- penne
- extra-virgin olive oil
- chopped rosemary
- salt
- ricotta
- grated grana padano or parmigiano reggiano
- shredded Parmesan cheese
- frozen peas
- whipping cream
- garlic cloves
- vegetable oil
- ricotta cheese
- Italian seasoning
- pepper
This is very different and good. This is MY EDITED version of the original recipe.
Original recipe called for 4 cups cabbage and no peas, called for “mustard” I used dry mustard, called for “vinegar” I used red wine vinegar, and I added some boiled eggs.
- sugar
- red wine vinegar
- paprika
- dry mustard
- -
- DRESSING:
- chopped onion
- cubed Velveeta cheese
- Approximately 1 cup Miracle Whip as needed to mix and make creamy
Serves 8 to 10
It’s important not to overbake the lasagna. Once the sauce starts bubbling around the edges, turn the oven to broil. If your lasagna pan is not broiler-safe, brown the lasagna at 500 degrees for about 10 minutes. Whole milk is best in the sauce, but skim and low-fat milk also work. Supermarket-brand cheeses work fine in this recipe. The Gorgonzola may be omitted, but the flavor of the lasagna won’t be as complex. The test kitchen prefers the flavor and texture of Barilla no-boil noodles, but this recipe will work with most brands. One box of Barilla will yield enough noodles for this recipe; you may need two boxes of other brands.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For the best flavor in our four-cheese lasagna recipe, we settled on a combination of fontina, Parmesan, Gorgonzola, and Gruyère. But the real secret to a great four-cheese lasagna recipe proved to be a fifth cheese. While ricotta didn’t add much flavor, it gave the lasagna body without making the dish heavy and starchy.
- part-skim ricotta cheese
- ground black pepper
- minced fresh parsley leaves plus an additional 2 teaspoons
- unsalted butter
- all-purpose flour
- whole milk
- low-sodium chicken broth
- table salt
- bay leaf
- cayenne pepper
- no-boil lasagna noodles
Makes 1 pound; serves 4 to 6
If using a high-protein all-purpose flour like King Arthur brand, increase the amount of egg yolks to seven. The longer the dough rests in step 2 the easier it will be to roll out. When rolling out the dough, avoid adding too much flour, which may result in excessive snapback.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For a pasta dough that could be easily rolled out by hand (but still cook up into delicate, springy noodles), we added six extra egg yolks and a couple tablespoons of olive oil. In addition, we incorporated an extended resting period to allow the gluten network to relax and developed a simple, effective rolling technique.
- large eggs plus 6 large yolks
- olive oil
- salt
Makes about 6 cups
This recipe makes enough sauce to coat 2 pounds of pasta. Leftover sauce may be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to one month. Eight teaspoons of gelatin is equivalent to one (1-ounce) box of gelatin. If you can’t find ground veal, use an additional ¾ pound of ground beef.
- low-sodium chicken broth
- beef broth
- unflavored gelatin
- extra-virgin olive oil
- percent lean ground beef
- ground veal
- ground pork
- minced fresh sage
- dry red wine
- Salt and pepper
- pappardelle or tagliatelle pasta
Serves 4 to 6
Look for salt pork that is roughly 70 percent fat and 30 percent lean meat; leaner salt pork may not render enough fat. If it is difficult to slice, put the salt pork in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up. Use high-quality imported Pecorino Romano—not the bland domestic cheese labeled “Romano.”
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To create an authentic-tasting version of Pasta All’Amatriciana we needed an alternative to hard-to-find guanciale, or cured pork jowl. Humble salt pork, though an unlikely solution, provided the rich, clean meatiness we were after. To ensure tender bites of pork throughout, we first simmered it in water to gently cook it and render fat, a step that allowed the meat to quickly turn golden once the water evaporated. Finally, to ensure the grated Pecorino Romano didn’t clump in the hot sauce, we first mixed it with a little cooled rendered pork fat. Now the flavor of pork, tomato, chili flake, and Pecorino shine through in each bite.
- water
- red pepper flakes
- tomato paste
- red wine
- spaghetti
- salt
Serves 4
Use a spoon to scrape the dark brown gills from the portobellos.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Using pancetta and its fat in our Spaghetti with Mushroom and Tomato Sauce recipe compensated for the lean nature of the mushrooms and made our mushroom ragu meatier. Portobello mushrooms gave our dish bulk, while smoky porcini gave it concentrated flavor. Adding tomato paste and fresh crushed tomatoes to our mushrooms after they’d browned sweetened our sauce but also let the mushrooms shine through.
- low-sodium chicken broth
- extra-virgin olive oil
- tomato paste
- minced fresh rosemary leaves
- Table salt and ground black pepper
- spaghetti
Total Time: 45 minutes
Preparation Time: 0 minutes
Active Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 1 pound fresh pasta
Make Ahead: Pasta can be kept at room temperature for several hours
Difficulty: Intermediate
Fresh pasta is surprisingly easy to make at home. Yes, you will need a hand-cranked pasta machine, but the ingredient list could not be shorter (just eggs and flour) and the results are much better than anything you can buy.
You will be making 1 pound of Fresh Egg Pasta. We will be cutting the pasta into fettuccine that you should use for the Fettuccine Alfredo recipe in this lesson.
While we suggest using a pasta machine to cut fettuccine, you can cut fresh sheets of pasta by hand. Simply fold each sheet crosswise into thirds or quarters. Use a sharp chef’s knife and cut perpendicular to folds to form noodles of desired width. This technique comes in handy when you want to make wider shapes, like pappardelle or tagliatelle.
Here are the guidelines for cutting fresh by hand:
Pappardelle: 3/4 to 1 inch wide
Tagliatelle: 1/4 to 3/8 inch wide
Fettuccine: 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide
- We like Italian-made hand-operated manual pasta machines. We’ve tested the Imperia and Atlas pasta machines—the two major brands in Italy and widely available in cookware shops around the world—and found them equally good.
- Large eggs