Steps for White Neapolitan Lasagna with White Ragù

• I should mention that you can also prepare this white ragù with: 2.2 lbs of round and 14 oz of sausage.

  It’s best to buy the ricotta and fiordilatte the day before, so that they don’t release too much milk during cooking.

  I used pre-cooked fresh pasta lasagna sheets, but you can make them at home too.

  

• Chop the mix of onions, carrots, and celery with a mezzaluna (NOT with a mixer).

  Place a saucepan with 1 quart of water and 1 vegetable or meat bouillon cube on the stove, to obtain a boiling broth.

  Take a saucepan (preferably cast iron or earthenware) and pour in 3.5 fl oz of extra virgin olive oil, 1.75 oz of butter, 1 garlic, pepper, and the pancetta pieces, let it all flavor and then add the meat and brown it over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes. Then, deglaze with 3.5 fl oz of dry white wine and continue to brown until the wine evaporates (about 5 minutes).

  At this point, remove the meat from the pot and keep it warm covered.

• In the same pot where you browned the meat, add another 3.5 fl oz of extra virgin olive oil, the minced onions, carrots, and celery, and let it brown until the vegetables are reduced to a paste, it will take 15 – 20 minutes and they should take on a blond/dark color (as shown in the photo below). If you see that the vegetables tend to burn during cooking, you can add 1-2 ladles of boiling broth.

  

• When the herbs are well cooked and browned, return the meat kept warm to the pot, let it flavor in the vegetable mince for about 5 minutes with another 3.5 fl oz of dry white wine and 1.05 oz of potato starch (optional, see Notes and Tips below), then pour all the boiling broth over the meat, which should be covered to the edge, add the pepper and salt (be careful not to add too much as the bouillon cube and pancetta are salty), let it come back to a boil and then cover the pot with its lid (leaving a crack open for air circulation).

  Cook the white ragù on low heat for about 2 hours, until all the liquid is absorbed.

  At the end of the 2 hours, you will have a thick and delicious stew sauce, which you will use to season the lasagna. I blended the sauce with an immersion blender, but it’s optional.

  Put the meat aside again, take (only) the sausages and cut them into thin slices, you will need them for the lasagna filling.

  With the rest of the very tender meat, you will get a tasty second dish.

  

• Pass the ricotta through a sieve (I used the handy electric purée accessory from Braun, see Purchase Tips at the end of the recipe), gather it in a bowl, and add 2 eggs, 2.5 oz of grated Parmesan, 0.25 oz of salt, and pepper.

  Cut the fiordilatte into thin slices.

  

• Butter a rectangular lasagna pan about 12×8.6 inches, 2.36 inches high.

  Pour a ladle of boiling sauce into the buttered pan and spread it over the entire surface, then cover the sauce with a first layer of lasagna sheets, spread a layer of ricotta on top and a few slices of sausage (previously cooked in the white ragù) and here and there slices of fiordilatte, finally sprinkle a few tablespoons of sauce.

  Make a second layer of lasagna and season it like the previous one.

  The last layer (I did 4 layers) should be only lasagna, sprinkle the lasagna with 0.35 oz of grated Parmesan and on the Parmesan arrange very thin slices of fiordilatte over the entire surface and finally, spread the remaining stew sauce over all the slices of fiordilatte.

  

• Place the pan in a pre-heated static oven at 340°F for about 40 minutes, it should stew slowly to not overly color the surface and cook well inside.

  Once cooked, let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting it into slices.