Michael Symon Shares His Mom’s Tips for Making Perfect Lasagna
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| Michael Symon Shares His Mom’s Tips for Making Perfect Lasagna |
Every Italian dutifully swears his mom's cooking is the best, but in Michael Symon’s
case, it may actually be true. The Iron Chef recently opened Angeline
in Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa as an homage to his
mom, Angel. The menu, inspired by family recipes, is a roundup of the
classic, red-sauce-style Italian dishes Symon grew up eating: handmade
linguini with clams, arancini,
eggplant parm and a daily “Sunday Supper” that includes a feast of
prosciutto, ricotta and red peppers, cavatelli, garlic bread, meatballs
and more. But one dish evokes a particularly strong sense of nostalgia
for Symon: lasagna.
“Every Wednesday at my parents’ house was lasagna
night—the night all my friends begged to eat over,” he says. “You could
smell the lasagna baking houses away, and Wednesday was the only night
of the week I was more than happy to be early for dinner. I’ve eaten
lasagna from every corner of the earth, and I have yet to find one as
good as Mom’s.”
Symon recreates Angel’s recipe in the thirty-layered
dish he named “Mom’s Lasagna.” In a glossy dining room designed with
little touches to recall his mom’s home (floral wallpaper, lace curtains
and a built-in hutch displaying cake plates and other nonna-approved
knick-knacks) servers present towering rectangles of pasta and cheese
that sit atop pools of meaty red sauce. If you aren’t getting an invite to Mrs. Symon’s house on lasagna night, this is the next best thing.
To start your own Wednesday night tradition, use the
chef’s best tips for building an architecturally-impressive,
nostalgia-inducing lasagna.
The Noodles
According to Symon, cutting corners sacrifices taste.
“Don’t bother with those no-boil noodles—they compromise the texture,”
he says. “Go the extra mile and use the real thing.” He also quotes his
co-host on The Chew: “When boiling the noodles, salt your water
until, in the words of Mario Batali, it’s ‘as salty as the sea.’ This is
your chance to season your pasta.”
The Cheese
To help keep layers smooth and mess-free, use Angel’s
trick. “One of the things my mom always did is put the ricotta mixture
in a plastic zip bag or piping bag,” he shares. “That way it goes right
where you want it to go, and you don’t have to fight with it. It spreads
quickly and evenly.”
The Pan
The chef says a 9 x 13-inch pan is the optimal size
and shape for baking lasagna. “It keeps the ingredients condensed so the
final product is nice and thick, versus each layer being spread thinly
in a larger pan,” he says.
The Finish
There’s really no such thing as too much cheese, so
Symon likes to grate fresh mozzarella and fresh parmesan on top to make
it extra cheesy. “Another tip from my mom: always cover it with foil at
the beginning of the cooking process, then remove it for the last 10
minutes to let the cheese on top get brown and crispy.”
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