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Lasagna

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The Authoritative Lasagna

I’ve been making this lasagna since forever. Some people say there are too many vegetables. Some people say there isn’t enough cheese. Most people say it’s fucking fantastic. 

what you need

lasagna sheets (ideally fresh)

16oz ricotta cheese

1 tablespoon lemon zest

pinch of nutmeg

1 egg

1 handful fresh basil, cut into thin strips

2 large blocks of fresh mozzarella, torn into strips

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 large zucchini sliced into thin disks, preferably using a mandolin

olive oil

For the sauce: make my essential Bolognese. If you haven’t the time, then you need these things: 1 pound ground beef, 1 pound loose pork Italian sausage, 48oz canned Marzano tomatoes, 1 minced onion, 5 minced garlic cloves, 1 cup white wine, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper flakes, a parmesan cheese rind, and salt.

how to make it

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a baking dish by drizzling some olive oil on the bottom.

If you do not have my Bolognese sauce and need to whip up a quick lasagna sauce: brown the ground beef and sausage in a pan using olive oil and salt, breaking the meat up so no large chunks remain. Throw in the minced onion and garlic, stirring for another ~2 minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add the cup of white wine and simmer until the liquid disappears. Add crushed red peppers, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper to taste. Add the diced Marzano tomatoes to the sauce along with some additional salt and the parmesan rind, stir well, and let simmer on low for at least 1 hour, adding liquid as needed. 

Prepare the Mozzarella (tear), parmesan (grate), zucchini (slice), and ricotta. Place ricotta in a mixing bowl and whip together (using a fork) with egg, lemon zest, nutmeg, and basil strips. 

Now, layer your lasagna (bottom to top):

  1. lasagna sheet
  2. sauce
  3. mozarella
  4. lasagna sheet
  5. ricotta
  6. zucchini (overlap the slices so it makes a complete zucchini layer like the pasta)
  7. sauce
  8. lasagna sheet
  9. sauce
  10. rest of the mozarella
  11. top with parmesan

Cover the baking dish with tinfoil and bake on 350 for 35 minutes. Remove the tinfoil, rotate the baking sheet, and cook for an additional 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for ~15-20 minutes before serving. 

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Omni

Best Meatballs

one and a half slices recipe italian spaghetti meatballs
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Authentic Italian Meatballs

one and a half slices recipe italian spaghetti meatballs

Last weekend my world was changed forever when I was schooled by a friend very dear to me in the subtle art of the perfect Lady and the Tramp style meatball. That fine grained, tender, perfectly seasoned Italian delicacy resting lightly atop a bird’s nest of egg noodles dusted with Parmesano Reggiano. The ultimate comfort.

For a while now I have been faithfully married to my essential Bolognese sauce. Considering this sauce the pinnacle of comfort food, I had relegated meatballs to a facet of my childhood and did not intend to explore them much further. Until, that is, a friend of mine suggested we spend a chilly Sunday afternoon cooking meatballs in the style of this-is-how-my-grandma-made-it lore. Skeptical of such lore, but always willing to learn something new, we threw a cooler in the back of the car and drove out to visit Jesse Straight at Whiffletree Farm, purveyor of local chicken, pork, beef, lamb, turkey, and other pasture raised meats (see more about #eatlocal and Whiffletree Farm here). Upon our return, we set to work simmering a basic marinara. 

As it turns out, the secret to the very best authentic Italian meatballs is threefold: 1) cook them a long ass time, 2) use a combination of meats (beef, pork, and lamb), 3) the love of cooking. Slow cooking. With a loaf of fresh Italian bread by the stove for all day marinara sauce dipping and taste testing, a playlist, and plenty of good vibes, we cooked. We opened a bottle of red wine that was fantastic but I can’t quite identify beyond the bright red eyeglasses on the label. Free OneandahalfSlices swag for anyone who can tell me what this wine is. We talked and dabbed marinara sauce on the noses of my slightly grumpy kittens. And we connected.

So here we have it. The Whiffletree Farm three-meat authentic Italian meatball recipe, worth the lore, worth the investment, and worth every moment spent in friendship in the kitchen. Happy cooking.

🍅🍅🍅

Three-meat Blend
Meatballs
Marinara
Bird Nest 1
Unidentified Wine Pairing
Bird Nest 2

what you need

For the meatballs:

2 pounds Whiffletree Farm ground beef

1 pound Whiffletree Farm ground pork 

1 pound Whiffletree Farm ground lamb

4 eggs, or one egg per pound of meat

2 cups breadcrumbs, or 1/2 cup bread crumbs per pound of meat

5 garlic cloves, minced

one handful of parsley, finely chopped

1/8 cup dried oregano and basil

dash of cayenne pepper

salt and black pepper to taste

For the Marinara:

24 oz of canned, chopped Italian imported Roma tomatoes

three to four fresh Roma tomatoes, diced

one yellow onion or two shallots, finely minced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

dried oregano, basil, and parsley

salt and pepper to taste

(optional) parmesan cheese rinds

how to make it

First, get the sauce going.  Place a few tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a large pot stovetop. Add the minced onions and garlic, all the spices, and, if you are so inclined, a few pieces of ground pork. Sauté over medium heat for a minute or two and then add the canned and fresh tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, and spices, bring to a boil, then reduce to the gentlest possible simmer. Add the Parmesan cheese rinds and cover the pot.

Now, craft your meatballs. Set the oven to high broil and combine all three meats in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic, spices, and fresh parsley. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Try not to compress the meat down into the bowl too much in the process.

Gently roll meat into 1 1/2 inch balls, careful not to squeeze or compress the balls too much. Ideally, you want finely-ground meat and loosely-compressed meatballs. Arrange on a baking tray and broil for five minutes, remove from oven, turn each meat all over once, and broil five minutes more. 

Simmer. Carefully transfer all meatballs into the Marinara sauce. Ensure all the meatballs are covered by the sauce and, if they aren’t, add a bit of water so that this is the case. Simmer your meatballs in the sauce for two to three hours covered, then an additional hour uncovered until sauce reaches desired thickness. Serve over pasta of choice and sprinkle with finely-ground Parmesano Reggiano cheese. 

Don’t forget the red wine! 🍷

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Sweet

Tiramisu

oneandahalfslices tiramisu recipe authentic dessert recipe
one and a half slices local simple recipes food

Traditional Tiramisu

oneandahalfslices tiramisu recipe authentic dessert recipe

❤

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and for those looking for an authentic, elegant dessert, you might want to give this one a try. Last year I developed an interest in tiramisu and started trying it out at restaurants. The best are light and fluffy, with spongy lady fingers, a hint but not an overwhelming touch of liquor, and extremely silky, light cream. There are so many different components to the tiramisu flavor profile I thought surely it would be difficult to make. Not so! It is actually pretty simple. Authentic tiramisu does have raw eggs, though, which I consume readily in mom’s eggnog – doesn’t bother me. But many Americans make tiramisu with whipped cream or other substitutes. This recipe uses the egg. Just rinse the outsides well in steaming hot water and there shouldn’t be an issue. Also, the fresher the eggs, the better. You can make this in virtually any container. The recipe is intended for one large tiramisu but I made mine in several tiny glass Tupperware containers for easy storage and gifting.  

❤

what you need

2 cups Mascarpone

24-36 lady finger biscuits (I chose to buy mine at Whole Foods instead of make from scratch)

1 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso

1/3 cup Cognac or liquor of choice 

3 egg yolks

3 eggs whites

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

Cocoa powder for dusting

oneandahalfslices tiramisu recipe valentine's day

how to make it

Note: You’re going to want to make your tiramisu one day before you need it and let it sit in the fridge overnight

Combine coffee (room temperature) and Cognac in a bowl and set aside. You are welcome to sprinkle in some cinnamon if desired.

Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into two separate mixing bowls. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar to each and beat with a hand mixer on high. The egg yolks should become lighter yellow and shiny. The egg whites should froth up, then become shiny, and finally form stiff peaks.

Add the Mascarpone to the egg yolks and beat until thoroughly combined. Then, using a spatula, fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture until a silky cream forms. 

Retrieve your tiramisu vessel. You’re going to want to dip each lady finger, one at a time, one side at a time, in the coffee mixture. You should not spend more than 1-2 seconds on each side. Then place the lady fingers along the bottom of the container. 

Layer with some of the cream until all the lady fingers are covered. Then dip and add another layer of lady fingers. You can do this as many times as desired depending on how tall you want your tiramisu to be. I usually end up with lady fingers – cream – lady fingers – cream, and that’s it. 

To complete, dust with cocoa powder and situated in the fridge for at least 12 hours. Tiramisu gets better the longer it sits, so leave it alone until you’re ready for it.

❤
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Veggie

Pasta Pomodoro

pasta recipe pomodoro red creamy simple easy sauce
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Simple Pomodoro (tomato) Sauce

pasta recipe pomodoro red creamy simple easy sauce

There is a lot to be said for simple, staple recipes. The French five mother sauces are said to be like the First Principles of cooking. Master these five sauces and you can make any sauce. The five French sauces are: Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Tomato, and Hollandaise. All excluding the latter begin with a simple Roux (fat source, like butter or meat drippings, plus flour – what Americans know as the most basic gravy). 

The béchamel is the dairy-based sauce – think fettuccine alfredo. The velouté is a different kind of white sauce where the creaminess comes from an animal fat like chicken or pork drippings, not milk or cream.  This can be one kind of gravy. The Espagnole is the second kind of gravy, where the drippings come from a red meat. The tomato sauce is, well… tomato. And Hollandaise, from which we get its sister Béarnaise, is a butter, egg yolk, and lemon-based sauce. 

Pomodoro sauce is the Italian name for the simple tomato-based mother sauce, as “pomodoro” means “tomato” in Italian. It is meant to be the quickest, simplest pasta topper and I give it to you here in five simple steps that will keep you away from canned pasta sauce for life (as will my meat-hearty Bolognese sauce). 

🍅

what you need

1/2 onion, diced finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons good olive oil

2-3 handfuls of cherry or roma tomatoes, diced finely, with all their juices

1 handful of fresh basil

1 splash cream or half and half

how to make it

First. Sauté the onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until fragrant, ~3 minutes.

Second. Add 1 more tablespoon of olive oil and the tomatoes (and juices), stirring to combine and cooking for an additional ~5 minutes.

Third. Puree the tomatoes in a food processor and then strain back into the pan to remove the seeds.

Fourth. Add the splash of cream and stir over medium heat until hot.

Fifth. Top with fresh basil and grilled chicken, if desired, then spoon over pasta.
Other Pasta Dishes
spaghetti Bolognese recipe pasta oneandahalfslices

Essential Bolognese Sauce

This Bolognese sauce is as authentic as they come, with a counterintuitive yet elegantly simple sauce making process that will ensure you never touch another jar of Classico. It is meaty, salty, and carries richness made possible only through the simplest yet most flavorful of vegetables – carrot and celery. And also… let’s talk about olive oil.

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October 21, 2020 16 Comments
one and a half slices perfect lasagna recipe vegetables affiliate

Lasagna

I’ve been making this lasagna since forever. Some people say there are too many vegetables. Some people say there isn’t enough cheese. Most people say it’s fucking fantastic. 

Go To Post »
January 22, 2024 1 Comment
one and a half slices recipe italian spaghetti meatballs

Best Meatballs

Last weekend my world was changed forever when I was schooled by a friend very dear to me in the subtle art of the perfect Lady and the Tramp style meatball. That fine grained, tender, perfectly seasoned Italian delicacy resting resting lightly atop a bird’s nest of egg noodles dusted with Parmesano Reggiano. As it turns out, the secret to the very best authentic Italian meatballs is threefold: 1) cook them a long ass time, 2) use a combination of meats (beef, pork, and lamb), 3) the love of cooking. Slow cooking. So here we have it. The Whiffletree Farm three-meat authentic Italian meatball recipe.

Go To Post »
December 15, 2022 1 Comment
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Essential Bolognese Sauce

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one and a half slices recipes local delicious food

The Essential Bolognese

spaghetti Bolognese recipe pasta oneandahalfslices

From Rome to Buenos Aires, pasta – specifically, spaghetti and meat sauce – hits different in other countries. This Bolognese sauce is as authentic as they come, with a counterintuitive yet elegantly simple sauce-making process that will ensure you never touch another jar of Classico. It is meaty, salty, and carries richness made possible only through the simplest yet most flavorful of vegetables – carrot and celery. 

For absolute best flavor possible, serve over fresh egg-based pasta (Virginia local shoutout to Dal Grano in Mclean, VA for the absolute best handmade pasta). It is better the next day and freezes incredibly well, so make a double batch and throw some in the freezer for later. Adapted from Marcella Hazan at NY Times.

what you need

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 celery stalks, finely diced

2 medium carrots, finely diced

1 pound ground beef (or bison, or half beef half pork)

1 cup milk 

1 cup white wine

2 small cans diced Italian plum tomatoes

fresh egg noodle pasta

salt, black pepper, fennel, oregano, nutmeg

1 parmesan cheese rind

parmesan cheese, finely grated

how to make it

Place oil, butter, and diced onion in Dutch oven or large sauté pan and sauté until onions are translucent. Add carrots, celery, and garlic, and sauté another 2 minutes. 

Add meat, salt, pepper, and herbs. Chip up the meat and cook until brown. Add milk and a dash of nutmeg, cover, and simmer on lowest possible heat until the milk has disappeared (~30 minutes). After the milk has been absorbed, add the white wine and simmer until it disappears (another 30 minutes). 

Lastly, add the tomatoes and the cheese rind, and cook on lowest heat for at least an hour – long enough for the meat to break down thoroughly. Add splashes of water as required to keep the sauce from burning but at the end, all of the liquid should be gone. Taste and adjust for salt.

Spoon sauce over cooked and drained pasta, and top with finely grated parmesan cheese. Or use in my Authoritative Lasagna recipe!

Cooking Note: the method here may seem strange, but what you are going for is to cook flavor into the meat and completely break down the vegetables. First, you are asking the meat to absorb milk. Then, white wine. And then you make the sauce by adding the tomatoes. The sauce gets flavored with additional seasoning from this point and the cheese rind. 

While we’re on the subject of Italian food, let’s talk about olive oil. Last year, my mom and I went to Greece. That same year, a friend and I toured Rome and middle Italy (the inspiration, honestly, for finally getting this recipe right). In both places, I sampled olives in large quantity and came to the same conclusion: I do not like them (despite their prominence in the food of my inherited heritage: empanadas). Olive oil, on the other hand, is nectar of the Gods. Olive oil plus salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, fresh baguette, and a bottle of Brunello are makings for my favorite evening. 

Okay, but olive oil.

In Greece, we toured an olive farm and olive oil manufacturer and learned all the WRONG ways we had been purchasing and consuming olive oil. I think there is this general notion that we should all buy “extra virgin” olive oil for daily consumption but, beyond that, we don’t have any real knowledge of what makes one olive oil better than another. Turns out there is another phrase, in addition to “extra virgin” we should look for on our olive oil labels: “obtained exclusively from mechanical processes.” 

‘What an odd phrase,’ you might think. And you’d be right. But it turns out that 99% of the world’s olive oil is derived from primarily chemical processes (ick). If the olive oil is derived from nothing more than a mechanical press (which is what we would all think, right?), it will say so, explicitly, on the label. 

Finally, the last form of certification that your olive oil is legit is the International Olive Council’s (IOC) official seal (pictured below). Since most of the good olive oil in the US is imported (save perhaps in California), you can also look for the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO/DPO) seal for the country of origin, e.g. Spain, Italy, Greece. 

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