Lasagna with Sausage and Greens in Ragu
Region: Italy
Category: Pasta-Baked
Season: Winter
Difficulty: Labor Intensive

In Campania, the region of southern Italy where Naples lies, there are a great number of family-style lasagna that are very popular and that are meant to feed huge families.  Not necessarily nuclear families, but extended families.  Nearly all of these recipes are based on some kind of gravy, as we called it when I was a kid, that is, a ragù of tomatoes and meat.  In this recipe, the ragout is flavored with oxtails and beef marrow bones, and it simmers a long time and there is a lot of it.  You should make this on a cold Saturday when you want to spend time indoors and family or great friends are coming over in the evening.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Yield: Makes 12 servings
Preparation Time: 5:15 hours in all

2 carrots, chopped

1 very large onion (about 1 1/4 pounds), chopped

2 ounces pancetta

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 3/4 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half, seeds squeezed out, and grated against the largest holes of a box grater down to the peel

20 large fresh basil leaves

1 1/2 pounds oxtail

3/4 pound beef marrow bones

1 pound mild Italian sausage

8 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Dried oregano to taste

1 1/4 pounds spinach, heavy stems removed, washed well

3/4 pound Swiss chard leaves, washed well

2 large eggs, beaten

2 pounds ricotta cheese

1 1/2 pounds no-boil (instant) lasagna

1 1/2 pounds fresh mozzarella, sliced

1. In a large flameproof casserole, put the carrots, onions, pancetta, olive oil, and butter and turn the heat to high.  Cook until the onion is yellow, stirring frequently, 13 to 15 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, basil, oxtails, marrow bones, sausage, and garlic.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer 2 hours.  Remove the sausages, slice thinly, and set aside.  Continue simmering for 4 hours more or until the meat falls off the oxtail.  Remove the meat from the oxtails and the marrow from the bone, chop and set aside and pass the ragout through a food mill.  Season the ragout with salt, pepper, and oregano.

2. Steam the spinach and Swiss chard in a large pot with only the water adhering to them from their last rinsing over high heat, about 4 minutes.  Drain and press out excess liquid with the back of a wooden spoon through a colander.  Unravel and spread out the leaves as best you can, and set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then beat in the ricotta cheese.

3. Ladle a bit of ragout on the bottom of each of two 9 x 12 x 4-inch deep lasagna pans.  Cover the bottom  with two sheets of lasagna then layer in this order: the ragout, lasagna, ricotta, lasagna, ragout, mozzarella, lasagna, ragout, spinach and Swiss chard, lasagna, ragout, Italian sausage, lasagna, ricotta, ragout, lasagna, ragout, and finally mozzarella.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

5. Cover the lasagna pans with tented aluminum foil and bake until the cheese is bubbling, 45 minutes.  Serve or let cool and reheat later or freeze.

Variation: 

Note: 

For frozen lasagna, preheat the oven to 400ºF and place the frozen lasagna in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Posted: 12/27/2006