Reuben Lasagne

Recipe created by Chef Roy Villacrusis

Lasagne:
6 sheets of the Barilla® Lasagne Chef
1 ½ pounds shredded Aussie Select Lamb Pastrami
3 cups drained until dried sauerkraut
1 ½ pound shredded Swiss Cheese
1 ½ pound shredded Mozzarella Cheese
½ pound Parmesan Cheese
3 cups Thousand Island dressing
Sauce:
½ cup butter
½ cup flour
3 cups of warm milk
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 ½ tablespoon ground caraway
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ cup tomato catsup
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Prepare Bechamel sauce by melting butter in a heavy-bottom, medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour, whisking constantly. Cook, whisking occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes; do not let roux brown.
  2. Whisking constantly, add about 2 tablespoons warm milk to saucepan. Pour half of the remaining warm milk into the saucepan in small increments, whisking the mixture constantly, until a smooth paste forms. Whisk remaining milk into pan; add spices and seasoning. Add catsup. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, making sure to scrape bottom and sides, until sauce is thick and creamy, about 15 minutes; if any lumps form, stir sauce rapidly with a whisk. Season with salt and pepper; remove from heat. Let sauce stand until lukewarm, about 30 minutes, before assembling lasagna.
  3. Mix the shredded Pastrami with the thousand island dressing, parmesan cheese and set aside.
  4. To assemble, ladle some bechamel and thousand island mixture on a half hotel pan. Add the pasta sheet. Top with Pastrami mixture, then some of the sauerkraut. Add some of the bechamel sauce and sprinkle some of the mozzarella and Swiss cheese. Add another pasta sheet and repeat the layering 4 times. Place on top the last pasta sheet with sauces and a little more cheese than the other layers.
  5. Cover with foil and bake on a 350 oven for an hour. Remove the cover, raise the oven temperature to 400 and cook for another 20 minutes. Watch that the top doesn’t get too brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes or longer before refrigerating to cool completely. When ready to serve, remove from hotel pan and slice to desired portions, place on a lined sheet pan and heat up in 400 oven for 10-15 minutes. Transfer to plate carefully. Serve garnished with toasted caraway seed powder and parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of thousand Island dressing. Use if caraway sprouts are available. You may use Russian dressing instead of thousand island dressing if preferred. Homemade or store bought are ok.