I saw a well known Italian chef, Francesco Mazzei making this Lasagne Pastachina dish. He serves this up at his restaurant L’Anima in London Town. It’s highly complicated with many steps to create, making your own beef sausages and two different types of pasta. I wasn’t quite in the mood for that, so I used fresh lasagne sheets and some spicy sausages.
This does need to cooked and then cooled so that the layers stick together, so make it in the morning for the evening you would like to serve it.
Ingredients
- 1L Passata
- 100g Carrot
- 1 Bulb Fennel
- 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 30g Basil
- 50g Flour
- 50g Butter
- 500ml Milk
- 1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 200g Spinach
- 1 Egg
- 150g Ricotta
- 50g Grated Parmesan
- 4 Hard Boiled(6 mins) Eggs
- Sliced and cooked Aubergine
- 6 (250g) Lasagne Sheets
- 400g Spicy Sausage
Tomato Sauce
Bechamel Sauce
Spinach Mousse
Directions
- Start by making the tomato sauce. Chop up the carrot and fennel finely. Add to the passata and the vinegar. Cook for about 90 minutes until it reduces to about a third. Add the basil leaves and blend with a stick blender, pass through a sieve.
- Make the spinach mousse by pouring boiling water over the spinach to wilt it. Add to iced water, remove and squeeze dry. Add this to the remaining ingredients and mix well. Place on greaseproof paper on a baking sheet. Make a square or rectangle shape about 15mm thick. Cook at 150°c for 30-40mins. It will begin to crack on top when it is cooked. Let cool and store in the fridge.
- Make the a standard bechamel. Melt flour and butter, slowly add the milk until it is all combined. Add the remaining ingredients with some salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook the lasagne sheets for 40 secs to make them more pliable. Cover a buttered square dish that is at least 5cm deep with the pasta.
- Add tomato sauce and bechamel, followed by lines of aubergine, strips of spinach mousse, halved sausages and quartered eggs. Continue this all of the way over. Grate Parmesan over the top. Now repeat so you have four layers of pasta to three of filling.
- Top the final layer with tomato and bechamel, a good grating of Parmesan and cook for 40minutes at 160°C Fan.
- Leave to cool and place in the fridge.
Your version definitely looks a lot better than Chef Francesco Mazzei’s, some recipes are best without photos. I hadn’t heard of this type of lasagna but in reading the recipe I know I would love it.
Stunning dish! So many layers of flavours.
How clever is this! I don’t know if I’d try this — you get my admiration for sure.
It’s not much more complicated than a normal lasagne, Maureen.
Hi David, Your lasagna may not be more complicated than normal lasagna but it certainly is prettier. A job well done, your dishes are always beautifully prepared.
This must have been super delicious!… Very appealing to everyone.