Lasagna is an extraordinarily variable dish. This particular version, with speck and pears, is modern, and will (if you halve the recipe) be perfect for romantic occasions too, especially Valentine's Day. The full recipe, to serve 4:
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound (220 g) fresh pasta, in sheets (store-bought will be fine)
- 4/5 cup (200 ml) béchamel sauce (see link to instructions; store bought will be fine too)
- 1/4 pound (100 g) speck in fairly thin slices (see note)
- 2 Williams pears, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
- 1/4 pound (100 g) mozzarella
- 1/4 cup (50 g) unsalted butter
- A healthy pinch of cayenne pepper
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
Before we begin: Speck is a smoked raw (or at the most very slightly cooked) ham from the Südtirol. In its absence I would use either prosciutto, pancetta, or -- if I couldn't find either -- bacon, slicing the bacon into matchsticks and then crisping them and draining away excess fat.Returning to the recipe, set a pot of water to boil and heat your oven to 360 F (180 C). Lightly salt the water, separate the sheets of pasta, and cook them for three minutes. Remove them with a strainer and lay them flat on a clean cloth (not overlapping or the sheets will stick).
Butter a baking dish proportionate to the volume of ingredients, or more than one if you are making individual portions. For example, heart-shaped portion-sized (4 inches, or 10 cm across) baking dishes would be ideal for Valentine's Day.
Cut the strips of speck crosswise to make matchsticks of them.
Drain the mozzarella and squeeze it gently between your hands to remove as much serum as you can. Dice it finely.
Season the béchamel sauce to taste with salt and cayenne pepper, going easy on the pepper.
Peel the pears, quarter them, core them, and slice them thinly.
Spread a couple of spoonfuls of béchamel sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Cover the bottom of the dish or dishes completely with pasta (you may need to cut the sheets to do so).
Cover the pasta with a little béchamel sauce, some mozzarella, some of the speck and the pears, and repeat the sequence until all is used up.
Cover the dish with a sheet of aluminum foil and bake the lasagna for 20 minutes, removing the foil after 10. Serve at once. A bottle of bubbly (for example Prosecco) might be a nice accompaniment.
