Time For A Traditional Italian Lasagna Dish – Thanks To A Chef’s Mom!
There is nothing better than a comforting meal that has a history – so it’s time for a family Lasagna recipe thanks to Gloria Tramonto, Mother of an acclaimed Chicago Chef!
In 2006, acclaimed chef Rick Tramonto opened Osteria di Tramonto on Chicago’s north shore. While that restaurant is no longer open, I bought the cookbook and wanted to share a dish that has a rich family history thanks to his Mom!
Gloria’s Lasagna!
As he writes in his cookbook:
“Because my mom made a big pan of this lasagna at least once a week when I was growing up, it’s near and dear to my heart….as down-to-earth and satisfying a dish as you will ever find.”
Here are all of the ingredients you will need – and yes, those are “oven-ready lasagne” noodles…more on those, but first, let’s make the filling:
1 tbl olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion diced
2 tbl minced garlic – I use much more!
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cups white wine – drink a glass while cooking!
2 14-ox. cans plum tomatoes
1 tbl ground fennel seeds
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbl fresh basil
1 tsp chopped oregano
1 lb ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 – 1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
lasagna sheets
Heat the oil in a large sauce pan and cook your onion and garlic.
Once that has been in the pot for ten minutes cooking in olive oil, it’s time to bring out the big guns:
I used regular Italian sausage but Chef likes spicy – and of course ground beef…cooking for 10-12 minutes until cooked through…
Once cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove the meat, but leave the oil in the pan because you are about to use it again!
Here are the ingredients for the sauce as noted above…
Using that leftover oil and bits of remaining meat in the pan, add the wine and stir to loosen anything stuck to the bottom for about two minutes, then add the canned tomatoes:
Follow it up with your seasonings and spices and cook for a few minutes, before adding the meat mixture back in and cooking for 15 minutes….your meat sauce filling is ready to go…
Now, time to make the cheesy spread that brings all of the ingredients together: mix the ricotta with the egg and a half cup of the cheese…
Here is the final assembly before baking, and for the sake of fun, I included a bit of my banter with Alex as she questioned my use of those “oven ready” noodles – enjoy!
Again, a layer of sauce on the bottom, then your lasagna sheets, then the ricotta spread and then meat sauce, shredded cheese and another layer of noodles.
Here’s your before and after 30 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees:
And here is what happened after the Lasagna was baked:
Dig In!
As you can see, Gloria’s Lasagna came out of the dish perfectly – you can see the layers of noodle and meat – and notice that the noodles are very plump, so the par-boiled ones work for me!
As you can see, the dish is plenty for 4 or more people, or great for leftovers too!
I love recipes with a past…like this one:
This is Giuliana Depandi’s pasta recipe, thank to her Mom!
Giuliana and Bill have terrific products so you can make her Mom’s pasta too – see the recipe here:
And I shared this story earlier – people are going full “grandmacore” – embracing classic recipes from their grandparents!
See why they are embracing their past by clicking on my story here:
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Writing, Recipes
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
I haven’t made lasagne in ages, I’ll have to remedy that!
this looks so incredibly good !
Looks soft, juicy and tasty . . . love to see how you make it 🙂 ! Actually, reading from Australia, I very much enjoy looking at the ingredients involved – what you buy – some like the Barilla pasta are the same (or have the same name) as ours . . . others I scan and oft look up to see the differences – thank you!
Looks great, John. When we make it at home we don’t include the spicy sausage, I will have to try that. Shared on Twitter.
Best wishes, Pete.
I cook something similar (but not spicy) and use quorn instead of mince.
I’m a big fan of Quorn!
Me too.