You cut a square into layers you can count: thin pasta, ragù the colour of rust, béchamel, Parmigiano. It should be silk, not a red brick of meat and mozzarella. The top is spotted gold; the interior barely holds. A modest square is a serving, however much you may want a second.
This is Bologna's baked pasta. The sheets were traditionally spinach-green; the ragù is the slow one, with milk; there is no ricotta. Emilia does not rush this.
Rest it fifteen minutes out of the oven or it will slump. Don't pack the layers down; they should just rest on one another.
Method
- 01
Melt the butter in a heavy pot and sweat the minced onion, carrot, celery, and pancetta until they are sweet and the fat has run, a good ten minutes. Add the beef and pork, breaking them up, and brown them properly — grey meat makes a timid ragù. Pour in the wine and let it cook off, then add the passata and milk. Simmer very gently, with the occasional lazy bubble, for at least two hours.
- 02
In a saucepan, melt the butter, stir in the flour, and cook that mixture a minute or two without letting it brown. Whisk in the milk a little at a time until you have a smooth, pourable sauce, then let it simmer gently until it coats the back of a spoon. Grate in nutmeg and season with salt. It should be silk, not paste; loosen with a splash more milk if it thickens too much.
- 03
Butter a baking dish and begin layering: a sheet of pasta, a ladle of ragù, a drizzle of béchamel, a handful of Parmesan, and repeat. Keep the layers thin so you can count them when you cut a square — this is silk, not a brick. Finish with béchamel and a generous blanket of cheese. Don't pack it down; the layers should just rest on one another.
- 04
Bake at 350°F for forty minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the top is spotted gold; tent loosely with foil if it browns too fast. Then — and this is not optional — rest it fifteen minutes out of the oven so the layers set. A square will cut clean instead of slumping, and a modest piece, smelling of nutmeg and ragù, is a serving.
