Lasagne · First course
Lasagne verdi alla romagnola: green spinach pasta recipe
Seven thin layers, the Sunday ragù and the oven on
In Romagna lasagne verdi, green lasagne, are the dish of the big holidays, when the Sunday ragù is no longer enough and you need something that can sit in the oven while the family takes its seats. Christmas, Easter, a grandparent’s birthday: the large dish arrives at the table with its golden crust, and the house has smelled of butter and tomato since the morning.
Here is our version: green spinach sfoglia, the sheet of egg pasta, rolled thin, a beef and sausage ragù left a little wetter than usual, a light béchamel and Parmesan at every layer. It is a demanding recipe because it brings three preparations together, but none of the three is difficult on its own.
Why the pasta is green
The spinach in the sheet is not decoration, even if the contrast between the green and the red of the ragù is lovely to look at. Green pasta is slightly moister and more elastic than yellow pasta, and in the oven it stays softer instead of turning to cardboard. Roll it to about a millimetre, as you would for tagliatelle, then blanch it for half a minute before it goes into the dish: that way it takes the sauce straight away and bakes evenly. The ragù is the same one we use for our tagliatelle al ragù, only left a little softer.
Romagna and Emilia: the differences
Both have green pasta, so that is not where the difference shows. Bolognese lasagne have an official rule and a ragù that often includes milk and little tomato; the Romagna version is freer and redder. The ragù has more passata, sausage instead of pancetta and almost never milk. There is béchamel, but in moderation: it is there to bind, not to cover. And the layers are thin and numerous, because the pasta must be felt but must never take over. The measurements for every cut are in the guide to pasta thickness by shape.
The rest before serving
This is the step everybody skips, and it is the one that decides whether the portion stands up or slumps on the plate. Straight out of the oven, lasagne are molten: the béchamel is liquid, the ragù bubbles between the layers and the knife sinks without cutting. A quarter of an hour resting on the worktop lets them settle. The starches in the pasta and the béchamel firm up, the layers bond to one another, and the portion reaches the plate with all seven storeys clearly visible. Do not worry about them going cold: the dish holds its heat for a long time.
At the table
Square portions, cut with a big knife and lifted with a slice, with a little extra Parmesan on the side for anyone who wants more. Nothing else is needed with lasagne: a side of cooked greens and the local Sangiovese. They are the centre of the festive lunch, alongside cappelletti, in the Christmas menu of Romagna. And the next day, reheated in the oven under a sheet of foil, many people find them better still.
Ingredients
For the green pasta
For the ragù
For the béchamel
To assemble
Tick the ingredients as you go. Amounts adapt to the number of servings.
Weigh the eggs, find the flour
Flour type the weight
Cut shapes: weight of the eggs × 1.66, the classic sfoglia formula. The rule is in the guide to the basic dough.
Method
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The ragù
Soften the chopped onion, carrot and celery in the oil for 10 minutes. Turn up the heat and brown the crumbled sausage and the minced beef until the meat sizzles and takes colour. Pour in the wine, add the passata, season and cook on the lowest heat for two and a half hours. It should stay a little looser than the ragù you would make for tagliatelle.
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The spinach
Wash the spinach and cook it for 2 minutes in a little boiling salted water. Drain, cool it under cold water and squeeze it with your hands into a dry ball. Chop it very finely with a knife, or blitz it with a spoonful of beaten egg.
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The green pasta
Make a well of flour, put the eggs and the chopped spinach in the middle and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and an even green. If it stays sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time. Wrap in cling film and rest for 30 minutes.
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The béchamel
Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Pour in the hot milk a little at a time with a whisk and cook over gentle heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it coats the spoon. Season and add the nutmeg: it should stay pourable, not thick.
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Rolling and blanching
Roll the sheet out to about 1 millimetre and cut rectangles to fit your dish. Blanch them for 30 seconds in salted water, a few at a time, drop them into a bowl of cold water and lay them out to dry on clean tea towels.
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The layers
Butter a dish about 30 by 40 centimetres and spread a veil of béchamel over the base. Alternate pasta, ragù, béchamel and Parmesan for six or seven layers, keeping every layer thin. Finish with pasta, béchamel, a little ragù, plenty of Parmesan and small knobs of butter.
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The oven
Bake at 180 degrees, conventional setting, for 35 to 40 minutes. For the last 5 minutes turn on the grill if the top is not yet golden with a few crisp points.
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The rest
Take the dish out and let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting: the layers settle, the sauce and the béchamel firm up and the portion stands upright on the plate.
Alternative method: with the pasta machine If you roll the sheet with rollers
Lasagne are the easiest shape to make with the machine: you need even rectangles and a generous thickness, one that stands up to the oven.
- Divide the green dough into four pieces and keep them covered.
- Pass it through the widest setting folding in three, four times, then go down without folding.
- Stop at the fifth or sixth out of nine, between a millimetre and one and two tenths: any thinner and it would melt away between the ragù and the béchamel.
- Cut rectangles the size of your dish, about 10 by 15 cm.
- Blanch and cool them as in the hand method, then dry them on a tea towel before you build the layers.
The rolling pin remains our choice: the reason is in the guide to rolling the sfoglia by hand.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Romagna lasagne and Bolognese lasagne?
The green pasta is common to both. What changes is the ragù, redder with tomato in Romagna and often made with sausage, and the amount of béchamel, which is more restrained here. There is no official Romagna rule: every family has its own version.
Can they be frozen?
Yes, both raw and baked. Raw, assemble the dish and freeze it covered. When you decide to bake it, thaw it in the fridge for at least 24 hours, then bake. If you have not thawed it, put it straight into the oven at 100 degrees for an hour, then raise to 180 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Baked, cut the portions and freeze them individually: reheat them in the oven under a sheet of foil.
Do I really have to blanch the pasta?
With fresh homemade pasta, yes: 30 seconds in boiling water makes it supple and lets it take the sauce at once, and the lasagne comes out softer and more even.
How many layers should there be?
Six or seven, thin ones. Many fine layers beat a few thick ones: the pasta should alternate with the sauce without ever dominating, and the portion stays compact on the plate.
Keep kneading
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