Lasagna with radicchio, pancetta and taleggio sauce. Think about your last dining experience at an Italian neighborhood restaurant; crowded atmosphere with frantic waiters, red and white checkered tablecloths, empty Chianti bottles serving as candlestick holders, and vintage photos of Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni splashing in the famous Trevi fountain.
Of course, let’s not forget the unmistakable 1960s images of Vespa’s and Fiat Topolino 500s. All of this accompanied by ballads from the famous four crooners – Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Junior, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Add to this a gluttonous appetite that is never failed by the house specials serving family-style portions with enough to take home and live on between now and your next visit!
For many patrons this is Italy, but for those who have ventured to the Old Continent, it is the idea of Italy; one of a caricature that is — I will admit — fun and boisterous when dining among a large group of friends. Yet the food, and particularly the baked specialties such as stuffed manicotti and Bolognese lasagna, are often generic, overcooked and a disappointment in terms of flavor (i.e., the famous last touch of Parmigiano Reggiano no longer enhances the dish but serves to thoroughly bind the pasta together by creating strings of cheese that no one knows how to cut).
It is an ersatz local culture and regional tradition, and this despite names such as Grotto, Locanda, Osteria, Pizzeria, Ristorante, often followed by recognizable first names such as Amato, Angelo, Antonio, Gorgio and Lorenzo, ironically, many of them names of Roman Catholic Saints.
While the setting is familiar with minor personal differences, why not make your Italian dining unique and truly distinctive and cook at home (a casa) while reinventing one of the staple dishes called lasagna. Well, what invention might we be talking about?
Lasagna dish
I recently stumbled on a lasagna recipe that created a succulent meal in which uncommon and flavorful ingredients were included: shredded radicchio di Treviso, pancetta, thyme, and a unctuous Taleggio cheese sauce. Contrary to the traditional dish, where several layers of boiled lasagna pasta are baked horizontally with robust meat layers and a cheese béchamel sauce, here, the recipe called for a single pasta sheet per portion. Yes, only one and set vertically in order to showcase itself like a flower with its ruffled (pasta) ribbons.
How to cook and present the dish
The main ingredient is radicchio, which is part of the chicory leaf family. Typically red with white stripes, it is found most easily during peak season from January to April. In its raw form it has a bitter and spicy taste, thus in this dish, it should be grilled to mellow the flavor. Add pancetta —made from pork belly meat that is salt cured— then sautéed with onions and celery. When the Taleggio sauce is smooth and loose in consistency, baste each lasagna sheet individually with all ingredients and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan.
Carefully roll the pasta and transfer it to a dish, simultaneously setting it up vertically. It may lean like a Pisa Tower but this will give it the charm of a homemade dish. Bake it to finish, and when the top is nicely browned, dust the dish and plate with uncooked julienned radicchio and a drizzle of olive oil and thyme. The flavor and simple presentation are out of this world, and you will feel like you belong to the pantheon of one of the great Italian chefs. Bon Appetito!
Wish to try this recipe at home, visit Lasagna