Baked Lasagna Cooking Recipe Lasagne e Vincisgrassi Recipe
A variation of baked lasagna typical of the Marche region, vincisgrassi is a dish in which rectangles of pasta are baked with a meat and tomato sauce, with added bechamel sauce and Parmesan. The recipe sometimes includes chicken giblets, sweetbreads, or truffles.
Serves 6
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
Pasta dough
- 14 oz. (400 g) fresh egg pasta dough
Sauce
- 1 lb. 12 oz. (800 g) Bolognese sauce
Bechamel sauce
- 1 stick (4 oz./100 g) butter
- 1 cup (3 ½ oz./100 g) flour
- 4 cups (1 liter) milk
- Nutmeg
- Salt, pepper
- ½ cup (3 ½ oz./100 g) grated Parmesan
Cooking Method
- Prepare the fresh pasta dough in advance.
- Roll out the dough thinly and cut into rectangles approximately 5 × 7 in. (12.5 × 17.5 cm).
- Prepare the Bolognese sauce.
Make the bechamel sauce.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, sprinkle with the flour and mix to obtain a white roux.
- Off the heat, pour in a little milk and mix well.
- Whisk in the rest of the milk until you have a smooth sauce without any lumps.
- Replace over the heat and bring to a boil, stirring continuously.
- Let the sauce cook for a few minutes.
- It should remain fairly liquid, as it will thicken while baking in the oven.
- Season with salt and a little freshly grated nutmeg.
Cook the pasta.
- If the fresh pasta is homemade, precook the sheets before arranging them in the baking dish.
- Dampen a dish towel and place it on the counter.
- Prepare a bowl of iced water with a teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil for each 4 cups (1 liter) of water; also prepare a saucepan of water with the same proportions of salt and oil and bring it to a boil.
- Cook three to five rectangles of pasta at a time for 3 seconds, then remove with a skimmer and immerse immediately in the bowl of iced water before they begin to dry.
- Drain them and lay them side by side on the damp cloth.
Assemble the Lasagna.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Generously butter an ovenproof dish.
- Pour in a thin layer of bechamel, then lightly layer the ingredients in the following order (this is the detail that will give the lasagna its texture): a layer of pasta, slightly overlapping, followed by bechamel, then Bolognese sauce, then grated Parmesan, and so on until all the ingredients are used up.
- Ensure there is enough bechamel sauce in the corners of the dish to prevent them drying out.
- If need be, add a little water. Bake for approximately 1 hour.
Suggested food/wine match
- Umani Ronchi Cumaro—Rosso Conero Coast DOCG
Chef’s notes
If you want to give the sauce extra flavor, add. some presoaked dried porcini.
If you want to lighten the dish, replace the bechamel with a veloute sauce (made with stock instead of milk). If you want to use green lasagna, add spinach to the fresh pasta dough. The rectangles of lasagna can be prepared in advance: they keep very well, raw or cooked, in the refrigerator or freezer.
