I love Italian food. There’s something about a hearty bowl of pasta or soup using Italian dry herbs and spices, salad topped with a homemade Italian vinaigrette, antipasto salad, and finished off with a dessert like tiramisu or cannoli. Italian food is full of bold, herbaceous flavors and is just satisfying and filling.
One of my favorite pasta dishes is lasagna. Layers of al dente pasta, a generous amount of chunky or smooth tomato sauce, and layered with creamy, melty mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta cheeses. In my opinion, lasagnas can be a little messy when cutting into squares when serving.
So this time around making lasagna, I decided to create lasagna rolls and would like to share a few tips. Just like a layered lasagna, this dish can be either vegetarian or meaty. Sauces are very important to keep the rolls moist and unctuous.
Personally, I enjoy a thick, creamy bechamel as well as a hearty tomato sauce, sometimes made with ground beef or loads of mushrooms. Speaking of sauces, I’ll share a couple of tricks I have up my sleeves. I make a bechamel sauce with equal parts butter and flour, creating a nice, golden roux – the roux is the starting base for a bechamel sauce – add milk to thin out the sauce along with personal favorite spices – I use ground yellow mustard seed or a small dollop of yellow or spicy mustard and a couple pinches of ground white pepper – and if you’re a cheese lover like me, add melty cheeses to the bechamel to form an ooey-gooey cre.