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Pesto Rosso Lasagna
Once upon a time on a family trip in Sicily, I discovered pesto rosso (red pesto) — the intoxicatingly sweet and savory and tangy and almost-meaty paste that results from combining sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, currants, capers, parmesan, anchovies, and olive oil into the most epic sandwich spread OR the lasagna sauce you never knew you absolutely needed.
I layer this wonderfully sticky and flavorful mix with creamy béchamel and grated Parmesan to help it coat each noodle with a sauce that clings to every bite. The result is a rich, red lasagna that — especially when topped with the vibrant green of fresh basil pesto — makes for quite the festive hit to feed a crowd, and can easily be reheated for leftover meals or sliced cold from the dish and enjoyed privately by the light of the refrigerator door. Pro tip: Add a few splashes of hot sauce!
Pesto Rosso Lasagna
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Serves: 8 to 10
Ingredients
Pesto Rosso (yields 3 cups):
2 cups sundried tomatoes, packed in olive-oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or toasted walnuts
1 tablespoon capers, drained
1/3 cup dried currants
2 tablespoons anchovies
3 cloves garlic
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt, to taste
Bechamel (yields 3 ½ cups):
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk,warmed
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt, to taste
Lasagna:
2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, for greasing
1-pound lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Basil Pesto:
2 to 3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano
1 to 2 cups packed basil leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
For the Pesto Rosso:
•To the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, add the sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, capers, currants, anchovies, garlic, parmesan, and pulse until finely chopped. While the food processor is running, slowly stream in the olive oil and continue blending until smooth. Season with salt. The pesto will be pretty thick, set aside.
For the Bechamel:
•In a medium saucepan add the butter and heat over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over and whisk to form a paste. Allow the paste to cook for a minute or so, but not color much, it will be blonde. Slowly stream in the milk while whisking until smooth. Bring to a simmer, allow to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until thickened and bechamel coats the back of a spoon nicely. Add nutmeg and salt and whisk to combine. Remove from the heat and set aside.
For the Lasagna:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and allow to cook according to package instructions for al dente (about 8 minutes). Drain and remove immediately to a baking sheet. Toss with a tablespoon of olive oil so the noodles don’t stick to each other (This is the only time I ever toss freshly cooked pasta with olive oil because we need the noodles to be easy to pick up and layer into the baking dish. Avoid this all other times because you want the natural starch of the pasta to be present to help bind any delicious sauce!).
•Add a thin layer of bechamel to the bottom of the prepared baking dish and top with a layer of pasta noodles. Then add a layer of bechamel, then a layer of pesto (about ½ cup of each) and top with 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese. Repeat until the lasagna has been completely layered, 5 layers of noodles in total. The final layer should finish with bechamel, pesto, and parmesan cheese.
•Cover with foil and cook for 35 to 40 minutes until bubbling and noodles are tender—you can test this by inserting a paring knife into the noodles. Remove the foil then broil for a minute or so until golden. Allow the lasagna to rest for 20 minutes before serving. Drizzle with the basil pesto before serving.
For the Basil Pesto:
•In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, add the garlic and pulse until finely chopped. Add the pine nuts and parmesan cheese and pulse again until everything is finely chopped. Add the basil and pulse one last time until the leaves are finely chopped as well. Then with the machine running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until combined and smooth. Season with salt as desired.
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