Do you you have too much pesto at home? 😀 then here it is a good solution 😀

If you love pesto, then you are going to love this recipe. It requires some job, but it’s not too complicated, moreover if you prepare more you can also freeze it, and eat it whenever you want, also as a last minute choice 🙂

It’s possible to add also some mozzarella, or scamorza, or provolone, but I didn’t want to make it heavier, anyway with all this pesto it’s definitely tasty enough 🙂 Moreover, instead of ricotta I used an artisanal orda, which is a traditional Hungarian product very similar to ricotta, since it’s made from whey too.

Let’s see how to do it.

 

INGREDIENTS (5-6 people):

For the pasta:

• 300 g flour
• 3 eggs

For the filling:

• 400 g pesto genovese
• 300 g ricotta

For the bechamel sauce:

• 250 ml milk
• 25 g butter
• 25 g flour
• a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (or mace)
• salt

+ some extra freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

 

1. First of all prepare the pesto (I used the pesto I previously prepared and stored), for example follow MY RECIPE.
2. Then prepare the fresh pasta: sift the flour on your working table, create a “mountain” with a hole in the center, and add the eggs in that hole. Start pushing the flour in the eggs from the sides of the central hole, and then gradually adding the flour from more outside. When you have a solid mass start working it energetically, for at least 7-8 minutes long, until you have a strong, smooth and homogeneous dough.
3. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Then divide the dough in 4-5 smaller pieces and flatten each piece with a rolling pin. If you want you can flatten the dough in sheets of about 2 mm thick using just the rolling pin, otherwise use the manual pasta machine until the second-to-last option.
4. Place the sheets over trays on which you have put some flour (better if semola rimacinata di grano duro, durum wheat semolina flour, so it will not attach to the pasta), and keep them covered with clean towels.
5. When you have prepared all the pasta you have now to pre-boil it. Boil the water in a pot, add some salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and boil the sheets of pasta for no more than 20 seconds (2-3 sheets at each time). Then put them immediately in a bowl with cold water (you can add also ice cubes), drain and place over clean towels. Drain them well.
6. Now prepare the Béchamel sauce: take a pot and melt the butter at low heat, then sift the flour and add it all in one time to the butter, remove the pot from the heat and keep whisking with a manual whisker until you obtain an homogeneous blond Roux, with no lumps, and bring the pot back to the heat. Then add a little bit of hot milk, keep mixing, then add all the remaining hot milk, the salt and the grated nutmeg, and keep mixing energetically until the sauce starts to boil and becomes thicker and creamy, with no lumps at all.
7. Now we have everything and we can start to assemble the lasagna: choose an oven pan and put on the bottom a layer of pesto, that you have previously mixed with the ricotta and a small ladle of the water in which you have boiled the pasta.
8. Then place the pasta to cover all the surface: this is a tailor job 🙂 you’ll have to cut the sheets of pasta to cover well every hole. Then add another layer of pesto and ricotta. Keep repeating until you use all the pasta, I use to do 6-7 layers maximum.
9. If you would like you can prepare more bechamel sauce and mix it to the pesto and ricotta, but I think it’s enough to use the bechamel just on the last layer, and then sprinkled with a generous amount of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
10. Pre-heat the oven at 180 °C, fan-assisted mode, and then bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes. It’s ready when you’ll have a nice crust on the top.
11. Let it rest at least 10-15 minutes, and then finally enjoy this great dish! 🙂

As I said, you can also freeze it, and eat it another time.