91-Year-Old Maria Shares Her Famous Lasagna Recipe

My name is Maria and today I'm making lasagna. 91-year-old Maria lives opposite her shop, La Bottega del Buon Gustoio, in Faienza. She wants to share her version of lasagna with pasta grannies. I would not be able to do it. I'm afraid. But I can do it. Maria enjoys joking with Andrea, my cameraman. I am still stuck in London. To make the spinach dough, Maria uses 100 grams of fresh spinach and removes the stalks. She blitzes it thoroughly with 1 kilo of 00 flour. She makes a well in the flour and adds 10 eggs. She is making enough lasagna to sell in her shop. Maria forms a dough, picking up all the flour so her board is clean. She then kneads it until it is smooth. The dough should rest for at least 30 minutes. Maria rolls out the dough, turning it a little bit every time in the same direction. She wraps it over her rolling pin, smoothing it with the palms of her hands before unrolling it at a slightly different angle. Spinach dough is fragile. If it tears, just stick it together. I prepare it in the oven. It goes well like this because it is too thin and then it is difficult to cook. For the pork ragout, Maria fries 50 grams of finely diced pancetta. Daughter Paola adds a kilo of minced pork loin. Maria roughly chops 2 cloves of garlic and 2 sage leaves. She wraps this up in muslin and puts it into the meat. She doesn't want the flavour to be too strong. This will be removed at the end of cooking. Paola seasons the ragout and pours in enough beef stock to cover the meat. Maria spoons in a 100 gram tin of tomato paste, rinsing out the tin with a little more stock. This ragout needs to simmer for at least an hour. For the bechamel sauce, Paola warms 1 litre of full fat milk. Maria makes a roux using 100 grams of butter and 100 grams of flour. It needs to be well seasoned. Paola adds plenty of nutmeg. She gradually pours in the milk, whisking the mixture all the time. She wants a thick sauce. Maria cuts pasta squares the size of her baking trays. She cooks them for 2 minutes in boiling salted water. She spreads them flat on the table to cool. Maria spreads a thin layer of the ragout over the base of her tray, then places a pasta sheet on top. She adds more ragout, followed by some spoons of bechamel sauce and plenty of grated parmigiano. She repeats this process until the tray is nearly full. There should be 7 layers of pasta. Maria finishes the lasagna with a layer of bechamel, parmigiano and some dots of butter. I cut it so the heat penetrates the middle of the sheet and it cooks better. This goes into a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Maria's lasagna is not traditional to Faenza, but it's very popular with her customers. And with Livia. Buon appetito! I can taste sausage, I think. Click on the subscribe button for regular helpings of Pasta Grannies.