In the middle of winter, there are several dishes we love to dive into to conjure up warmth.
French onion soup? Mac and cheese? Maybe beef stew or a casserole. NBC Chicago's Food Guy Steve Dolinsky has a suggestion: lasagna. One old-school and one a bit more modern; both delicious. Steve Dolinsky joining us tonight with the story.
First of all, those pasta sheets have to be wide and thin and homemade! Layered with several cheeses – for sure ricotta and mozzarella – sometimes meat but not always, and a zesty, bright marinara that ties it all together.
Stepping into Freddy’s Pizza in Cicero is like walking back in time. The impossibly small yet well-stocked store has been around since the 1950s, but Joe Quercia started here in ’68. 56 years later, he owns the joint with his wife, Ann Marie, presiding over a riot of pizza, gelato, Italian specialties, and of course, lasagna.
“We use homemade noodles, it’s made fresh every time we make a lasagna,” said Joe Quercia, the co-owner of Freddy’s.
Quercia starts by lining an enormous pan with tomato sauce, then a couple sheets of freshly made pasta as large as a newspaper. More sauce, then finely grated Parmesan, fresh ricotta with parsley and black pepper and handfuls of ground beef – but not always; it depends on the recipe.
“Good ricotta, really good ground beef, not too fatty,” he said.
Then shredded mozzarella to complete layer one. On goes more pasta, sauce, cheese, etcetera for two more layers. They’re either baked right there and served in massive square blocks, or…
“We do it partially baked, they take it home, turn the oven on and bake it for an hour-and-a-half, and it’s nice and hot,” said Quercia.
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The lasagna approach is quite different at Alla Vita in the West Loop. Their pans are lined with a creamy bechamel; a foundation for verdant green sheets of spinach pasta that’s covered with a thicker tomato sauce as well as more bechamel. Amping up the richness: shredded mozzarella and Parmesan, then a new twist this season: thinly sliced and roasted eggplant.
“Traditionally, thinking of classic flavors - roasted tomato, bechamel, and I think adding a nice component for texture and flavor is eggplant,” said Chef Darren Underway.
“We bake it at about 325 for an hour-and-a-half, so you allow all the starch from the pasta, all the cheese and all of those layers kind of meld together. And then after that, we portion it and then fire it in the oven, get it nice and hot,” he said.
The great thing about both versions – you can easily re-heat them at home, but there’s nothing quite like digging into all those layers, right out of the oven. And few would argue with a modern chef’s creative license.
“Taking the classics and not changing them by any means but putting a twist on them,” said Underway.
Here's where you can go:
1600 S. 61st Ave., Cicero
708-863-9289
564 W. Randolph St.
312-667-0104
Other places for lasagna this winter:
La Scarola
721 W. Grand Ave.
Italian Homemade Company
947 W. Fulton St.
Viaggio
1027 W. Madison St.
Piccolo Sogno
464 N. Halsted St.
Monteverde
1020 W. Madison St.
Segnatore
1001 N. California Ave.
