Classic Lasagne, Bolognese Style

Spinach pasta is traditional, but you can use any pasta you like here. If you’re making fresh pasta, use a little more flour than called for in the recipe—about 3 cups. This makes a stiffer dough that’s easier to handle. If you’re baking a frozen uncooked lasagne, start it in the cold oven, covered with foil, and figure at least an hour before it is heated through and ready to uncover and finish cooking (for as much as another 30 minutes). Bake precooked frozen lasagna the same way; only it will take just a few minutes after uncovering to get bubbly. You can have this as a side dish for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Salt

1 recipe Fresh Spinach Pasta
or other fresh pasta or dried lasagne noodles (about 1 pound)

1 recipe Bechamel Sauce
, about 11/2 cups

2 tablespoons butter, softened, or extra virgin olive oil

3 cups, more or less, Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style

11/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

• Bring at least 5 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot and salt it. If you’re using homemade fresh pasta, roll it out. Assuming your baking pan is 9 13 inches, make your pasta ribbons 26 inches long, then cut them in half.
• You will still need to cut the noodles so that they fit reasonably snugly into your pan.
• Cook the noodles a few at a time; keep them underdone (if they’re fresh, this means little more than a minute of cooking time; a few minutes for dried). Drain carefully in a colander, then lay flat on towels. (At this point, prepare the béchamel sauce if you have not done so already.) Heat the oven to 400 F.
• Smear the bottom of your baking pan with the butter or oil, then put in a layer of noodles, touching but not overlapping. Trim any overhanging edges. Cover the noodles with about one-quarter each of the béchamel, meat sauce, and Parmesan, then with a light sprinkling of black pepper (between the meat sauce and the Parmesan, there should be enough salt, but if you feel it is underseasoned, add a little salt to each layer also). Make 3 more layers, ending with a sprinkling of Parmesan. (At this point, you may refrigerate the dish, well wrapped, for a day or freeze it for a month; defrost in the refrigerator for a day before cooking if possible.)
• Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, until the lasagne is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Or let cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a month.
  Vegetarian Lasagne.
  • Substitute 3 cups Mushroom Sauce or any vegetarian tomato sauce for the Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style.
  Classic Lasagne, Italian-American Style.
  • Omit the béchamel. On each layer of the first 3 layers of noodles, spread about 1 cup ricotta (thinned, if necessary, with some of the sauce). Top the ricotta with meat sauce, the meat sauce with about a cup of grated mozzarella, the mozzarella with a sprinkling of Parmesan. On the top layer, omit the ricotta.
  White Lasagne.
  • Omit the meat sauce and double the béchamel. Proceed with the recipe. Especially good with some ham and sautéed mushrooms and/or spinach (cooked and squeezed) nestled among the layers.
• MAKES: About 6 servings
• TIME: 45 minutes with prepared sauce