Lasagne with white ragout, artichokes and prized black truffle

Alberto Bettini

For 6 people

125 g of high gluten flour
110 g of semi-wholegrain flour
15 g of technical flour
2 eggs +1 yolk
3 whole artichokes with the stem
100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
1 small scallion
750 g of "Mora" breed pork neck
70 g of celery
80 g of carrot
100 g of golden onion
1 small bay leaf
200 ml of white wine
0.75 l of meat stock
72 g of prized black truffle
120 g of Grana Padano
1 Tolè potato
Cervia salt
still water

 

Make a mound with the three types of flour with a hole in the centre. Drop the eggs into the centre and knead into a smooth, even dough. Leave to rest for half an hour, then roll out with rolling pin. Cut into rectangles about the size of the dish you are going to use for the lasagne and cook them in boiling salted water, for a couple of minutes. Drain them and plunge them in a basin of slightly salted cold water, to block the cooking, then lay them on a cloth and dry them.

Remove the hard outer leaves and finely slice the artichokes and toss them in a pan with a little oil and salt, until they are golden and crunchy. Cook the stems, peeled and chopped, in a pan with another spoonful of oil and a small scallion. Gently fry in the base for a few minutes then add a cubed potato of the same weight as the artichoke stems. Cover with water and complete cooking. Then pass everything through a vegetable blender, eliminating the filaments. Add salt to taste.

Chop the vegetables and roughly mince the meat, running it once through a mincer. Place the vegetables in a pan with some oil and a bay lead, and fry gently. Toast the meat separately, cooking it in the white wine and, when it has evaporated, add it to the fried vegetables together with the meat stock. Cook for about 4 hours, on a low heat, adding salt to taste at the end.

Grease a roasting tin, place a layer of pasta on the bottom, 1/5 of the artichoke stem cream, 1/5 of the ragout and 1/4 of the crunchy artichokes, spreading them out well. Grate 9 g of truffle and twice that amount of Grana Padano, then lay over the second layer of pasta and continue with the same ingredients for 4 layers. Cover with the fifth layer of pasta and complete with the remaining fifth of the ragout, artichoke stem cream and plenty of grated Grana Padano. Bake in the oven at 180 °C for about 20 minutes. Before serving, let the lasagne rest out of the oven for a few minutes.

Serve on a plate with the remaining 36 g of prized black truffle, using a fine Microplane grater.