Pasticho: My Italo-Venezuelan Lasagna

I grew up in a city with a huge Italian population, and with Italian roots myself, pasticho was just part of life. Sunday tables, family gatherings, birthdays, it didn't matter the occasion, there was a good chance pasticho showed up. By the time I hit my twenties I'd probably eaten more of it than I could count.

Then I moved to the US and ordered lasagna for the first time here. It was fine. It just wasn't it. Something was missing, and it took me a while to figure out it wasn't one thing, it was a whole approach. The sauce, the layering, the little touches that make pasticho feel like pasticho and not just baked pasta with cheese on top.

So here it is. Years of doing this by ear, finally written down in something resembling a recipe. This makes about 6 servings.

Ingredients

For the red sauce (modified bolognese)

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 6 cloves garlic, minced, divided

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning

For the béchamel

• 4 tbsp butter

• 4 tbsp flour

• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• 3 cups whole milk

For the layers

• 1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles

• 8 oz canned mushrooms, sliced

• 6 oz bacon, cooked and chopped

• 6 oz thick-cut ham, chopped

• 2 cups shredded parmesan and romano blend

• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

• Extra grated parmesan and Italian seasoning for the top

The Sauce

Start with a cold pan. This matters more than it sounds like it should. Add the olive oil, half the garlic, black pepper, red pepper flakes, a pinch of sugar, salt, and oregano, then bring it up to medium heat together. Letting everything warm up slowly with the oil pulls more flavor out of the garlic than dropping it into a hot pan ever will. Cook until the garlic turns golden.

Season the ground beef and add it to the pan. Cook it through, then remove it and set aside.

In the same pan, add the crushed tomatoes, the rest of the garlic, and the onion. Let that come together, then add the ground beef back in. You want this thick, not watery, so let it reduce if it needs to. Finish with Italian seasoning.

For the béchamel, melt the butter over low heat, whisk in the flour, and add a small amount of nutmeg. Slowly add the milk, whisking as you go, until you have a smooth, runny sauce. Low and slow is the move here too, béchamel breaks or gets gritty when you rush it.

Building the Pasticho

I use oven-ready pasta, no boiling required, which makes the layering process a lot more forgiving. Here's how I stack it:

1. Red sauce and white sauce

2. Pasta

3. Red sauce

4. Pasta

5. White sauce

6. Cheese (parm and romano)

7. Mushrooms

8. Bacon

9. Pasta

10. Red sauce

11. Meat

12. Pasta

13. Mushrooms

14. Ham, thick cut and chopped

15. White sauce

16. Cheese

17. Pasta

Top layer: both sauces, a generous amount of cheese, bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, and a finishing layer of grated parmesan.

Bake

Cover and bake at 420°F for 45 minutes. Remove the cover and broil until the top gets that deep golden crust. Then, and this is the hard part, let it rest for 30 minutes before cutting into it. The rest is what lets it hold together when you serve it instead of sliding apart on the plate.

That's it. That's the recipe that took me a lifetime of eating and years of cooking to actually get down on paper.

Mangia