My dear friend Shun, as I affectionately call her, shared this dish with me many moons ago, and I was hooked after my first try. Fideos (noodles) are a simple symphony of spicy, smoky and fresh flavors. It is sometimes called sopa de fideos, which translates to dry noodle soup.
It makes for a great side dish, but I often eat it as a main course. Traditionally, it is served with crema fresca (creme fraiche), queso fresco and avocado. A great option for a meat-free menu, and delicious to boot. Another plus, it is prepared in a jiffy or rápidito! I made this batch at the last minute to take to a party and was unable to find tomatoes that were ripe enough, so I opted for good canned ones. Likewise, I had no luck in the avocado front, so no avocados for me! You decide how much heat you want and adjust the number of serranos accordingly, you may also remove the seeds, this will further reduce the heat level.
Fideos a la Shun
12 oz fideo pasta or angel hair
4 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, whole
1 or 2 serrano peppers, to taste
5 fresh Roma tomatoes, ripened OR
1 can (15 oz.) stewed tomatoes
2 tbsp chicken flavor bouillon (like Knorr or Maggi)
Water
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin powder
Salt and pepper to taste
For plating:
Queso fresco, crumbled
Crema fresca
Avocado slices or small cubes
I would suggested getting the sauce ready first. Shun’s recipe calls for the onion, garlic, serranos and fresh tomatoes to be roasted first. You can skip this step, but it does add an intensity and complexity to the dish, so if you have the time–about 10-15 extra minutes–you should do it.
I use my comal or grill pan for this, getting it nice and hot, then sear the sliced onion, whole serranos, garlic and tomatoes (fresh). Once seared, dump the whole thing into your blender or food processor, adding the chicken bouillon, cumin, oregano, salt & pepper and enough water to get things moving. Set aside.
Heat a large saute pan over high heat add the oil and break the pasta into it, the purpose of this step is to toast the pasta, but don’t walk away, it burns rather quickly and that will ruin the flavor of the dish. The noodles will change color and turn golden brown.
Carefully, VERY carefully add the pureed sauce and watch yourself! It becomes the evil spitty monster at this point, add enough water to ensure the noodles are submerged in liquid. Lower the heat so it simmers gently, check the seasoning and adjust as necessary.
The noodles should be al dente, when done. It will take about 20 minutes for the pasta to cook and you may need to add more water as it cooks down. To plate: spoon some noodles onto a plate, top with crema, avocado and the crumbled cheese. Pull up a chair and enjoy!
To see more of the step-by-step process, click here.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
PS: Thanks, Shuni!
I admit it. I spend a LOT of time watching cooking shows, a lot. I’m obsessed with them, sometimes I imagine I am sitting in their kitchens having a glass of wine while they tell me about how they came up with the concept for the dish. One of my favorites is Extra Virgin, hosted by Debi Mazar (of LA Law fame) and her husband, an Italian farmer and chef she met while traveling in Italy. They’re a really cute couple and they prepare all the meals in their own quirky little kitchen. I want their kitchen.
Banner taken from CookingChannelTV.com
A few weeks ago, The Hubbz and I were watching a marathon of episodes on a Sunday afternoon, when we saw it. They made lasagna. Not just lasagna, though, Lasagne alla Bolognese. What I found out about this delicious dish is that it is less tomatoey, less cheesy, but still super creamy. Similarly to how my Mami taught me to make lasagne, the Bolognese incorporates quite a bit of Béchamel Sauce, which I’m now realizing isn’t a traditional component of a basic meat lasagne.
The Bolognese sauce consists of a slow cooked creamy ragu. In their recipe, Debi and Gabriele used a combination of beef, veal, and pork and they added pancetta to the sofrito. I decided to use lamb instead of veal and Spanish chorizo, instead of the pancetta. Traditionally, the Bolognese calls for Parmesan, in an effort to bring in my Latin roots to the table, I opted for an Argentinian Sardo cheese. Sardo is similar in flavor to Parmesan, it is made of cow’s milk and has a mellow, yet rich, and lightly salty taste.
The lasagne was intensely flavorful and rich and, yes, creamy.The Hubbz loves to cheese up his meals, and even though there was very little cheese added, his need for cheese was satisfied. The sauce needs to cook for a while, so you’ll do well to start there, maybe even the day before. I actually made it in the space of a couple of hours, maybe 3 altogether.
Lasagne alla Bolognese for the Latina’s Soul
For the sauce:
1/2 cp Spanish chorizo, cubed
5 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb each ground beef, pork, lamb
Salt & black pepper
1/2 tsp each nutmeg and allspice
2-3 cps red wine
3 large cans stewed tomatoes
1 cp whole milk
Saute the chorizo in the oil for a few minutes before adding the onion, carrots, and celery; continue cooking until the onions are translucent. Then add the meats, break it up the large pieces with a wooden spoon; once the meat begins to brown, you can add the garlic, season with salt & pepper, and the spices.
After a couple of minutes, add the wine and cook briskly for a few minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate completely, make sure to scrape any bits that may be stuck on the bottom of the pan. In the meantime, pulse the tomatoes in a blender or food processor, then add them to the meat. Taste the sauce and season again with salt and pepper as needed. Lower the temperature to medium and cook for about 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Finish the sauce by adding the milk, stir well and set aside, to cool off. While the sauce mellows down, start working on the bechamel.
For the Bechamel sauce:
1/2 cp butter (yep, that’s a whole stick)
1/2 cp flour
4 1/2 cps whole milk
Freshly grated nutmeg
Sea salt and black pepper
Melt the butter over medium heat and briskly stir in the flour, taking care to dissolve any lumps. At this point, you want to slowly toast/cook the flour without burning it. Gradually add the milk to the flour mixture, make sure to whisk it constantly and slowly bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for a few minutes, until it thickens. Season the sauce with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Set aside to cool.
Puting it all together:
Butter
Bolognese Sauce
Lasagne noodles
Bechamel sauce
3/4 cup grated Sardo cheese
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter the pan well–I used a 9×13 pyrex–and add a very thin layer of meat sauce. Followed by a layer of noodles, then Bechamel, and finally Sardo. Repeat a couple of times. At the top, cover the noodles with meat sauce and some Bechamel, add a few thin slices of butter and finish with some Sardo.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
Are you looking for more foodie porn? Click here.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
Have you ever heard of Johnny Mazzetti? If you’re Panamanian (or have lived in Panama) you probably do. Funny thing is, in putting this post together, I came to learn about the history behind the dish. I don’t think I believed this to be an original recipe by my mother, though I still think of it as her dish. Johnny Mazzetti, the dish, is very popular in Panama, so I Googled it. Turns out the dish originated in Columbus, Ohio at a restaurant called Marzetti. Leave it to Panamanians to change someones name.
Nonetheless, this was one of my Mami’s favorite party dishes because of how easy it was to prepare and how much mileage you could get from it, I mean, it goes a loooooong way. Like any other popular recipe, Johnny Mazzetti has many incarnations. My mom would make hers with olives, raisins and boiled eggs, in essence, you make picadillo and grow it with pasta.
I must confess that I made this a few months ago, I was yearning for some comfort food and the memory of it came rushing back. I also have to confess that this is not really my mom’s recipe. It has been seriously adulterated… for the better. Not that there’s anything wrong with the original recipe, I just wanted…more. So I brought together 2 comfort foods: mac ‘n cheese and Johnny Mazz and ended up with a casserole of goodness. And you get dibs.
MacZetti
For the beef mixture:
1lb ground beef
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 large onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper (preferably red), diced
2 serrano peppers, finely chopped
1/2 cp cilantro, chopped
1 small can crushed tomatoes
1 cp broth or water
1/4 cp Cotija cheese
For the pasta:
2-1/2 cps of a combination of Mexican crema (creme fraiche), heavy cream and milk (you can use all of them or take your pick)
Sea salt
White pepper
2 cps cheese (I used Pepper Jack and Cheddar)
3 tbsps butter
Dash of nutmeg
1 lb pasta (I used mezzi tubeti, but elbow, rigatoni would do)
Heat a medium skillet over high heat and add the ground beef and the next 4 ingredients, stirring well to evenly distribute the seasonings. Allow the moisture of the beef to evaporate, before adding the onions, serranos and bell pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent before adding the cilantro and tomato puree. Add the broth or water and check and adjust the seasoning as needed. Allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes over medium low heat. Stir in the Cotija cheese.
Cook and drain the pasta, then add the milk, cream and crema over low temperature. Add the cheese and butter, stirring until dissolved. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Preheat oven to 375°. Liberally butter a baking dish and spoon half of the pasta, top with all the beef, then the rest of the pasta. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until bubbling.
For more yummy shots, click here.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
Ensalada de Coditos (Macaroni Salad) is a common side dish at family BBQs and beach outings in Panama, trumped only by potato salads. I love them both, but have to admit I most frequently go for potato salads.
Boy, was I happy last week when I found no potatoes in the fridge and was too lazy to go to the grocery store for some. I didn’t have elbow macaroni either, just large pasta shells. Lucky, really, because the salad was too delicious for words. The Hubbz and I are still thinking and dreaming of it today.
It makes for a great side with grilled meats. I cannot stress how easy it is to put together. Feel free to add or remove ingredients at will. Use shells or elbow or penne, fresh or frozen corn, green or red bell peppers, or…, you get the drift, use what you like or have available. This is another non-recipe recipe.
Anamaris’ Excellent Pasta Salad
Pasta shells, cooked and cooled
Eggs, boiled and diced
Fresh corn, chucked and cooked
Red bell pepper, diced
Carrots, cooked & diced
Green onions, finely diced
Mayonnaise, about 2/3 cp
Cajun or Dijon mustard, 1-2 tbsp
Heavy cream, 2 tbsp
Sugar, 2 tsp
Sea salt & black pepper
Piment d’Espellete or cayenne, to taste
In a bowl combine the pasta, eggs, corn, bell pepper, carrots and green onions, set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients until smooth, adjust the salt & pepper as necessary before mixing it into the pasta.
Stir until well incorporated, serve cool or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
I need your help. I still don’t know what to call this dish. It all started as a challenge posed by Cindy, my friendster. Apparently there was competition not long ago, for which the contestants had to submit a dish using pickles as a main ingredient. She extended the challenge to me and being the competitive sucker that I am, I accepted.
It was an odd ingredient for me to work with because I’m not all that crazy about pickles. I don’t crave them as a snack. I asked they be skipped on sandwiches. I eat them very seldom. But I had to do it, I just had to take a swing at it.
It took me a few days to settle on an idea. I envisioned raviolis, pickle ravioli topped with pulled pork. My thought was a play on a pulled pork barbecue sandwich. I would sub the pasta for bread and instead of bbq sauce, a tomato ragout.
On my first attempt, I chopped pickles and sliced carrots very thinly and used that to fill the ravioli. I made about 3 ravioli, it was a test after all. That was OK and I imagined that once it was together with the pork, it would all come together. However, I wasn’t wild about the textures. The pickles were chewy in a weird way. I gave the whole thing a bit more thought and by the time I was ready to make the final version, I had tweaked the original version to what I’m sharing here.
Note: You’ll need to plan ahead for this one as the pork will need to cook in advance. Slow-cooked even. However, you could use leftover meat instead of the pulled pork. I used wonton wrappers to make the ravioli. I really like the lightness of the dough and how incredibly easy it makes the task. This recipe made 25 ravioli, enough for 5-6 servings.
For the Pulled Pork
1 Pork butt roast (this one was about 5-6 lbs, but I used less than half for this recipe)
8-10 garlic cloves, sliced
Sea salt & black pepper
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 medium tomatoes, seeded & chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cp Italian parsley, finely chopped
Cut slits into the meat and fatty side of the roast and insert slices of the garlic into each slit. Sprinkle generously with salt & pepper and let it rest for 30-60 minutes.
Place the roast into a crock pot and cook overnight on low. It took about 10-12 hours for a 5-lb roast to be done. I put it in Friday around midnight and it was ready when I woke up Saturday morning.
Remove the roast from the liquid and allow it cool. Reserve the liquid to use in the ragout. If it has cooked enough, it will LITERALLY fall off the bones. Pull the meat apart, you’re essentially shredding it. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat about 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and add the onions; cook them until translucent, then add the garlic and tomatoes. Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes break down and the chunks are unidentifiable, about 12-15 minutes.
Add about 3 cps of the pulled pork and a bit of the pot juices you reserved. Lower the temperature and simmer for another 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add the parsley and turn off the heat. Adjust the seasonings by adding a sprinkling of salt and pepper, if necessary. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Pickle and Onion Ravioli
For the Pickle Filling:
1-16 oz jar of dill pickles, drained
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cp cheese, something like Gouda
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 pkgs wonton wrappers (25 per package)
To prepare: Drain the pickles completely, by laying them on paper towels for about 30 minutes. This will not only drain the moisture, but also help remove some of the pickling.
In the meantime, heat a medium skillet with the oil and cook the onions until they are translucent. Set aside to cool. Put the pickles and onion into a food processor and pulse until they’re minced. Mix in the cheese and enough of the cream to make it into a paste. Set aside.
Lay out a few wrappers at a time and brush one side with water, then place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper, then top with another wrapper. Be careful not to put too much filling.
This time I decided to use a biscuit cutter to make them into rounds. Make sure you pinch the edges very well once you’ve trimmed them. This will ensure the filling isn’t lost in the boiling water. Continue until you’ve used all the filling. I froze them overnight, but you can proceed to cook them right away.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, then add about 2 tbsp sea salt and a bit of oil. Drop the ravioli into the water and immediately lower the temperature to medium. You don’t want the water to be boil too hard once the ravioli are in, otherwise they will split open. Cook the ravioli for about 8 minutes, they will begin to float once ready. Carefully remove them from the water onto a colander or strainer and then to the serving plate. Be careful, they’re very delicate.
I topped the plates with fried pickles. Originally, I did it for presentation’s sake, but I have to admit they added another lovely dimension to the dish.
For the Fried Pickles I used about 15 spears, I removed the seeds and drained them on paper towels for about 15 minutes. Then I cut each spear into 3 sections, set aside.
In a small bowl combine 1 cp flour and whisk in about 1/2 cp of beer, you want the batter to be thinner than pancake batter. Dip the pickles in the batter, then roll them in breadcrumbs or panko before deep frying at 375°.
Plating: Place 4-5 ravioli at the bottom of the plate, top with a mound of the pork ragout and crown with the a few pieces of pickle.
I will let the judges: Cindy, Dorothy and Lindsay, give you their input. They judged the dish on 4 areas: Creativity, Taste, Use of the Ingredient, and Presentation. I will say that I found it to be an unexpectedly delicious and interesting dish. But I still don’t know what to call it. What do you suggest? The components are: Ravioli filled with pickles and onions, pulled pork in a tomato ragout and fried pickles. HELP!
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
Remember I mentioned eggplant would be showing up every so often? Well, here it is again. I continue to find other ways to prepare this veggie/fruit–it has seeds, does that make it a fruit? Hmmm.
This is still quite similar to the way I had prepared it in the past in that the eggplant is sorta stewed. I’m going to call this a ragout. I’m not completely sure that’s what it is, but I like the name and this is my blog so that’s the name it gets. The dish is a simple one, no complicated or fancy cooking skills required, but it does have a few steps if you choose to make it into raviolis. Alternatively, you could make the ragout and serve it over your favorite pasta. That would be oh so good too.
Eggplant & Tomato Ragout
2 shallots, sliced
3 large tomatoes, seeded & chopped
1 large eggplant, cubed
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/3 cp gin or wine
In a medium-sized pan, heat the oil and add the shallots; cook until translucent. Then add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes have soften. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
Add the gin or wine (you can also substitute with stock) and ignite it to burn off the alcohol.
Add the eggplant, stirring well to coat all the cubes with the tomato puree. Cover with a loose-fitting lid, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 20 minutes or until eggplant is soft and creamy.
Set aside and prepare the ravioli.
For the ravioli I used Chinese wonton wrappers. Here’s the step-by-step action.
Work with a few wrappers at a time. Brush one side with water, these little wrappers have a lot of cornstarch on them to keep them from sticking to each other. I brushed the entire surface with water to get rid of the excess and also to moisten it so I could press them together.
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Drop about 2 tsps of filling in the center of the wrapper. Don’t overstuff them.
Top with a second wrapper and pinch the edges together. I don’t have a pasta or pastry cutter, I used a knife to trim off the edges. In my head that would help seal the edges together.
Once you’ve filled all the raviolis, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Make sure to add enough salt and oil to cook the raviolis. About 5 minutes or so (follow packet instructions) or until they float to the top. Drain and set aside.
I made a quick Bechamel sauce to top the raviolis, then laid them out in an oven-safe dish, topped them with the sauce and sprinkled some Parmesan. Then baked for about 15 minutes and broiled until the top was golden brown and bubbly. You can skip the bechamel altogether and simply serve the raviolis with the ragout that’s leftover.
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These were so light and delicious, I hope you’ll enjoy them. As long as I’m on an eggplant kick, do you have a recipe you love and want to share?
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
This is an incredibly easy dish to prepare, delicious to boot! I want you to be comfortable with it, though. There are 3 key players, spaghetti–or any noodle pasta you like–pancetta (Italian bacon) and eggs, make sure your eggs are fresh. That’s it, really.
I made a few changes to a basic recipe by Ruth Reichl and only because I’m honery that way. Also because I love bacon with onions. And onions with pasta. And eggs with onions. And pasta with eggs. You get my drift. I didn’t have pancetta, so I used bacon, not that there’s anything wrong with either one. Also, when I was at the store they had that beautiful black peppered bacon, so I went halfzies.
Here’s what I’ll tell you ahead of time:
- Cube the bacon/pancetta
- Leave your eggs out so they’re room temperature
- Use a big mixing bowl to put it all together and fill it with warm water until it’s time to toss the pasta in
Spaghetti Carbonara
1 pound spaghetti
8 strips thick bacon, finely cubed
8 strips thick black pepper bacon, finely cubed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and bruised
1 small onion, finely diced
2 large eggs
Fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese, approx
1/4 cp Italian parsley, finely chopped
Put the bacon into a skillet over medium heat and cook for a few minutes to render its fat. While it’s cooking add the onions and garlic, cook about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent and melting away. While the bacon and onions are cooking, fill a large pot of water to cook the pasta. Bring it to a boil and add salt once it does. Add the pasta and give it a stir to keep it from sticking.
Note: the bacon will not be crisp, which is ideal when you toss it with the pasta and eggs.
Dump the water out of the serving bowl, break and whisk the eggs. Grind some black pepper and whisk. By now the bacon and onions should be ready, keep it warm until the pasta is cooked. Don’t discard all the pasta water when you drain the noodles. As a matter of fact, I pulled the spaghetti straight out of the pot and into the eggy bowl. That way, I pulled in a bit of the pasta water to aid in making the sauce.
The pasta is so hot that it will cook the eggs almost on contact, so make sure to toss and incorporate the two every time you add pasta. Once all the spaghetti is in, add the bacon onion mixture (fat and all), parsley and about 1/4 cp of Parmesan. Add more pasta water as needed, just enough to make the dish moist.
That’s it. Serve immediately with additional cheese to taste.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
What’s your favorite one? My mom did a.lot.of.cooking. And baking. And entertaining. She made us fun stuff, like PBJs, pancakes and doughnuts! She also made us eat the serious stuff like pumpkin, spinach and carrots. She wasn’t able to get okra passed me, though. I hope she’s not too hard on herself for that. To this day I can’t deal with that slimy veg. I best stop thinking about it before I make myself sick.
Yumness on a plate!
This is one of my fun foods. I remember pleading for this, then covering it with ketchup. I don’t do the ketchup part anymore, I honestly can’t tell you what possessed me to do that in the first place. I’m guessing I had a red infatuation, who knows. I’ve taken my mom’s standard and jazzed up a bit. It’s really yum!
Mom’s Spaghetti Omelette
If you have some leftover pasta, that’s perfect or you can cook some up for this (I do it all the time).
2 cps spaghetti or other noodle pasta, cooked
2 eggs
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
1/2 tsp Herbs d’Provence
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
In a medium size bowl, whisk the eggs, salt, pepper and HdProvence. Add the pasta and mix it in.
Preheat a 12-inch frying pan over medium high heat, add the oil and butter until it melts. Dump the pasta in and spread it out evenly to cover the bottom. Allow it to brown, it will take about 5 minutes per side. Flip the omelette and brown the opposite side.
Slice it in quarters and top with parmesan cheese, if desired. Can you stand it?
~~
Tia (Aunt) Doria is one of my mom’s youngest sisters. About 22 years ago, I went to stay with her in Oklahoma after a bad fall that left her leg in a cast. To this day Doria claims I made her a lasagna with like 17 different cheeses. I keep telling her that’s not possible. I know this, because I don’t think I knew 17 types of cheeses back then. But, in her honor and at her request, here’s my version of my Mami’s Lasagna. It has 4 different cheeses: Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan and Ricotta, and homemade meat and bechamel sauces.
Now, I feel I should mention a few things about making lasagna. I don’t believe this is a difficult dish to make. It IS, however, labor intensive and step abundant. I make my own meat sauce, just getting it on the stove took me about 2 hours. That’s from beginning–roasting peppers and tomatoes and chopping ingredients–to end, once all the ingredients are in the pot and about to simmer. I think it was another hour to assemble the trays.
I like making the sauce a day ahead to allow all the flavors to come together. Then assemble the trays and put them in the fridge for a few hours to allow it settle in. This time I assembled the trays just a few hours after I finished simmering the meat sauce and it had come to room temperature. I didn’t bake the tray until the next day. So it hung out in the fridge for about 18-24 hours. Mind you, this step isn’t mandatory. I just picked that tip up when I worked in a kitchen.
All this said, it is a DELICIOUS recipe, well worth the effort. I hope you will try it. One last thing, yield. This recipe made enough for 1 full 9×13 tray, which gave us 12 healthy servings, and 1 more tray that only filled about 3/4 of the way. The servings from that will probably be closer to 9 or so. We’ve frozen the 2nd tray for future enjoyment. Now, without further ado, Doria, this one’s for you!
Meat Sauce Ingredients
2 lbs ground chuck
1/2 lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cps onions, chopped (about 2 medium)
1 tbsp sea salt
1 cp carrots, finely diced (about 2 medium)
1 cp celery, finely diced (about 3 stalks)
2 cps button mushrooms, diced
1 cp red bell pepper (about 2 medium)
5 Roma tomatoes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed (about 2 tsp garlic puree)
1 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1-1/2 tsp dried basil
2 tsps sugar
3 bay leaves
1/2 cp parsley, chopped
2 cps red wine or beer
1 cp water
3 tbsp tomato paste
Process:
Roast the reds (optional) – You can roast the bell peppers and tomatoes over a stove burner. Get the skins scorched all the way around, then dunk in a bowl with cool water and peel. Remove the seeds from both, the tomatoes and peppers before dicing.
Heat up a large saucepan and add the ground beef, sausage and salt. Stir the salt in and make sure you break the meats apart, you want it to resemble coarse meal. The moisture in the beef will come out, so initially it will cook in its own liquid. Once the liquid evaporates, you will be able to begin browning the meats.
As the meat browns over medium high heat, add the onions, carrots and celery, cook it until the onions begin to look translucent. Then add the mushrooms, garlic, black pepper, Italian seasoning, pepper flakes, basil and bay leaves. Mix all the herbs in before adding all the tomatoes, bell peppers and parsley. Stir it all very well, taking care to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any drippings that may be stuck. Now you can add the wine, water, sugar and paste; stir everything well and allow it to come to a boil.
Once this comes to a boil, bring temperature to low and cover it with a lid. Allow it to simmer stirring it occasionally. It will need to simmer for about an hour. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
Bechamel Sauce
Ingredients and Process
5 tbsp unsalted butter
5 tbsp flour
4 cps milk
1-1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Heat up the milk in the microwave until it is very hot, you’ll be able to see vapors rising up. Keep it hot. In the meantime, in a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat until there is foam on the top. Add the flour at once, and stir quickly with a wire whisk. This will make a roux, however, you want to keep the mixture light in color–bechamel sauce is a white sauce. 
You need to allow the flour to cook, otherwise the raw flavor will come through in the sauce. The process of making the roux, will take about 6 minutes and will be lightly golden.
Add the milk as quickly as you can, while still whisking it in to avoid lumps. Once you have incorporated all the milk, season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Continue to stir until the sauce thickens, it will take about 15 minutes to achieve the consistency of soft yogurt. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Ricotta filling: Combine 2 cps of ricotta cheese with 2 eggs, 1/4 cp chopped parsley, 1/2 cp Parmesan cheese. Mix and set aside.
Lasagna Ingredients and Process:
1 lb lasagna noodles
1/2 lb Provolone cheese, sliced
2/3 lb Mozarella cheese, sliced
1 cp Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 lb Salami, sliced
Layering the Lasagna
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tbsp oil before adding the noodles. The oil will help prevent them from sticking to each other, but you should still stir them around a bit. Make sure you keep the water at a soft boil and cook noodles for about 8 to 10 minutes. You want the noodles to be pliable but still too firm to eat. Drain noodles and dump them into a bowl of cold water.
You need to make sure the noodles are completely dry before layering. I usually take them out of the cool water and lay them across a kitchen towel before setting them aside.
It’s assembly time! In a 9×13 baking dish, spread about a cup of meat sauce in the bottom. Arrange 3-4 noodles lengthwise over the sauce. Depending on the length of your noodles and dish, you may need to trim the end of the noodle to fit. Spread with enough bechamel sauce to cover the noodles, then top the bechamel with chopped salami. Now add another layer of noodles to cover. Top the second layer of noodles with the ricotta cheese mixture. 
Now top the ricotta with more meat sauce, be more generous this time.
Top the meat sauce with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, then layer with provolone and mozzarella. And begin again with a layer of noodles with bechamel and salami between the 2 layers of noodles, then ricotta. The final layer will be meat sauce covered with cheeses. This is likely your last layer, so you can go a bit crazy with the cheeses.
I would recommend allowing the tray to settle for at least 3 hours in the fridge, longer if you have the time. Cover with a short layer of plastic wrap then foil.
Baking the lasagna
Preheat oven to 375. Remove the plastic wrap and cover loosely with the foil, otherwise you’ll end up with all the cheese stuck to it. Bake for 25 minutes with foil, then remove foil and bake for 25 minutes more. Allow the tray to cool for about 15 minutes before cutting into it.
This is my basic meat sauce. It is a wonderful base to lasagna, goes superbly over any kind of pasta. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Meat Sauce Ingredients
2 lbs ground chuck
1/2 lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cps onions, chopped (about 2 medium)
1 tbsp sea salt
1 cp carrots, finely diced (about 2 medium)
1 cp celery, finely diced (about 3 stalks)
2 cps button mushrooms, diced
1 cp red bell pepper (about 2 medium)
5 Roma tomatoes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed (about 2 tsp puree)
1 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1-1/2 tsp dried basil
2 tsps sugar
3 bay leaves
1/2 cp parsley, chopped
2 cps red wine or beer
1 cp water
3 tbsp tomato paste
Process:
Roast the reds (optional) – You can roast the bell peppers and tomatoes over a stove burner. Get the skins scorched all the way around, then dunk in a bowl with cool water and peel. Remove the seeds from both, the tomatoes and peppers before dicing.
Heat up a large saucepan and add the ground beef, sausage and salt. Stir the salt in and make sure you break the meats apart, you want it to resemble coarse meal. The moisture in the beef will come out, so initially it will cook in its own liquid. Once the liquid evaporates, you will be able to begin browning the meats.
As the meat browns over medium high heat, add the onions, carrots and celery, cook it until the onions begin to look translucent. Then add the mushrooms, garlic, black pepper, Italian seasoning, pepper flakes, basil and bay leaves. Mix all the herbs in before adding all the tomatoes, bell peppers and parsley. Stir it all very well, taking care to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any drippings that may be stuck. Now you can add the wine, water, sugar and paste; stir everything well and allow it to come to a boil.
Once this comes to a boil, bring temperature to low and cover it with a lid. Allow it to simmer stirring it occasionally. It will need to simmer for about an hour. Remove from the heat and let it cool.