Excerpted from “On Top of Spaghetti”
By Johanne Killeen & George Germon
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Spaghettini with Chopped Shrimp and Scallops in Rich Broth
Serves 6 to 8 as a first course or 4 to 6 as a main course

• 3 ounces medium shrimp in their shells
• 5 ounces fresh scallops
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup finely chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh garlic
• 1 small fresh hot pepper
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 tomato, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 pound dried spaghettini
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Peel the shrimp, reserving the shells.  Carefully devein the shrimp and coarsely chop them.  Coarsely chop the scallops and combine them with the shrimp and ¼ cup water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.  Pulse on and off to finely chop but don’t create a puree.  Add another tablespoon of water if the mixture becomes sticky.  Cover, and set aside in the refrigerator while you make the broth.

Start the broth, or fumet, by heating the olive oil in a large straight-sided sauté pan.  Add the reserved shrimp shells, onions, garlic, and hot pepper.  Sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes until the onions have softened and the shells have turned deep pink.  Add the wine and reduce until you have ¼ to 1/3 cup left in the pan.  Add 4 cups water and boil vigorously to reduce until you have about 3 cups of liquid left.  Strain the fumet through a fine sieve into another large sauté pan.  Add the tomato and bring to a boil.  Taste and add salt if necessary.  Set aside over very low heat and simmer gently while you cook the pasta.

Bring at least 5 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.  Generously salt the water and drop in the spaghettini.  Cook, stirring often, until the pasta is almost al dente, about 4 minutes.  Drain the pasta and transfer to the fumet.  Fold in the chopped shrimp and scallops along with the butter and parsley.  Simmer just until the spaghettini is al dente and the seafood is cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes.  Serve right away.

Mary’s Lasagna
Makes 8 to 10 generous servings

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup (8 ounces) fresh ricotta
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 4 or 5 large fresh basil leaves
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
• ½ batch Sunday Gravy with Sausages and Meatballs (page 126)
• 1 recipe George’s Fresh Pasta (page 212), cut into lasagna noodles (4 to 5 inches wide by 12 to 13 inches long)
• 1 ½ cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano
• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella (see Pasta Pantry), drained and sliced

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the noodles.  Put a bowl of ice water near the stove, and set out a few towels next to the bowl to drain the pasta.

Generously butter a 10 x 14-inch baking pan.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, and parsley together.  Rip up the basil leaves and fold them into the ricotta mixture.  Season with salt and set aside.

With a slotted spoon, transfer the pieces of pork, sausage, and meatballs from the Sunday Gravy to a separate bowl.  They will be coated with some of the tomato gravy.  That’s okay.  Set the remaining gravy and bowl of meats aside.

Generously salt the boiling water and cook the lasagna sheets, a few at a time, at a rolling boil for 1 minute.  The noodles will be very firm; they will cook further in the oven.  Transfer the pasta to the ice water with a long-handled flat skimmer or strainer.  As soon as they are cool to the touch- less than a minute- lift them out, shaking off excess water, and lay the noodles out on towels to drain. Repeat the process until all the pasta is cooked.

Cover the bottom of the baking pan with a layer of lasagna sheets, allowing the pasta to hang over all sides of the pan.  Top with another layer of lasagna sheets cut to fit the bottom of the pan without an overhang.

Cover the pasta with half of the reserved meats.  Spoon over enough gravy to moisten well, about 1 cup.  Sprinkle with a rounded ¼ cup Pecorino Romano.  Cover with another layer of pasta cut to fit without an overhang.  Top with 1 cup gravy.  Dollop half of the ricotta mixture over the gravy and top with half of the mozzarella and a rounded ¼ cup of Pecorino Romano.  Repeat the pasta and meat layer and the pasta and ricotta mixture layer.

Cover with a final layer of pasta (you may not have used all the lasagna sheets) cut to fit the inside of the pan without an overhang.  Top with the remaining gravy and Pecorino Romano.  Bring up the overhang of pasta and fold over the top of the lasagna to enclose the filling.  Dot with remaining butter and loosely cover with foil.

Bake the lasagna for 25 minutes, uncover, and continue to bake until very lightly browned and bubbling hot, an additional 10 to 15 minutes.  To keep the top noodles soft without browning, bake the lasagna covered with foil for 35 minutes and uncovered for the last 5 to 10 minutes in the oven.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.