I redeemed myself with my second carbonara so clearly, it was time for me to try to step up my game and make a carbonara lasagna. I’d like to note I’ve never made a lasagna before and my only experience with lasagna before this week was the kind that comes in a box that you can literally microwave… challenge accepted.
Caleb has mentioned wanting to make a homemade lasagna from scratch (not including store bought pasta) so that’s what we did over the weekend. I was the extra set of hands and he made the sauce and bought all the ingredients and instructed me on what he wanted done. His lasagna came out pretty tasty though structurally it was a little loose and didn’t really cut or sit up like a traditional lasagna. His first try was a great learning experience for me. I’ve mentioned the carbonara lasagna which I saw on an instagram story by someone I went to RIT with that currently works in Bon Appetit’s social media department. She’s doing a good job because I’m definitely making more Bon App recipe’s and watching their videos in part to play “spot Emily in the background and tell people I’ve been to several different countries with her.” So she posted a photo awhile ago of a carbonara lasagna and I knew I wanted to give it a shot. Emily has good taste so I was ready to go off on a recommendation from her.
Bon Appetit’s recipe was actually easier than I expected and I was a little nervous as to what the substitute might be for the sauce but it ended up being a cream sauce that sounded tasty and simple. Caleb got a little excited this weekend and cooked two boxes of lasagna pasta so needless to say, I took a whole container of cooked lasagna noodles home with me and had the motivation I needed to try my recipe out. He wasn’t interested in this recipe so I knew it would be all me on this one (meaning I would be eating this whole thing alone all week so it better be good). The lasagna assembly actually came together pretty easily and because the cream sauce is added on top at the end, I only had to alternate stacking noddles with an amped up ricotta mixture. I felt I made a little too much cream sauce but it ended up not being a terrible amount and the noodles and cheese soaked everything up pretty well. After baking for 40mins you’re supposed to cut little rounds to indent a spot for eggs and I, of course, do not have round cookie cutters so I had to improvise and ended up pressing down a little to give my eggs a slight home. It worked out and they didn’t just run around willy nilly but I have to say that I did get a little distracted and the eggs overcooked. I can’t say how sad I am about this because we all know I love a good runny yolk but these are still a little jammy in the middle and I was super satisfied when I tried the lasagna with it.
The recipe calls for 4 eggs but I actually cut my lasagna into 6 pieces so maybe I’ll poach an egg or two later for those egg-less slices and still have my runny yolk. I think the consensus when we had Caleb’s traditional lasagna over the weekend was that too much ricotta is a no go so I was nervous that this would be too much since theres only ricotta layers but the pancetta and the parm and fontina blend in it worked out so well and balanced really nicely. I honestly though I would be able to cut this into fourths and knock it out but of course lasagna is pretty heavy especially with a cream sauce and an egg on top so six works for me. I get serious carbonara vibes from this lasagna and urge people to give it a shot because it’s pretty wonderfully satisfying. Would make again, but maybe for a larger crowd.