

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sautè, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add sausage meat, and salt & pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally until sausage is browned approximately 10 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, crush the tomatoes with your hands then add them with their juices to the pan. Add 1/2 cup of water and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and let simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes. At the very end of cooking, tear the basil leaves into pieces with your hands and stir into the sauce. Remove the sauce from the heat.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In 3 batches add the lasagna sheets to the boiling water and cook until just under al dente. Remove the noodles from the pot using a slotted spoon, place in a colander, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and spread out on clean kitchen towels.
6. Spread 1 cup sauce over bottom of a 13×9-inch glass baking dish. Cover with a layer of 2 to 3 lasagna noodles, overlaping slightly to fit. Spread 1/3 of the Ricotta-Béchamel mixture on the noodles, top with 1 cup of the sauce. Spread 1/4 of the mozzarella over the sauce. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of parmaggiano-reggiano and top with a layer of lasagna noodles.
7. Repeat this 2 more times. Cover the final layer of lasagna noodles with the remaining sauce and sprinkle remaining cup of mozzarella on top.
8. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil, place in oven and cook for 60 minutes. Remove foil and cook until cheese is melted about 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and let sit 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Ricotta-Béchamel Filling

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons unbleached white flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 15 min | Total time: 20 min

1. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over low heat. Add the flour and stir with a wire whisk until it forms a paste.
2. Slowly add the milk to the butter and flour mixture, whisking until smooth.
3. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture is thick and smooth, it should coat the back of a spoon.
4. Remove from heat and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Remove from refrigerator, add the ricotta, salt and pepper, and stir until well combined.

Pasta with Sausage and Cream is a hearty, substantial dish that is quick and easy enough to make on weekday night. If I had to pick a region that this sauce is typical of I would say Emilia-Romagna, specifically Bologna. I don’t know if they would serve it on penne there, but I think it works quite well.

Penne with Sausage and Cream Recipe

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 25 min

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, sliced thin
1 pound crumbled sweet Italian sausage meat (stuffing from 4 links)
1 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste
1 pound penne pasta
freshly grated Parmagianno-Reggiano cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sautè, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add sausage meat and cook, stirring occasionally until sausage is browned approximately 10 minutes.
3. Add the cream, salt and pepper, and cook until the sauce has thickened, 2-3 minutes. Take the sauce off the heat.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the penne. Cook uncovered over high heat until al dente and drain.
5. Place the pan with the sauce back over medium heat, add the pasta to the pan and toss until well coated.
6. Serve with grated Parmagianno-Reggiano cheese on the side.

My wife made a trip to Arthur Avenue this weekend and picked up, among other things, some fresh ricotta cheese from Calandra Cheese Market and tagliatelle from Borgatti’s Pasta. While trying to figure out what sauce we should serve with the tagliatelle, she suggested that I make a Tomato Sauce with fresh ricotta on top like she has seen my father do from time to time.

Normally I would think of doing this with a short dried pasta like penne or rigatoni, rather than fresh noodles, but decided to give it a shot anyway and it worked out quite well. You could toss the ricotta with the pasta and sauce before serving, but I like the presentation of spooning it on top.

Tagliatelle with Tomato Sauce and Ricotta Recipe

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 25 min | Total time: 30 min

Serves 4

1 35oz can imported Italian tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
2 fresh basil leaves
1 pound taggliatelle
fresh ricotta cheese

1. Place tomatoes in a large bowl and crush them by hand.
2. Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sautè, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and cook briefly until garlic is lightly browned, less than 1 minute.
4. Add The crushed tomatoes with their juices to the pan. Add 1/2 cup of water season with salt & pepper, and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and let simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. At the very end of cooking, tear the basil leaves into pieces with your hands and stir into the sauce.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the Tagliatelle. Cook uncovered over high heat until al dente.
6. Drain the pasta and toss with half of the sauce. Dish pasta out into individual serving plates and top with a little more sauce. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the fresh ricotta on top of each dish of pasta and serve.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara is a classic Roman pasta dish, that has become a standard on menus in Italian restaurants around the world. As with any dish that becomes this ubiquitous, many variations tend to crop up, with people adding different ingredients along the way. One addition that pops up frequently is cream. While I am not typically a staunch traditionalist, and our recipe even demonstrates this with ingredients that some may argue with, I do believe strongly, as all Romans would agree, that cream has no place in a real carbonara sauce.

The ingredients that most agree are contained in a traditional carbonara sauce are guanciale(cured pork jowel), eggs, Pecorino Romano cheese, and freshly ground black pepper. Since, guanciale is an ingredient that is not that easy to get your hands on, pancetta is often substituted. This recipe is how my father served carbonara in his restaurant for years, and it includes shallots, white wine and chicken broth. Those ingredients may not be considered traditional, but they really do work in this dish because they enhance the dish by subtly complementing rather than taking away from the main ingredients.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara Recipe

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 25 min

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, chopped fine
8 ounces pancetta, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 pound spaghetti
4 large egg yolks
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil and butter in a large sautè pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and pancetta and cook until the shallots are softened and translucent and the pancetta is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the wine, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half, 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat while you cook the pasta
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the spaghetti. Cook uncovered over high heat until al dente. Drain and add the pasta to the sautè pan and place it back over medium-high heat.
4. Add the egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper, and cook, stirring vigorously until pasta is well coated and creamy. Transfer to individual pasta dishes and serve with extra Pecorino Romano cheese on the side.

Last week I posted a recipe for Tortellini Pasticcio. What I did not mention in that post is that the tortellini I used were homemade.  I had still been tweaking the recipe for the filling and wanted to wait until I settled on a final combination of meats before I shared it.  The filling that I prefer contains ground veal with some pancetta.  It makes a nice light but flavorful tortellini that is equally at home in a cream sauce like the Tortellini alla Panna pictured above or floating in a simple chicken broth to make Tortellini in Brodo.

Homemade Tortellini

2 tbsp butter
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/8 pound pancetta, chopped coarsely
1 pound ground veal
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese
6 large eggs
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Make The Filling:

Melt the butter in a medium sautè pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent.

Add the pancetta and cook for 1 minute, then add the ground veal and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the veal is browned through, about 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Transfer the cooked meat mixture to a food processor, add 2 of the eggs and Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese and pulse until well blended. Cover and refrigerate while you make the pasta.

Make The Pasta:

In a large bowl, add 2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour, and make a well in the center. Break the remaining 4 eggs into the well. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork for about 1 minute, then start to work a little of the flour from the edges in to the eggs, until the eggs are no longer runny. Using your hands mix the flour and eggs thoroughly into a ball. If dough is too wet, and you are having trouble forming it into a ball add half of the remaining flour. If it is still not working out add the rest of the flour, but you should not need more than that.

Transfer the ball to a lightly floured work surface and knead: flatten the dough with the palm of your hands, fold it back towards you, rotate it a half turn and repeat. Continue this process for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and firm. Shape it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Anchor the pasta machine to your work surface following the manufacturer’s instructions, and set the rollers to the widest setting. Cut the ball into 4 pieces. Take one piece and flatten it into a half-inch disk. Pass the disk through the rollers, turning the crank with your hand. Fold the dough into thirds and roll again. Repeat this 2 more times.

Move the dial to the next notch, narrowing the rollers and run the dough through them. Continue this process, narrowing the rollers by one setting on the dial each time until you reach the second to last setting. Lay the flattened dough to the side and repeat the procedure with the other 3 pieces. To save space you can stack the rolled out sheets of pasta on top of each other, separating them with kitchen towels.

Stuff and Shape the Tortellini:

Working with 1 sheet of pasta at a time, cut them into 2 inch squares. Brush the tops of the squares lightly with water (this will help them form a seal when you shape the tortellini, and also make the pasta easier to work with if it has dried out too much). Place about 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the center of each square and fold one corner over the filling, forming a triangle.

Press down around the filling, eliminating any air pockets and sealing the triangle. Wrap each triangle around your little finger pressing the opposing corners together to make a circle, and curl the top point back slightly. Place the shaped tortellini on a lightly floured baking dish in a single layer.

Related Recipes:

Tortellini alla Panna

Tortellini Pasticchio

Tortellini alla Panna is a classic Northern Italian preparation of meat filled Tortellini tossed in a cream sauce. My father used to serve a Tortellini Pasticcio that consisted of Tortellini alla Panna layered with Bolognese Sauce and then baked in the oven. I have been wanting to make this at home for a quite a while, but for whatever reason never got around to it until now. While eating it my wife had one question for me, “Why have we never had this before?”

I always liked the presentation for this in my father’s restaurant. Each one was cooked to order in individual metal plates that went in the oven, with a circle of Bolognese sauce on top in the center of the white Tortellini in the cream sauce. The metal plates were then placed on top of serving dishes and brought to the table (with a warning to be careful of the hot metal plates, of course). The individual metal plates are not an ideal solution for the home cook, but you can still achieve a great presentation with a round or oval ceramic baking dish served family style.

Tortellini Pasticcio Recipe

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 30 min | Total time: 40 min

Serves 4-6

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
salt to taste
1 pound tortellini
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese
1-1/2 cups bolognese sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Add the butter, cream and salt to a large sauté pan, turn the heat on to medium and melt the butter into the cream. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Take off the heat.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the tortellini. Cook until the tortellini are slightly underdone, 3-5 minutes. Drain well.
4. Place pan with butter and cream back over medium heat. Add the tortellini and Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese and stir gently until cheese is melted and tortellini are well coated with the sauce.
5. Coat the bottom of a round or oval baking dish with 1 cup of the bolognese sauce. Add the tortellini with the cream sauce to the dish, then make a circle on top of the tortellini in the center with the remaining half cup of bolognese sauce, leaving about 1 inch around the edges uncovered.
6. Place the baking dish in the oven and cook for 15 minutes, until the cream sauce is starting to bubble around the edges.

There are several things that differentiate Lasagna Bolognese from the Southern Italian style Lasagna that is more familiar to Americans. The most noticeable differences are the use of Béchamel Sauce instead of ricotta cheese, and the absence of mozzarella–only Parmagianno-Reggiano cheese is sprinkled on each layer–which results in a more delicate lasagna.

Lasagna Bolognese should be made using an authentic slow cooked Ragu alla Bolognese (Bolognese Sauce).  Marinara sauce mixed with browned ground beef just won’t do here.  Finally, fresh egg pasta should always be used, not dried lasagna noodles.  Most typically, but not required, it is prepared with green pasta made with spinach.  When made with the spinach pasta the dish can also be called Lasagna Verde Bolognese.

When boiling the sheets of pasta it is very important not to overcook them, because they will cook more when baking the lasagna and you don’t want to end up with mushy noodles that fall apart.  Cook them in the boiling water for no longer than 1 minute,  just so they are soft enough to work with, and rinse them with cold water quickly to stop the cooking.

Lasagna Verde Bolognese Recipe

Cook time: 3 Hours

Serves 8

For the Bolognese Sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 celery stalk, chopped fine
1/4 pound pancetta, chopped coarsely
3 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck
1 35 ounce can imported Italian plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup meat broth, hot
salt and pepper to taste

For the Béchamel Sauce:
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

To assemble the lasagna:
1-1/2 pounds fresh green lasagna noodles
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese

To prepare the Bolognese sauce:

1. In a large deep sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery, cook stirring occasionally until translucent, about 10minutes.
2. Add the pancetta and ground beef, turn heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally until browned about 15 minutes.
3. While the meat is cooking run the tomatoes through a food mill into a bowl. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and meat broth, and season with salt and pepper. Let come to a boil, then lower the heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

To prepare the Béchamel:

1. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over low heat. Add the flour and stir with a wire whisk until it forms a paste.
2. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate sauce pan just to the verge of boiling. Add the milk to the butter and flour mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking until smoothly combined.
3. Add the salt and continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture is thick and smooth, it should coat the back of a spoon.

To finish the lasagna:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees F.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In 3 batches add the lasagna sheets to the boiling water and cook briefly, about 1 minute. Remove the sheets from the pot using a slotted spoon, place in a colander, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and spread out on clean kitchen towels.
3. Spread a thin layer of Bolognese sauce on the bottom of a 13×9 baking pan and sprinkle with Parmigiano cheese. Cover with a layer of pasta, overlapping the pasta where necessary. Cover the pasta with a thin layer of béchamel, spread a layer of bolognese on top of that, then sprinkle with cheese. Repeat until you place 4th layer of pasta on top.
4. Mix the remaining bechamel and bolognese sauce together, spread thinly over top layer of pasta and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Place pan in oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes, the top should be slightly browned and the sauces should be bubbling.

I wanted to make a pasta dish Sunday for dinner and since I had just recently made and frozen a large batch of Italian sausage, Sandy suggested I defrost a few and make pasta with sausage. Great idea! I used sweet sausage for this but if you want to go spicier you can use hot sausage or increase the amount of red pepper flakes.

Pasta with Sausage and Tomatoes Recipe

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 1 hour | Total time: 1 hour and 5 min

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 pound sweet Italian sausage meat (stuffing from 4 links)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1 35oz can imported Italian tomatoes
6 fresh basil leaves
1 pound mezzi rigatoni

1. Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sautè, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add sausage meat, red pepper and salt to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally until sausage is browned approximately 10 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, crush the tomatoes with your hands then add them with their juices to the pan. Add 1/2 cup of water and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and let simmer until thickened, about 45 minutes. At the very end of cooking, tear 2 of the basil leaves into pieces with your hands and stir into the sauce.
4. While sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the mezzi rigatoni. Cook uncovered over high heat until al dente.
5. Drain the pasta and toss with half of the sauce. Dish pasta out into individual serving plates, top with a little more sauce, garnish with the remaining basil leaves torn by hand and serve.

About a year or so after my father sold his restaurant and retired, I decided to get back in the restaurant business part-time, mostly to earn some extra money. I got a job waiting tables at a restaurant called Biscotti in Ridgefield, CT where the chef, Silvia Bianco was doing some amazing things in the kitchen. One dish I remember fondly was her individual hand-rolled lasagnas, I always thought they were a great idea. Each night she would have a special one with different fillings. Biscotti is no longer around, but I was able to contach Chef Silvia and she graciously agreed to contribute a hand-rolled lasagna recipe.

Chef Silvia began conducting cooking classes in her restaurant kitchen in 1995. Today, she offers them in her home-based demonstration kitchen to private groups and some of America’s top corporations, including: GE, Unilever, MetLife, Nestle, Pepperidge Farm, The Gap, and many, many more. She is the author of Simply Sauté, the first in-depth book on sauté in the US; has cooked on stage at the Ridgefield Playhouse and at the James Beard House as well as the Today Show; and is among the panel of top culinary experts selected by The Atlantic Monthly to contribute critical evaluations and reviews.

Chef Silvia continues to grow a strong on-line presence through her web site: www.chefsilvia.com; her monthly essays on food and life, “Notes From the Chef” which can be found on: http://chefsilvia.blogspot.com and includes recipes and tips. She can also be found on the critically acclaimed on-line food resource: www.food411.com where she is resident chef and answers visitor questions though their “Ask Chef Silvia” feature.

Hand-Rolled Lasagna with Ricotta/béchamel, Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers (Topped with a fresh pomodoro sauce)

by Chef Silvia

Hand rolling each lasagna noodle is a wonderful way to not only make this classic comfort food look fancy, but it allows you to customize each piece–if you want to–without having to make a full tray of the flat, layered type. So, if someone doesn’t care for peppers, for example, you can easily leave them out. It’s also a perfect solution if you want to make lasagna for just a few.

The ricotta-béchamel filling, gives each piece a creaminess that is more interesting and lighter than using ricotta alone. I especially like completing the filling with fresh mozzarella, asparagus and roasted red peppers–but any combination of your favorites are fine. Top it with sautéed grape tomatoes and this lasagna is elevated to that of the sublime. I made a variation of this dish when I cooked at the James Beard House. It was a big hit!

Prep time: 30 min | Cook time: 30 min | Total time: 1 Hour

Makes 2-4 servings

4 lasagna noodles
1 cup filling (see below)
4 1/4 inch slices fresh mozzarella
12 pieces fresh asparagus–blanched, ends cut
1/2 cup roasted red pepper filets (buy prepared or better yet, roast your own)
2 cups pomodoro sauce (see below)
3 large fresh basil leaves–slivered
2 sprigs of whole basil leaves–for garnish

Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling, salted water for about 10 minutes, and drain while the noodles are still firm. Rinse the noodles under cold water to stop further cooking (remember, they will cook more in the oven.) Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

To Assemble

Lay each noodle flat. Divide the filling evenly in the center of each noodle. Top each with a slice of the mozzarella, 3 pieces of asparagus, and a few filets of the peppers.

Fold one end of the noodle over the filling and then roll. Place each piece in a greased baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes or until the center is warm. While the lasagna is baking, make the sauce.

Remove the lasagna from the oven and place two pieces on each plate, as in the photo. Top with the sauce. Garnish with slivered basil and sprig.

Ricotta/béchamel Filling

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and stir with a wire whisk until it forms a paste. Slowly add the milk, stirring until the mixture forms a paste and all the milk is absorbed. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes–stirring occasionally–until the sauce is smooth and thick. Remove from heat and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the ricotta, the parmesan, stir and season.

Pomodoro Sauce

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 fresh clove garlic–medium diced
2 cups grape tomatoes–halved
1/3 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Add oil to a sauté pan and heat over medium/high heat until the oil is hot but not smoking. Add the tomatoes and cook for about one minute. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds, add the broth and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a minute more and remove from heat.

Note: For a light meal use one piece of the lasagna per serving and combine with a fresh salad.