Cooking With Maddie Newsletter #25

Lasagna

Hi friends!

I want to start this week’s newsletter by giving a huge shout-out to my wonderful mother for taking over Cooking With Maddie last week. I’m so happy she shared her Carbonara recipe with you all — you’re lucky because her version always kicks ass. I highly, highly recommend making it yourself. I promise, it won’t disappoint.

You’d think the week off would’ve given me time to rest, relax and rejuvenate, but it was quite the opposite— and I’m not mad about it. After a YEAR— jesus, that’s crazy— of postponed plans, nights in and way too much time on my couch, it was wildly refreshing to escape my home and routine these last few weekends. To stay up too late. Drink too much. Laugh hysterically. All safely… don’t worry. I’m not at all encouraging you to be irresponsible. Please, please wear a mask, get tested and hey, if you can get the vaccine, do it. 

I spent a weekend hiding away with all my girlfriends in Palm Springs, to celebrate my beautiful friend Daniella’s bachelorette. Finding yourself in a funk? I found hours under the California sun with a few palomas down the hatch to be a good solve. A weekend in the mountains will also do the trick. You really can’t beat fresh snow and a post-ski hot tub soak.

So while I may not have done much resting or relaxing, I do feel rejuvenated. I’m back, and more inspired than I have been in weeks. Sometimes you just need a little break to come back feeling refreshed. 

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My restored energy led me to the decision of cooking a bucket list item this week—Lasagna. Lasagna is definitely not something I’d recommend making on a typical weeknight, but like I said, I was feeling inspired and ambitious. It is, however, the perfect thing to make over the weekend— and then eat during the week. I am here for food you can cook and then throw into the freezer for a future date. 

It seems obvious, but there’s essentially three components to a lasagna— the sauce, the cheese and the noodles. But as I researched different lasagna recipes, I quickly learned that everyone has their own way of making those three things. My family stuck to the ricotta and ground beef-red sauce route. I’ve discovered some people include a spinach layer— something I will not be doing because spinach is pretty disgusting IMO. Some people make fresh pasta noodles, and to them, I applaud. Even with my newfound motivation, I’m too lazy to make homemade noodles for a lasagna, but if that’s your thing, I recommend following Samin Nosrat’s recipe. Because how can you not love Samin?

The recipe I’m sharing with you today is largely inspired by BA’s Best Lasagna recipe. Something I love about this recipe (and therefore kept it in my own) is that it breaks the cooking up into parts. You can make the sauce up to four days ahead of time. You can make the béchamel the night before. This makes actually cooking the lasagna feel much more manageable— and from a recipe standpoint, easier to follow. 

Here’s what you’ll need for the sauce: 

• 1 lb spicy or sweet Italian sausage 

• 1 lb ground beef chuck 

• Salt and pepper 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil 

• 2 oz pancetta, chopped or cubed 

• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped

• 2 large carrots, peeled, finely chopped

• 6 garlic cloves, sliced 

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 

• ¾ cup dry white wine 

• 1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes 

• 1 cup chicken broth 

• 1 cup whole milk 

For the béchamel, the ingredients are: 

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter 

• ¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

• 6 cups whole milk 

• 4 oz grated Parmesan (about 1 cup) 

• Pinch of cayenne

• Pinch of ground nutmeg

• Salt and pepper 

And lastly, for the assembly, you’ll need:

• 1 lb dried lasagna noodles 

• Grated Parmesan

• Salt 

• Olive oil or PAM for greasing 

Let’s start with the sauce. This lasagna sauce is essentially a ragu bolognese— so if you want to skip out on the lasagna part and just throw this sauce over a bowl of bucatini, I completely understand. That sounds phenomenal. 

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix the Italian sausage and ground beef until well-combined. Season with salt and pepper. 

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat. I like to form loose meatballs and cook, occasionally turning to brown each side. The meat here does not need to be fully cooked, as it’ll finish cooking in oven. Once all meat is browned, set aside. 

Drain out any extra fat from the dutch oven, and reduce heat to medium. Add the pancetta. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes. Add your chopped onion, celery, carrots and garlic, and cook for about 10 minutes or until softened. Add tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes. Add wine, and cook, stirring occasionally until nearly evaporated, about 5 minutes. 

Add tomatoes and its juices, crushing with your hands to make small, bite size pieces. Bring heat back up to medium-high, and cook for another 10 minutes. 

Add broth and whole milk to the dutch oven. Add back the meat. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar, and transfer to the oven. Cook for two hours, stirring every hour to ensure the liquid is on a low simmer. 

After two hours, remove the pot from the oven. Using a potato masher, break the meat and vegetables up. Season with salt and pepper. If you’re making the sauce ahead of time, you can refrigerate overnight and break up the meat and veggies with a potato masher after it’s cooled.

For the béchamel, melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking occasionally, until flour loses its raw flour smell, about 4 minutes. Quickly whisk in whole milk, and increase heat to medium-high. Bring to a simmer and whisk occasionally, until béchamel thickens, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, whisking occasionally, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in Parmesan, cayenne and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Let chill at room temperature. 

To assemble the lasagna, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally to separate the noodles. Cook for five minutes— noodles should be flexible, but not entirely cooked through. Transfer cooked noodles to a greased rimmed baking sheet. 

Lightly oil or grease a 13 x 9 glass or ceramic baking dish — or I used a larger pan and just had less layers. Spread an even layer of ragu sauce on the bottom. Layer a single layer of noodles over sauce. Spoon an even layer of béchamel over the noodles, spreading with the back of a spoon or offset spatula. Top béchamel with a layer of sauce. Repeat, creating as many layers as you can. End with a layer of béchamel. Top béchamel with grated Parmesan. 

Cover with a lightly oiled piece of foil, and set on a rimmed baking sheet. The baking sheet with catch any spillage. Bake lasagna for 1 hour. After an hour, increase temp to 425, and continue to bake until top is browned and crisp, about 10-15 minutes. 

Let sit for 10 minutes before serving, unless you want to destroy the roof of your mouth. 

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For what’s been giving me life, it was sharing the big-ass lasagna with friends. Lasagna might just be the best post-ski day food. Just saying. Like I previously mentioned, it was enjoying the warm weather in Palm Springs. Needless to say, I wish I could lounge on a hammock, surrounded by citrus trees every day. It was taking so, so, so many polaroids of my beautiful girlfriends. It was re-discovering our love for chicken shawarma—go make this NOW. It was my bff Erin making The Spicy Soup— and now I need to make that for lunches this week. 

And lastly, today marks the four-month anniversary of losing my dad. I can hardly believe that much time has passed. In many ways, it feels like the horrible day was just yesterday— and in others, it feels like an entire lifetime has passed. I hate to harp on it, but if you’re going through your own grief, know you’re not alone. All of us are just trying to do our best. Grief isn’t linear, and it often takes us by surprise. If you or anyone you know is struggling with grief, I recommend following The Grief Guide, That Good Grief and The Grief Space on Instagram. Constantly seeing these posts in my feed reminds me I’m not alone in this journey. Also, talk to a professional. You can find a therapist or grief counselor in your area with GoodTherapy, or you can find someone in your insurance network through their website. If you ever have questions about this process, I’m an open book. Feel free to reach out! 

Wish I was with you, 

Maddie