Lasagna in the Veneto

Lasagna in the Veneto

Lasagna, Venetian Style

When I first moved to the Veneto I was invited to a dinner where I could watch the food preparation, something of which I am always interested.  I saw sheets of pasta hand rolled using a long pole, quite like a cut off broom stick.  It was amazing to see how the pasta could be rolled up around and around and then laid back out on the floured work surface.  Over and over it was being worked and flattened into a sheet for lasagna.  This is the original old way of doing a lasagna sheet and I have to admit it was a lot of work.  When I make this I use an attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer.  

Very Heavy Metal Attachments

My three attachments for pasta are the roller sheet, the fettuccine and the spaghetti cutter.  If you have a Kitchen Aid, look into purchasing these handy attachments that are so easy to use.   Below is the recipe I use.

300 grams of 00 flour

3 egg yolks

1 Tbl Ex. V. oil

1 tsp salt

1 Tbl water

(You may have to add a bit more water and maybe  a touch more salt.  I refrain from too much salt due to health reasons.)

But it wasn’t the talent with the pole that got my attention it was the lack of tomato sauce in this lasagna.  I kept waiting to see a pot of tasty red sauce appear, but it wasn’t to happen.  The lasagna used La besciamella, Italian for bechamel sauce.  This white sauce is made with 50 grams of butter, 50 grams of flour, 1/2 litre of mi, salt and nutmeg.  I was  also surprised to find that no meat was used!  At the end of layering the lasagna was topped off by  laying a full size sheet on top as a covering.  She did not have to use foil.

So I was questioning myself if I would like this new kind of lasagna.  I was willing to give it a go and it turned out great.  I learned something new in Italian cooking that I never expected.  This past weekend we were in the hills outside of Padova and we had, as an appetizer, this same lasagna but made with onions.  When you see the photo you can see that the pasta layers are so thin, which is really nice.  You can see a layer of thinly sliced porcini mushrooms near the bottom and a nice pile of parmeggiano cheese on top.  You taste that and you want more, trust me.  

Dangerous Box

Those pasta attachments come with a funny story.  I brought them to Italy in my carry on and when going through the  metal detector  my suitcase set off detector alarm bells etc.   Three workers suddenly surrounded me as if they had caught some sneaky terrorist.  (Do I look like one?)  They told me to open my carry on and they all stood back.  I reached in and pulled out this box which held my three very heavy attachments for pasta.  They did not trust the box and ordered me to pull the attachments out one at a time.  Evidently they thought I had a bomb or ????  I had a good laugh.  
I had packed my heaviest items in my carry on so that I could get more items in my checked luggage as at that time carry ons were not weighed like they are now.   You should have seen their faces when they realized that they had only nabbed some old guy who likes to cook.  

Lot of Work To Use

Not Uniformly Placed Strings

I would like to introduce you to my guitara, which uses an old fashioned way of making spaghetti.  It is a slanted wooden box with metal guitar strings with which you push the pasta through to your spaghetti.  Funny thing is I did not buy this in Italy, I purchased it in Philadelphia of all places.  After trying it one time, I decided that it should become a knick knack on the wall.  Some of my Italian friends have never seen one, which is another smile.  I cropped a shot for you to see the wires up close.  

I hope that if you travel to the Veneto area you will have the chance to try onion lasagna, and  also spaghetti with onions another specialty of this area.  

Until next time, Ciao!