Pistachio Pesto Lasagne

I realize I have been cooking a plethora of dishes with pistachio as an ingredient lately, but it is because I love the new pistachio paste I discovered from the little sicilian bakery “Nonna Vincenza.”

My clients this past week have been raving about this dish. Due to the high demand for this recipe, here you are folks:

Ingredients:

For the Rue:

-4 Tbls butter

-1/2 liter of milk

-35 grams flour

-4 Tbls pistachio paste

-3 zucchini, chopped, sauteed in olive oil and garlic, and masked with a fork

Wash, and chop zucchini. Heat olive oil and garlic in large skillet. Brown the zucchini and cook until done through, about 10 minutes.

Stir butter, milk, and flour together in a pot on medium heat (here is a video example http://youtu.be/hL1DOARf-4k). After a few minutes of constant stirring, the consistency will begin to thicken up. Once you arrive at a nice thick and creamy consistency, take rue off the burner and set aside. Add the pistachio paste/pistachio pesto.

Take a fork and mash the sauteed zucchini. Add the mashed zucchini to the mix.

Now you are ready to make the pasta.

For the pasta you will need 300 grams of flour and 3 eggs.

Pour flour on working surface and make a fountain with a hole in the middle of the flour. Break the eggs into the middle of the fountain. Gently beat the eggs inside to absorb the flour. While beating the eggs, add a little flour at a time with the tip of the fork. When all the flour is mixed and you have a dough consistency, knead the dough by pressing and folding gently with your hands for 5 minutes. Let the ball of dough sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a long rectangular shape. If you do not have a pasta machine, continue to roll with the rolling pin until you reach the desired thickness. With the pasta machine, start on the thickest setting and put the dough through the machine numerous times (changing the setting each pass), patiently reaching the desired thickness. Each time you will need to sprinkle flour on the pasta to keep it from sticking to the machine. Cut the dough into long rectangular pieces. Places the rectangular pasta pieces in boiling water for 30 seconds then immediately remove one by one and place in a tub of cold water and a little bit of oil.

 

Next we begin layering. Start with the sauce, and layer pasta, sauce, pasta, sauce until you reach the top of your baking dish. Cook in the oven at 450°F for 30 minutes until it becomes crispy. It is best to let it cool for one hour then serve because the pasta may fall apart otherwise.