Basic Grilled Cheese, just the fact's ma'am.

Oh, the variations are all splendid. This time though, I wanted something basic. Give me some good cheese and some good bread. Melt that together with some butter to make it all toasty and crispy. That’s what I craved. Nick, over at Macheesmo, has made a few delicious variants, and I’ll undoubtedly eventually post a few variants of my own too. This time I stuck to the essence of bread and cheese–simple comfort food.

You could go with American white bread and a slice of individually wrapped yellow colored cheese. But that would be silly. Don’t be silly. Pick up some good quality sandwich bread–better still, get a good artisan-style loaf, like a French sourdough or an Italian loaf. And get some good cheese. I’d recommend a Gruyère, like Comté or Emmentaler, or a cheddar–please get a good cheddar though, something aged, with some tang and flavor. This time I picked up some Emmentaler. I like the mild grassy, earthy flavors that gruyere style cheese contributes; it pairs very nicely with the sour notes of a French loaf.

Toasty, warm, cheesy goodness.

The best trick to getting an evenly melted cheese is to shred it and pile it on. Don’t buy preshredded though, those are often dusted with a non-stick powder to keep it from clumping. That powder can affect the way the cheese melts and sometimes make it grainy. If you can’t shred it yourself, cut thin slices. The other thing I recommend is to butter and toast both sides of the bread–I love my butter.

Without varying drastically from the essentials, are there any variations you like? A slice of tomato perhaps? Mustard? I wanted to keep this basic this time, but let me know what you suggest!

No nonsense grilled cheese
It really couldn’t be simpler, but here is the “recipe” anyway.
Ingredients
Cheese (I used Emmentaller), shredded
butter, softened
sliced bread

Directions
1. Heat a heavy skilled over medium-high heat until hot. Meanwhile, butter both sides of bread.
2. Put bread into hot skillet (lower heat if needed so it doesn’t burn) and allow to toast for 30-90 seconds (it’s OK to peek under to check, just don’t play with it).
3. Flip one side over, pile cheese on top then put the other slice of bread on top (toasted sides should now be facing the cheese). Occasionally press gently on the sandwich and cook for another 1-2 minutes, flipping half way, until cheese is melted and sandwich is golden brown and toasty.
Cut diagonally and serve while still warm.

I made this a few times and the only variation I allowed myself was to put a thin layer of good Dijon mustard inside once.

Merguez, you see, is a type of spicy lamb sausage originally from the north of Africa (Morroco, Algeria…). It’s popular in Europe and often used in tagines or stews. Lamb is the common meat used in merguez, not the pork I ended up using. It is made with a range of spices, paprika is probably the most common one. The other item I couldn’t find was harissa. It is a spicy pepper paste/sauce. It’s would have been a great condiment to dollop a bit over the top of the served dish for some extra heat.

But let’s stop talking about what could have been and talk about what was. Even without the merguez and harissa I consider this dish a success. As a bonus, the dish was really cheap and easy, the most expensive ingredient was the sausage. A pound of lentils, a couple carrots and an onion don’t add up to much in the way of cost. Besides being ridiculously cheap, it was also very flavorful and simple to make. It wasn’t quite as easy as the toasted chickpea salad, but this dish should be easy enough for anyone.

Lentils and Sausage

Because I couldn’t find the sausage of the right flavor, I had to make do with adding the spices directly to the entire pot. I was so pleased with the results that even if I do eventually find merguez, I’d still put spices directly into the pot. Using a combination of beef and vegetable broth helped round out the flavors and the sun-dried tomatoes give an extra depth of flavor. I would not recommend substituting the broth out with water as that will dilute the flavor of the beans. You could probably replace the sun-dried tomatoes with a small can of diced ones, but if you can get the real thing, you won’t be disappointed.

Big pot of lentils and sausage

Lentils and Sausage
Ingredients
12 sun-dried tomatoes, not in oil
1/2-1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound sausage, preferably merguez, Spicy Italian will do, cut into 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch rounds
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp Spanish smoked paprika
1 tbsp turmeric
1 lb lentils
2 cups beef stock
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Harissa, if you can find it

Directions
1. In a small bowl, cover the sun-dried tomatoes with the 1/2 to 1 cup boiling water (just enough to cover them all by a little bit, they will plump up and expand in the water). Set aside. Heat the oven to 300F.

2. In a large pot over med to med-high heat, add the oil and heat until it just shimmers. Add the sausage and sear until it has browned on all sides. Rotate the sausages after about 45-60 seconds, or whenever a light brown crust develops.

3. Remove the sausage and all but 1 or 2 tsps of the fat. Add the diced onion and carrot and sauté over medium heat until the onion just turns translucent, about 2-3 minutes. As this cooks remove the tomatoes from the water, keeping the water for use in the next step. Slice the tomatoes into thin strips. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and the spices to the pot, stir to mix everything together.

4. Add the beef and vegetable stocks and the reserved water used to soak the tomatoes. Add the sausage, leaving any of the drained fat behind. Bake, uncovered for 1 hour, until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid is gone (there will still be some in the pot, that is fine).

Variation Make it a soup by increasing the stocks by one cup each, for a total of at least two extra cups of liquid. Cook as normal and serve.

Wikipedia actually lists several possibly origins and meanings for the dish’s name. The most popular version seems to be that prostitues would make this dish to attract customers with it’s strong scent. That seems a bit suspect to me as a strong smelling prostitute would probably be one to avoid. Another popular theory was that the dish was so quick, easy, fast, and cheap that they could make it between customers without losing much business. Hmmm…. “quick, easy, fast, cheap” used in the same paragraph as the word “prostitutes”… Coincidence?

Should this really be called whore's pasta?

Whatever the source of the name, it does make for a very easily made, inexpensive dish. The ingredients are simple and very flavorful. I don’t know of many meals that pack quite the pungency of this one for as few ingredients as are used. If you are a fan of olives, flavorful sauces, and a little bit of heat, this sauce is for you.

While I’m talking about pungent ingredients, I feel the need to mention that I don’t understand why anchovies commonly get such a bad rap. They are packed with umami and pair fantastically with meats and vegetables. If you have never earnestly given anchovies a try, you really should. Anchovies or anchovy like things probably show up in more ingredients and dishes than you imagine.

Pasta Puttanesca

The preparation should take less time than it takes to bring a pot of water to boil and the noodles to cook. This is really quick people, go for it.

Pasta Puttanesca
Ingredients
4 garlic cloves, minced
table salt
1 lb spaghetti
2 tbsps olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 tsps minced anchovies (8-10 fillets)
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, drained, 1/2 cup juice reserved
3 tbsps capers, rinsed
2/3 cup Kalamata olives (or other black olives), pitted and chopped coarse

Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When boiling, add the pasta. Cook until al dente.
2. While the water is heating/pasta is cooking in Step 1, heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Once hot add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and anchovies. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant but nothing browns, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and simmer until slightly thickened, about 8 minutes.
3. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the reserved tomato juice and toss once to mix. Add the contents of the skillet, capers, and olives to the pasta and toss to combine. Add more tomato juice if there is not enough liquid.

I made two variants of this dish over the past couple weeks, both were great, and both were impromptu. The first time I made this I had very little to work with, but when you gotta eat, you gotta eat. So I threw together what I had. A can of chickpeas, some pine nuts, some Parmesan cheese, and a few spices was all I used. Toast the chickpeas, toss with the ingredients and some lemon juice, salt, pepper, a dash of paprika, and olive oil. That’s it. Easy as pie. Actually, much easier than pie; Perhaps as easy as eating pie.

Simple Roast Chickpea Salad

About a week or so later I was in a similar situation except I had a shallot and couple tomatoes on hand. I diced those up, and did almost the same thing as before. This time I made a vinaigrette with the shallot and omitted the paprika.

Both versions are simple, quick, and easy to make, but I prefer the second version. The tomatoes add a bit of moisture and the shallot and vinaigrette add a bit more bite. It’s also quite healthy and, if you omit the Parm, vegetarian and vegan friendly! You can always make doughnuts if you want to clog your arteries.

A bit more complex than above, but it shouldn't take more time.

Toasted Chickpea Salad
Roasting the chickpeas is indeed optional, but it contributes a great nutty flavor. If you are short on time or don’t want to use your oven, you can skip that step.
Ingredients
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsps olive oil
salt and pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan
2 tbsps pine nuts
Variant 1
1 tsp paprika
Variant 2
1 small shallot, minced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar, (I like to use 2 tsps, but I like a vinegary mix)
3/4 tsp Dijon mustard

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F. If using variant 2, whisk the minced shallot, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard in a bowl.
2. Toss the chickpeas with about 2 tsp olive oil then place them on a baking sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes. Shake the pan every 10-15 minutes to prevent scorching. They will be done when browned and toasted.
3. Regardless of the variant, or your own changes, just toss everything else in a bowl with the chickpeas.

Pork Sandwich

This is a great way to bring in the Spring season with some simple vegetables. I used zucchinis, you can add squash as well or any other soft spring vegetables. Serve it with the sauce and vegetables on a bed of rice. The leftovers are perfect for use in sandwiches. This simplicity of this dish belies the amazing flavor. Apart from the apready mentioned crème fraîche, vegetables and pork, thyme, a little garlic, salt, and pepper are all the remainder of the ingredients. Simple is good.

So Good

Not only are the ingredients straightforward, but the cooking process is simple too. It’s basically a two step process. The first step involves browning the tenderloin to boost the flavor. A minute or two in a hot skillet and you’re done. The second part is wrapping everything in a big sheet of parchment paper and baking it in the oven. That’s it. Not terrible difficult, and the parchment paper makes clean-up easy too.

As always, click for larger images…

Notice the little hole in the side of the paper to let excess steam escape.

Ta-da! All done.

Ingredients
2 pork tenderloins, silver skin removed, salted and peppered
4-5 zucchini, cut into medium disk slices
3 cloves garlic
fresh thyme (8-10 strands)
6 tablespoons crème fraîche

You will also need a large sheet of parchment paper.

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F with the rack set to the lower middle section.
2. Place the parchment paper in a baking dish and layer the paper with the cut zucchini. Add some salt and pepper to taste (I used about a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper).
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat (don’t use non-stick if you can help it, cast iron is great for this). Once hot, add two tablespoons canola oil. Sear the tenderloins, one at a time, to brown the exterior. It should take about 45-60 seconds a side to sear the meat. Place the browned tenderloins over the bed of zucchini.
4. Dollop the crème fraîche onto the tenderloins and place the springs of thyme over the meat/zucchini. Cut the garlic cloves in half and scatter them around the meat.
5. Fold the parchment paper over the dish and crimp the edges to seal. If you have a probe thermometer, insert it into the thick part of the tenderloin before sealing the parchment. A probe thermometer will ensure that the meat is cooked to the correct temperature and help guard against overcooking the meat. Leave a little hole in one side to allow the steam to vent.
6. Cook for about 45 minutes. If you have a probe thermometer, USE IT! Set it for 160F in the thickest part of the meat.

Slice and Serve

Tomato Soup

My deep dish pizza recipe already cribbed from Cook’s Illustrated, so why stop on Tuesday. This is their version of a creamy–creamless–tomato soup, and boy did they nail it. It’s a smooth, thick soup that puts the tomato flavor front and center. The thickness comes not from cream, but from torn pieces of bread that disintegrate into the soup and are then further blended into it. Not entirely unheard of, but still clever. All this makes for a delicious, but still low-fat and low-calorie soup.

A quick note though, this may be a tomato soup, but this is not vegetarian. Cook’s Illustrated uses chicken stock create a richness and depth to the soup. Vegetable stock would work to make this vegetarian and vegan friendly. The only thing that would be missing is the gelatin normally found in small amounts in real chicken stock. Go nuts though, there probably isn’t much gelatin in the store bought stuff anyway—just another good reason to make your own.

Tomato Soup

Creamy –creamless– Tomato Soup
From Cook’s Illustrated. [http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=16872]
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
3 med garlic cloves, minced
Pinch hot red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
2 (28-oz) cans crushed tomatoes (muir glen organic with basil is my favorite)
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 large slices sandwich bread (get something good, tear off the crusts)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I don’t need to say it again, but homemade is best)
2 tbsps brandy (I don’t know why Cook’s Illustrated says it’s optional, it’s excellent)

Instructions
1. In a large pot over high heat, put in 2 tbsps olive oil. Add the onion and red pepper flakes, cook for 3 to 5 mins, stirring often, until the onion starts to get translucent. Add the garlic and bay leaf, cook for a minute more.
2. Add the tomatoes and their juice and mix well. Bring to a simmer. Tear the bread into chunks and stir it, and the sugar into the soup. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until bread starts to disintegrate, about 5 mins. Remove bay leaf.
3. Blend in batches with 1 tbsp oil and process until soup is smooth. Return the soup to the pot, stir in the chicken broth and the brandy. Taste, add salt if needed.
4. Serve with cracked black pepper.

So good!

I’m a big fan of pizza and I’m really pleased by my standard pizza recipe. This deep dish dough is a little more difficult than a basic dough, but the pay-off is worth it. The dough doesn’t get soggy or crumble apart under the toppings. As I was eating this, I realized that this was almost taking the expression of “pizza pie” literally- it’s even baked in a standard pie pan! There are a few tricks that Cook’s Illustrated used to make this dough hold up to the sauces and ingredients piled onto the center. I’ll get into those techniques a bit later.

I know you can't tell, but under that delicious Parmesan topping is sausage and goat cheese. You'll have to click through at the bottom of the post see...

When it comes to choosing toppings for the deep dish pizza, my standard strategy of “less is more” doesn’t hold as true. A heavy dose of toppings, sauce, and cheese is almost required to fill this monster pie. Use anything you want, I suggest sausage and goat cheese, or spinach, onions, and ricotta.

Oh, and a note about making this recipe. I used a stand mixer to make the dough, so the methods reflect that. This could be done by hand, but why would I want to do that when I have my KitchenAid?

Ingredients
Recipe lightly adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.
Dough
3 1/4 cups (16 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 3/4 ounces) cornmeal (it calls for yellow cornmeal for color, I just used regular)
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 cups water (10 ounces), room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon plus 4 tablespoons olive oil

Slice of pie.

Toppings
Pizza 1
1/4 pound mozzarella cheese , shredded (about 1 cup)
1/2 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 lb Italian sausage, casings removed, crumbled, browned
4 oz goat cheese
Pizza 2
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese , shredded (about 2 cups)
1 cup thawed, drained, frozen spinach
1 large onion, chopped (or better yet, caramelized!)
1/4 cup ricotta ricotta

Someone took my slice!

Instructions
First, make the dough.
1. Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the dough hook running on the lowest speed, add the water and melted butter and mix until fully combined–scrape down the sides as needed. Increase the speed to medium (#4). Allow to run until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl (almost 5 minutes). It should be fairly smooth and only slightly tacky.
2. Coat a large bowl with 1 tsp olive oil and transfer the dough to the bowl. Turn the dough ball once or twice to coat lightly with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise (room temp) until nearly doubled. [Dough can be held overnight if placed in the refrigerator.]

Butter coated dough.

3. Here is a fairly unique technique for pizza dough used by Cook’s Illustrated. This technique appears to me to be a bit unorthodox in the pizza world, but it works wondering in this case. Laminating the dough.
Remove the risen dough from the bowl and roll it out on a dry work surface into a large rectangle (approx 15×12 inches). Spread the softened butter over the dough using a silicone spatula (see above). Leave about 1/2-inch along edges unbuttered (this will allow the dough to seal again). Roll dough into a cylinder starting from the shorter side. Place seam-side down and gently flatten into an 18×4 rectangle (see below). Cut rectangle in half to make two 9×4 smaller rectangles. Set one of the halves aside for the moment and cover loosely with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Click for larger photos…

Roll the dough into a tight cylender.

Dough now flattened

4. Take the other half and fold into into thirds like business letter (the top folds about a third of the way down, then the bottom comes up to cover it). Pinch the seams together to seal it into a taught ball, don’t force the dough too much or it may tear (if this happens, don’t worry too much, it will still be fine). Repeat with remaining half.

Like a business letter! But don't mail this!

5. Place the two balls into oiled bowls and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in the refrigerator until nearly doubled in volume, 40 to 50 minutes.

6. Oil two 9-inch round cake pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each. One at a time, roll out the dough balls to make 13-inch disks about 1/4 inch thick. The trick to transferring the dough into the pans without tearing is to loosely roll the dough over the rolling pin and gently unrolling it over the cake pan. Press the dough into the cake pan and 1 inch up the sides. If dough is tough and resists stretching, let it relax for at least 5 minutes before trying again. Repeat with remaining dough ball.

Roll out the dough...

Deep dish dough in the pan.

Building the Pizza
Deep dish pizzas are best built on a series of layers to allow the ingredients to settle out and fill the dough nicely. Both sets of ingredients should be treated the same (as well as any additions you want to contribute).
First, sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the dough. Then add any “toppings” such as spinach, sausage, cheeses to be mixed in, etc. For the ricotta pizza, I waited until the end to dollop over the top of the pizza, but I mixed in the goat cheese for the sausage & goat cheese pizza. Finally pour in the tomato sauce and sprinkle with any last minute additions–like Parmesan or ricotta to brown in the oven. (Just be aware that this will bake for a while and may dry some types of toppings.)

Baking the Pizza
Adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake until crust is golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove pizza from oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving

Pizza Sauce
I generally always use my sauce, but I was worried that in these sauce-heavy pizzas, the amount of red pepper flakes I usually use would be too much. Make this while waiting for the dough to rise.
Melt 2 Tbsps butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until the onion turns golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Stir in tomatoes and sugar and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering until the sauce is reduced to 2 1/2 cups (about 30 min). Before using, stir in shredded basil and oil, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pizza! Ta-da!

Driven both by laziness and opportunity, I stripped the ingredients to the bare minimum. All that is really needed is butternut squash. Everything else is basically optional.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chorizo

Well, almost optional. The inclusion of the chorizo adds a wonderful spicy meatiness that I wouldn’t give up. The wealth of ingredients that make up the chorizo (at least, compared to the soup) provide a great contrast and the strong, meaty flavor compliments the soup nicely.

If you are curious about winter squashes, you can head to my post about types of squash and proper preparation and storage. The more you know!

The recipe also calls for cream, but this can be reduced or eliminated. I’ve had this soup both with and without this addition. The cream contributes a luxurious smooth finish and gives it a richer flavor. Even without the cream, the butternut squash soup is still thick and rich but it feels like a much more elegant meal with it added. Either way you chose, I feel like I have to say again not to skip out on the chorizo.

Ingredients
2 small-to-medium butternut squashes
4 to 5 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock, or water)
3/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Chorizo (enough to give 3-6 slices per person)
pepper, salt
olive oil

Directions
1. Peel and cut the squash into about 1-inch chunks. Add these to a large pot and fill with just enough of stock or water to cover the squash (add about a tsp of salt if using water instead of stock). Heat on medium high until it starts to boil, then reduce to a simmer for 12-15 minutes. Check for doneness by pressing a chuck of squash against the side or bottom of the pan. If it doesn’t resist much before smushing, it’s ready.
2. All the soup to cook slightly and then blend until smooth.
3. If using cream, stir it in now. Return the soup to the heat to keep warm. Once the cream is added, do not allow it to boil.
4. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and cook the chorizo for 1-3 minutes. There may be a lot of oil that renders from the chorizo, this can be poured out. Once cooked, blot the sausage with paper towel to remove excess grease.
5. Serve the soup in bowl with a few rounds of sausage placed onto the top of the soup. If desired, crack some black pepper over the top and trace a line of olive oil.

Make ahead tip: Prepare the soup up to the end of step 2. The soup can be refrigerated or frozen until needed. Reheat over med-low heat on the stove and continue with the remainder of the instructions.

Scrambled Eggs

Glad to be back after a school related lapse.  I will be continuing my trek through the Good Eats episodes with scrambled eggs from the first Egg Files episode.  After going through life with mediocre scrambled eggs, I jumped at the opportunity to try a recipe different from my parents’ recipe.  As it turns out, the key to great scrambled eggs is to induce steam and fold them instead of stirring them.  This allows for a perfectly light texture that is still moist.  That brings me to the main lesson of scrambled eggs: if the eggs look done in the pan, they will be overdone by the time they make it to the plate.  This means that your eggs should still look moist when you serve them to the plate, because they will continue to cook.

So even if you think you don’t like scrambled eggs, I would urge you to give this recipe a try.  Maybe you were like me and had mediocre scrambled eggs all your life.  This recipe is simple, and once you get the guidelines you can do it without a recipe on hand.  So give this recipe a try, and the next time you have guests for breakfast, you can wow them with the best scrambled eggs they’ve ever had.

Eggs with a Side of Bacon

Important Notes:
1.  Research done by Cooks Illustrated demonstrated that adding salt to the egg mixture before cooking yielded a more tender finished product.  I add a little bit per egg, and people can add more to taste if necessary after cooking.
2.  This recipe can be adapted to any number of eggs, the guideline per egg are listed in parentheses below.
3.  Depending on the amount of eggs you want to use a different sized skillet, so the eggs won’t take forever.  Here are some rough guidelines: 1-3 eggs (8-inch), 4-8 eggs (10-inch), 8-12 eggs (12-inch).  This allows for the eggs to be better distributed throughout the pan, otherwise the curds take forever to form (see below).

Curds

Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 teaspoons to 3 tablespoons of milk (Between 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon of milk per egg)
4 pinches of salt (1 pinch per egg)
A small pat of butter

Beginning to Fold the Eggs

Almost Finished

Directions:
1.  Whisk the eggs, milk, and salt in a small bowl.
2.  Heat the butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the egg mixture and stir occasionally until you see curds (see picture).
3.  After you begin to see curds, turn the heat up to medium-high and shake the skillet (slide forward and backward on the burner) to make steam.
4. Begin to fold the eggs intermittently between shaking until the eggs begin to coagulate more and most of the liquid is gone from the pan.
5. Serve the eggs immediately onto a plate (remember you already added some salt, so taste them before salting).

The layers of lasagna bolognese

I didn’t need much more convincing to attempt a go at a new recipe. Replacing the combination of cheeses with bechamel worked like a charm. I didn’t even miss the ricotta or mozzarella from the recipe. The smooth, thick sauce was enough to give flavor and moisture to the dish allowing the layers to remain distinct (and to help hydrate the noodles).

I again found Cooks Illustrated and Epicurious helpful with ideas of where to start and how to assemble this. The assembly follows the Cook’s Illustrated almost identically and had a fantastic result.

Cooks Illustrated suggested soaking the no-boil noodles in hot tap water for 5 minutes before using. I had never done that before but had no reason to doubt their technique. I didn’t do a side-by-side comparison of soak vs no-soak noodles, so I cannot comment on how effective this is, but the result was very good.

Lasagna Bolognese

Lasagna Bolognese
Bolognese Ingredients and Recipe
Use 6 cups of the bolognese recipe from the other day.
Other Ingredients
4 tbsps unsalted butter
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
3/4 tsp salt
15 sheets no-boil lasagna noodles (9 ounces) (I like Barilla brand.)
4 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (2 cups)

1. Warm the bolognese over low heat while making the béchamel. Stir occasionally.
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it just foams. Add the flour all at once and whisk constantly. Cook and whisk for about two minutes. The mixture should not brown, but it may darken slightly. This is called a white roux. The darker a roux gets the richer the flavor becomes, but as a consequence the thinkening power decreases. A white roux has very little flavor but can dramitcally thicken dishes.
3. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk constantly and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the salt, then reduce the heat to a bare simmer (med-low). Simmer for 10 minutes. Continue whisking making sure to scrape the bottom of the dish. Transfer the mixture to another bowl to cool slightly. You should have about 3 1/2 cups.
4. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Soak the noodles in very hot tap water in a 9×13 dish for about 5 minutes. Stir the noodles to prevent them from sticking. Pat them dry.
5. Dry the baking dish, then spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Stir the béchamel to recombine. Combine 3/4 cups of the warm béchamel into warm meat sauce and mix together.

Assembly
1. Pour 1 cup béchamel-meat sauce in baking dish.
2. Lay three noodles side-by-side on top of sauce. Place them close together, but don’t let them touch.
3. Spread 1 1/4 cups béchamel-meat sauce evenly over noodles. The sauce should go to the edge of noodles but not to the edge of the dish. You want to cover just the noodles.
4. 1/3 cup béchamel goes on top of the meat sauce.
5. 1/3 cup Parmesan is then sprikled over the béchamel.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 three more times.
7. All the meat sauce should be used but there will be bechamel and Parmesan remaining. The remaining bechemal is used to cover the last three noodles. Any excess should be poured over the dish and fill the sides and any gaps. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the dish.

Baking
1. Cover the dish with a large sheet of foil that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes.
2. Increase the heat to 450F. Remove the foil and bake for 10-15 minutes more, until the surface of the lasagna becomes spotty brown.
3. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes so that the sauce can set. Cut and serve!