A Beloved Lasagna Made Weeknight-Friendly

There are those dining moments where the stars align: You get a table at the hot new restaurant and while you’re trying to decide what to eat, a dish comes sailing through the dining room and onto the table next to you, making everyone look up from their menus and gush, “Ooh, I’ll have what they’re having!” That is what happened to me the first time I encountered the famed cacio e pepe lasagna at Via Carota.

Located in New York City’s West Village, Rita Sodi and Jody Williams’s Italian restaurant became an instant hit when it opened in 2014. It’s still just as popular 10 years later, thanks to its combination of considerable charm, elegantly simple pasta dishes, long list of vegetable contorni, and, of course, certain famous clientele.

The cacio e pepe lasagna, a spin-off of the chef’s cacio e pepe tonnarelli, was a glorious slab comprising 21 layers of pasta sandwiched by huge amounts of pecorino Romano and a creamy white sauce with exactly the right amount of pepper. Paired with a bottle of Super Tuscan, it made an epic late lunch that I will recall fondly for the rest of my days. I’m pretty certain I licked the plate. Sadly, as of publication time, the lasagna is no longer on the menu.

You can, however, find its recipe in the Via Carota cookbook, which Sodi and Williams published in 2022. Befitting its legendary status at the restaurant, this is a lasagna that demands time and attention; it’s the kind of dish you’d make for a special birthday dinner or possibly a proposal to prove to someone just how much you adore them. Yeah, it is delicious, but it will take you four to six hours to complete.

First, you’ll need a half-pound of pecorino Romano rinds to make a cheese stock (Sodi reportedly simmers hers for six hours). If you ask for this from your local cheesemonger, prepare to be laughed out of the store. You might be able to score a few ounces of Parmigiano-Reggiano rinds, but fat chance of finding half a pound. As for pecorino Romano rinds, I was told by two different cheese slingers that there isn’t such a thing.

On the off chance you do score a half-pound of rinds, you’ll need to simmer and skim them for an hour. After that’s done you’ll combine the stock with milk to make a white sauce, then construct homemade pasta sheets that you’ll boil a few at a time and lay out flat on towels (good luck getting them to not stick). Assembling the lasagna requires 10 layers of pasta, sauce, and lots of cheese. Plus, it has to stand for 30 minutes to two hours before baking. Ideally, you’ll let it stand after baking, too, so it doesn’t fall apart after being cut into squares. Even then, you’re not going to get the browned-on-all-sides look that you see in the cookbook photo. That requires blasting individual slices in a very hot convection oven, which, you guessed it, takes more time. If you’re in the mood for an engagement after all that, it really is love.

But since I adore this lasagna so much, I wanted to make it more often. So I got to work making the recipe a tad easier without sacrificing too much flavor.

For my pared back version, I decided to forgo the cheese rind stock. Yes, Parmigiano cheese rind broth is the freshly squeezed juice of heaven and you really should make it someday, but certainly not every day. Instead, I made a simple, thin-ish bechamel from whole milk and low-sodium chicken broth, adding a garlic clove and bay leaf to contribute aromatic depth. Then I added freshly grated nutmeg (fresh makes a huge difference in flavor) and a tablespoon of coarsely ground black pepper. At first glance, that may seem like a lot of pepper. But since it’s coarsely ground it takes up more space in the measuring spoon, and the dish’s starch and dairy also temper the heat a bit. If you skimp, you’ll regret it. I also suggest splurging on gourmet peppercorns like La Plantation’s Cambodian Kampot pepper, which has a resinous, fruity bite that will send you reeling if you’re a pepper lover like I am. I will never go back to Tellicherries.

Pecorino Romano is an aged cheese made with 100 percent sheep milk that originates from the Lazio region around Rome. While there are domestically made versions, many are too salty or gamey for me. That’s why I used the imported Locatelli brand: Aged for at least nine months, this rich, nutty cheese is my go-to, good enough to eat on a cheese board and zesty enough to stand toe to toe with the heat of black peppercorns. Fortunately, it’s easy to find at supermarkets and cheese shops. I grate my own on a microplane so it melts more seamlessly into the sauce, but Locatelli’s also comes pre-grated in tubs, if you’re really in a rush.

As for the pasta, while the Via Carota homemade eggless semolina pasta sheets are handkerchief-thin perfection, I got great results by using fresh, raw pasta sheets from my local pasta manufacturer. The pasta sheets don’t need to be boiled; they cook perfectly well in the sauce right in the baking dish (sorry, Lidia, it’s the tested truth). I kept the lasagna covered while baking to help retain moisture that steamed and cooked the pasta sheets as they baked. A final 15-minute uncovered bake (I used the convection setting) gave the top a lovely, crusty texture. That said, broiling is an option, too (see the note at the end of the recipe).

Once the lasagna was done baking, I let it sit for five to 10 minutes so it was easier to cut and serve in neat, stacked squares. That was the exact amount of time it took to eat a fluffy green salad tossed with an excellent vinaigrette recipe that’s also in the Via Carota book. I felt a bit triumphant that I had squeezed something so healthy into an otherwise decadent meal.

And the lasagna? Was it the same as the glorious 21-tiered Via Carota lasagna of memory? Not exactly. But it was a truly delicious creamy, cheesy, black peppery starch bomb that was done in a little over an hour. Paired with a bottle of Antonio Sanguineti Nessun Dorma Super Tuscan wine, it was all I could really ask for. Oh, and unlike the restaurant experience, this time, I got to enjoy the leftovers.

Cacio e Pepe Lasagna Recipe

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter
1 medium garlic clove, peeled and halved lengthwise
1 bay leaf
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 to 6 ounces grated pecorino Romano cheese (about 2½ cups freshly grated, packed), divided
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 16-ounce package fresh lasagna sheets

Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Step 2: In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and add the garlic and bay leaf. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in the milk and broth and cook, whisking frequently — especially into the sides of the pan where the thickened sauce will stick — until the sauce has thickened slightly, 10 minutes. The sauce will be thinner than most white sauces, more like half-and-half than thick cream. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the bay leaf and garlic. Whisk in ¼ cup of the cheese, plus the black pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Step 3: Spoon a thin layer of the sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with about ¼ cup of the cheese. Put a single layer of pasta in the pan, cutting it to fit and making sure it doesn’t overlap. Sprinkle with a few four-finger pinches of cheese and cover with a few ladles of sauce. Add another layer of pasta, cheese, and sauce. Repeat until all the ingredients are used, ending with sauce and a final layer of cheese. Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray and cover the lasagna.

Step 4: Place the baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake until the top is golden and bubbly, 30 minutes. Uncover the lasagna and bake (on convection if you have it) until bubbly and browned on top, about 15 minutes. If you would like a bit more crunchiness on top, adjust the oven rack so it is 6 inches below the broiler element and set the broiler to high. Broil the lasagna, keeping a close eye on it, until browned to your liking.

Step 5: Let the lasagna stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it and serving.

Note: If you find that the sauce is too peppery once baked, try spreading the top with a pat of butter. The fat helps mitigate the heat.

Ivy Manning is a Portland, Oregon-based award-winning food writer and author of 10 cookbooks including Tacos A to Z: A Delicious Guide to Nontraditional Tacos. She is a regular recipe tester and editor for Eater and restaurants and appliance brands.
Dina Ávila is a photographer in Portland, Oregon.

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