RINOLDI CORNER

Well, lasagna lovers! You are on the right spot. You are about to experience the BEST italian lasagna with my unique, authentic and easy to prepare recipe.

Ingredients:

2- packages (16 ounce each) of lasagna shells. Do not buy the “fast lasagna”, please!

4 -medium eggs

1- 32 ounce container of Ricotta Cheese

1 lb of shreded mozzarella (or 1 block, if you prefer to grate it yourself)

4 OZ of grated parmesan cheese

1 lb of ground chuck

1 lb of pork sausage

Tomato sauce for Pasta (about 48 OZ), any brand…but I prefer the “Traditional” style

salt

some sugar

Olives (8 ounces)

2 small cans of mushrooms

Olive oil

SAUCE PREPARATION: put together the ground beef and the sausage in a large fry pan, on medium heat. Cook, stiring constantly until brown. Add the pasta sauce (tomato sauce), stir constantly, when about to boil reduce heat to low. Stir ocassionally. Add 1/8 teaspon of sugar. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add the diced mushrooms and olives. Cook for another 5 minutes. Retire from heat and  let it aside.

Cheeses preparation: If you want to use a food processor, just combine the ricotta cheese, the eggs, and the mozzarella until you get a medium soft paste. Or you can do the mix in a bowl, just beating the mix with a wood spoon.

Lasagna: In a large pot bring to boil about 5 or 6 quarts of water. Add a teasponful of salt and a tablespoon of oil. Add the lasagnas with all care, one by one, but try to do it fast and having care that all the lasagnas are covered by the water. Stir once each minute for about 15 minutes. This is the tricky part. Lasagna must be SOFT, not AL DENTE like other pastas. Cook longer if necessary. When done, drain the cooking water and let the cold water from the kitchen sink faucett to run freely over the lasagnas,  until they are cold enough to be handled with your hands. Take a large tinfoil roasting pan and spread some oil on the bottom and interior sides. Cover the bottom with one layer of lasagnas (do not overlay or overlap, just letting the curled borders touch) When the whole bottom is covered, cover with enough sauce, then add another layer of lasanas and this time over with the cheese mix. Continue alternating until all or most of the lasagnas ar used. DO NOT PUT SAUCE OR CHEESE OVER THE LAST LASAGNA LAYER OR TOP LAYER), on this layer just sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese. Preheat the oven to 475 deg. fahrenheit. Cover the roasting pan with aluminum tin foil. Put in the center oven rack and bake for 50 minutes.  Take the whole roasting pan out of the oven and let it stand for 15 minutes. Uncover (careful with the heat!), cut and serve a really exquisite, authentic LASAGNA ALLA RINOLDI. Serves 8-10 persons. (Ingredients may be halved to make lasagna for 4-5). Good apetite!

Filed under: La Cucina Italiana