(bright music)
- [Andrew] This episode of "Basics" is brought
to you by "Basics",
the "Basics with Babish" Cookbook
that is available for pre-order now.
Today's recipe, like every recipe
in the book is accompanied
by a charming headnote.
A description of how I've personally screwed it
up and a troubleshooting Q and A,
not to mention all the other fun stuff
like my kitchen glossary, do's and don'ts
and a spice rack breakdown.
The "Basics with Babish" Cookbook is available
for pre-order now.
Coming out October 24th.
Tickets for the live tour are going on sale soon.
Now let's get down to the basics of lasagna.
First and foremost, the sauce.
We're starting by sauteing a quarter
of finely chopped Spanish onion
and a few tablespoons of olive oil,
one to three minutes
or until becoming soft and translucent.
Adding four cloves of lightly crushed garlic,
letting those get a little bit of heat
along with three tablespoons of tomato paste.
Sauteing for about 30 seconds
or until fragrant and beginning to stick
to the bottom of the pan.
I'm also gonna add three quarters
of a teaspoon of dried oregano.
Let that toast for a couple seconds
and then splash down one 28 ounce can
of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes.
I like to start with whole peeled both
because they have the best flavor
and because they give you complete control
over the texture of your sauce.
For a nice chunky marinara, I'm gonna mash 'em
up with a potato mash or a pastry cutter.
Then I'm bringing this guy up to a simmer,
lowering the heat, and gently cook for 45 minutes
to an hour adding as little water as necessary.
Normally, I'd add a solid cup of water
to this amount of sauce,
but I wanna minimize the amount of moisture
ending up in the lasagna.
Almost forgot whole sprig of fresh basil
and let this guy cook over low heat
until you got a mellow, sweet tomato sauce.
Next up, the pasta.
Now, of course,
you could use store-bought dried lasagna noodles.
Nothing wrong with that.
People have been doing it for thousands of years.
Simply par boil for about five minutes
or until al dente, stack it with sauce and cheese,
bake and profit.
But let's say,
you have a rival risk toxic relationship
with your Italian grandmother.
You're gonna wanna show her
what's what with some fresh homemade pasta.
I'm starting 550 grams of all-purpose flour piled
into a pile on my worktop pressed
into a sort of wide active volcano shape
into which I'm going to deposit five large eggs
or about 280 grams worth
and two teaspoons of kosher salt.
Then using a fork,
I'm gonna start to beat the eggs
into a slurry, slowly adding flour as I go,
trying to maintain the integrity
of the walls of volcanic mount pasta
for as long as possible until a thick fork,
proof slurry forms.
At this point, you can just switch
to your plain old hands but I'm gonna
use a bench scraper.
Continuing to coax the flour and eggs
into a state of homogeneity.
Once a shaggy dough forms,
things might start to feel a little tough.
If kneading isn't your strong suit,
you can just knead until no dry patches remain.
Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest
for 30 minutes before trying again.
This is gonna allow the gluten to relax
and the flour to fully hydrate.
Now at this point, you can knead by hand
for a few minutes
until the dough is bouncy and supple.
Or if you have a pasta rolling machine,
you can kill two birds with one stone.
Dividing the dough into four pieces
and one piece at a time,
passing the dough through the roller
on its widest setting, then folding
into thirds like a pamphlet
and passing through again,
thus laminating the dough
and increasing the strength
of its gluten network.
If you knead your dough lightly,
you might only wanna do this once or twice.
If you were hardly able to knead it at all,
maybe three times but no more than that.
Then once you get a nice bouncy springy dough,
rolling it out to about an eighth
of an inch thick or the second thinnest setting
on your roller and trimming it into lasagna,
sheet sized sheets even if you're pretty precise,
these are gonna end up kind of a mixed bag
of lengths and widths.
So just go for as long and as wide as you can
so you can trim down after the fact.
Rest and repeat with the remaining pasta,
dusting each sheet generously with flour,
stacking and keeping soft
under a moist kitchen towel.
Last up, the thing
that separates Italian American lasagna
from Italian lasagna and I think good lasagna
from great lasagna,
using a bechamel in place of ricotta.
We're starting with one stick.
Eight tablespoons or 113 grams
of unsalted butter which we're gonna bring
to a bear simmer before adding 63 grams
or about a half cup of all-purpose flour.
Whisking into a thin paste
otherwise known as a rue.
Cooking that over medium heat
for one to two minutes just until it starts
to smell a little nutty.
Then we're adding four and a half cups
of cold whole milk,
starting one little splash at a time,
making a mess of our cooktop,
and making sure that it's fully incorporated
before adding the next.
This lengthy and slightly frustrating process
is going to result in a rich creamy sauce,
which unlike ricotta,
that bakes up dry and crumbly,
is going to add an oozing gooey element
to your lasagna that just has to be tried
to be believed.
Once you've added all the milk,
we're gonna bring things up to a simmer,
reduce the heat and cook
for three to five minutes
until the sauce is thick and glossy.
Then we're gonna season to taste
with at least three quarters
of a teaspoon of kosher salt,
a half teaspoon of ground white pepper
and a quarter to a half teaspoon
of freshly grated nutmeg.
There's two things in this world
to get a freshly grate yourself,
nutmeg and cheese.
Now, if you added your milk a little bit too fast
or you've otherwise caught some lumps,
don't be afraid to pass your bechamel
through a fine mesh sieve before covering
and allowing to cool for about 30 minutes.
And you want to cover your bechamel directly
down under the surface with plastic wrap
to prevent it from forming a skin.
If you form a skin by accident,
just scoop it off and use the fresh,
creamy stuff underneath.
Just like our nutmeg,
we gotta grate our own cheese.
At least one pound of low moisture,
full fat mozzarella,
the vacuum packed block in the dairy section.
No fresh stuff, no pre grated stuff.
Lastly, there are two final adjustments
that we can make to the sauce.
First, if it's too chunky for your taste,
you can give it a little blitz with the immersion blender
or in a food processor.
Just don't over process
or things are gonna turn orange.
Next, we can sausagify it by crumbling
and browning one pound of Italian sausage
just until we got a little bit of color
before adding the sauce and allowing the sausage
to finish cooking as we bring it up to a simmer.
I like to cook the sausage minimally
so it doesn't get too springy
and we are of course, seasoning to taste
with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Allow that to cool for 20 minutes
and we're ready to assemble.
First a bit of sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Spread out evenly
to prevent things from sticking.
Then we commence to layering, and this is
where you can let your lasagna personality shine through.
First, we're gonna cut our sheets down to size
so that they fit together
with minimal overlapping
and then you can express yourself
through amounts of sauce and cheese.
I like a minimally saucy lasagna
with maximal cheese. If you like it the other way around,
you might want to double the sauce recipe.
I'm starting with about a quarter of the sauce,
a quarter of the grated mozzarella
and about one ounce
of freshly grated Parmesan per layer.
Now, when I filmed this, I was alone.
I had a very bad head cold and a mild fever
so naturally I forgot
to add the freaking bechamel.
So nothing wrong
with a little lasagna revision surgery.
Adding a generous channel of the delicious goo
to each layer of lasagna.
Now we're gonna pretend that that didn't happen
and continue assembling as usual,
rinsing and repeating until we have a full casserole.
On the top layer,
I like to go extra light on the sauce
and extra heavy on the cheese.
Now to finally bake this sucker,
we're gonna cover it with aluminum foil,
a lid, or whatever you can find and send it
into a preheated 375 degree Fahrenheit oven
for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.
What we're looking for here
is fully melted cheese and the edges
of the lasagna beginning to bubble.
Then we're returning it to the oven uncovered
for an additional 15 to 20 minutes
until things have become nicely browned.
Grabbing something thin and sharp
like a cocktail pick to pop any big bubbles
which is gonna prevent
any unsightly caverns from forming.
Now, after all this time and effort,
the temptation to dig straight
into your lasagna is gonna be overwhelming,
but you mustn't do it.
Just run a knife or offset spatula
around the outside of the lasagna
and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
Otherwise, when you cut into it,
this is gonna happen.
You'll end up with delicious
but overly melty and unsightly slices.
I wish that I could say I did this
for demonstration purposes
but I really just broke my own rule.
Had I waited another 20 minutes,
I would've been greeted
with nice clean edges like these.
Perfect for garnishing with extra bechamel,
tomato sauce, basil or nutmeg.
And there you have it,
my ultimate lasagna, just one
of the many top tier dishes you're gonna find
in my new book, the "Basics With Babish" Cookbook.
Things got a little sloppy
and I made a few mistakes
but that's what this book is all about.
How to make mistakes, learn from them
and have a little bit more fun in the kitchen.
It's available now for pre-order
so check out the links in the video description.
(upbeat music)