Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite Italian dishes, but not the Lasagna with tomato sauce, the one with a creamy meaty ragu sauce.  The first time I tried Lasagna with meat sauce was at Angelini Osteria on Beverly Blvd. (One of the best Italian restaurants in LA) IT WAS AMAZING! I learned to make this version of lasagna while working at Terroni Los Angeles during my culinary school internship. I love this recipe and it is so rewarding when you actually take the time to do it, so i hope you guys enjoy this one.

Ingredients

2 Medium size carrots rough chop
1 stalk celery rough chop
1 onion rough chop
1 LB ground beef (80%)
1/2 C heavy cream 
2 tsp salt 
3 Tablespoons EVOO
4 C Chicken stock 
About 12 fresh pasta sheets 8x4"

or 
Dry lasagna sheets 
about 1.5 C grated Parmesan cheese
one container of fresh mozzarella cheese

Procedure

1. pulse the carrot, onion, and celery in a food processor until you reach a fine mince consistency.
2. Sweat the mix in the EVOO on a low to medium heat until well cooked. (about 30 min)
3. add the ground beef and continue to cook until the ground beef begins to color.
4. add the chicken stock and bring to a low simmer.
5. cook until the beef becomes very tender and almost all the liquid is gone.
6. add the salt and the cream and bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the sauce thickens just a bit.
7. set the sauce aside to cool.
8. Now cook the pasta sheets in boiling salted water until they are aldente and still have a little bite to them.
9. once cooked shock them in ice water.
10. now start to layer the lasagna in a small square baking pan. about 8x8"
11. Start with one layer of pasta, then a thin layer of sauce and cover the sauce with grated Parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese.
12. Rinse and repeat, and at the final layer only top the pasta with Parmesan and Mozzarella, and make sure to fully cover the top layer of pasta withe cheese to ensure that you get a nice cheesy top layer.