Cream Sauce Lasagna

By Febrina Picone Malloy

When Mary Rose couldn’t have tomatoes and mushrooms, Nonna made her a special batch of Lasagna using a cream sauce. The cream sauce can be made ahead.

Ingredients:
3 TB unsalted butter
3 TB flour
2 cups whole milk
½ tsp salt
small pinch pepper
1 ½ large eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 recipe of Italian Meatballs
1/4 lb Italian Sausage
1/2 lb lasagna noodles
1/2 lb ricotta cheese
1 beaten egg
1/4 tsp salt
dash pepper
up to ½ TB dried parsley
1/4 lb mozzarella cheese, sliced
1-2 oz grated romano cheese (about 1/3 cup)

Directions:
1. For the cream sauce, melt butter in a non-reactive saucepan over medium heat.  When bubbly, whisk in the flour (or use a wooden spoon or heat-proof scraper) and stir and cook about 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly so flour paste is absorbed without lumps.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. When it boils, reduce heat to low and simmer, still stirring, for about 4 minutes. Season to taste (I used ½ tsp salt and small pinch pepper) and remove from heat. Let sauce cool to about lukewarm. Then whisk the cooled sauce til smooth and whisk in the eggs, beating well so eggs don’t curdle.
3. Cook lasagna noodles in salted water according to package directions, using the shortest recommended cooking time. Immediately rinse with cold water and drain well. Using a large wide bowl or pot, gently lay each lasagna strip over the edge of the bowl, overlapping for second row.
4. Mix ricotta cheese, beaten egg, salt, pepper, and parsley.
5. In a 9" square baking dish (or 11x7), layer ingredients starting with cream sauce, then noodles, mozzarella, sausage, meatballs, ricotta, romano, cream sauce, then repeat. End with about 1 cup of the sauce on top.Cover with foil. If overfull, use toothpicks to keep the foil off of the lasagna. Bake at 325°for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered 20-25 minutes longer, until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.