Hi aspiring chefs! My name is Ana Raciti, and let me tell you a little bit about myself before we get started. I am originally from the small town of South Bend, Indiana, but currently I am a freshman at Xavier University where I am majoring in Spanish and English with a minor in Professional Education. I come from a very large and close-knit family and have five sisters and one brother. In my free time, I enjoy running, baking, watching romantic-comedies, reading books, and spending quality time with my friends and family. Today, I will be showing you how to make an authentic Sicilian lasagna, which originated from the Italian province of Sicily. My Grandma “Citi” (Raciti) immigrated to the United States from Sicily in the mid-1900s, and the one cultural dish that she truly missed was…LASAGNA…with lots and lots of mozzarella of course! As a result of this, she created her own version, which is the recipe that I will be sharing with you. However, her one requirement while preparing this dish was to always have a glass of Yellow Tail Shiraz in hand so go pour yourself one now before we begin.
READY IN:
- 3 hours and 30 minutes (it is a labor of love)
COOKING TIME:
- 1 hour
PREP TIME:
- 2 hours and 30 minutes
SERVES:
- 10 people (since each person will want multiple servings, trust me)
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 5 pounds of beef
- 5 pounds of ground pork
- 1 pound of lasagna noodles
- 4 cups of water
- 5 pounds of fresh mozzarella (which my Grandma referred to as the “magic ingredient”)
- 1 can of tomato paste
- Mixed with 3 cans (36 ounces) of water
- 1 can of tomato soup
- Mixed with 1 can (12 ounces) of water
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon of fresh basil (fresh basil always tastes better, but dried basil works too)
- 1 teaspoon of ground fennel seed
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons of salt
METHOD:
- First, for the meat, put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a frying pan, and place onto stove. Turn the stove to medium-high heat. Then, brown the beef and ground pork for about 7-10 minutes.
- After beef and ground pork are browned, drain off all the excess fat into a small bowl, and lay the meat aside.
- For the tomato sauce, first mix the tomato paste with 3 cans (36 ounces) of water in a large saucepan at medium heat. Then, add the tomato soup that is mixed with 1 can (12 ounces) of water to the saucepan. Mix these liquids together.
- Next, add the bay leaves, fresh basil, fennel seed, minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon of salt to the saucepan. Mix all of these ingredients together. Let the tomato sauce simmer for about 1 hour.
- After the sauce has simmered for an hour, remove the bay leaves (since they are a choking hazard), stir the cooked beef and ground pork into the tomato mixture, and set aside (if you have a lot of patience and time on your hands, you can let the sauce stand in the fridge overnight; however, this does not alter the taste much so we normally skip that step).
- Then, obtain a large pot and boil the lasagna in 4 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil (so that the noodles do not stick together) on medium-high heat for about 8-10 minutes. After they are cooked, drain the lasagna noodles and lay them on paper towels to dry.
- Now, slice the mozzarella cheese into 1/8-inch-thick pieces (if you are not a fan of mozzarella cheese, you could also use ricotta; however, that is heresy according to my Grandma).
- Next, it is time to assemble the lasagna.
- Begin with putting a little sauce on the bottom of the 9×13 pan. Then, layer the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce. For the third layer in this process, place lots of mozzarella cheese slices on the noodles (now is not a time to be shy).
- Repeat this three step layering process (sauce–lasagna noodles–mozzarella cheese) until the pan is full.
- Finally, bake at 350° for 1 hour until the mozzarella cheese is fully melted and golden brown. Woolah! I hope you enjoy this delicious meal! By the way, feel free to add lots of grated parmesan cheese on the top!
5 FACTS ABOUT FOOD INSECURITY IN CINCINNATI, OHIO
- Across the Cincinnati region, more than 270,000 households experience food insecurity.
- One of the major factors that contributes to food insecurity in the Cincinnati region is the rise of “food deserts.”
- Low-to-moderate-level-income residents and people of color are the main victims of food insecurity in the Cincinnati region.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has even left children food insecure due to the closure of schools, and this has led them to develop negative health conditions such as obesity.
- In order to ensure that all individuals in the Cincinnati region are food insecure, the city is trying to make improvements to the food system by establishing community gardens and working alongside philanthropic organizations like Freestore Foodbank so that food can be redistributed more efficiently and quickly to people in need.