Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　Cooked Pasta Squares (page 182)

　　2 cups Meat Sauce Bolognese (page 146)

　　1 1/2 cups Béchamel Sauce (page 161)

　　12 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

　　

Step 1

Prepare the pasta squares, but cut them into 4-inch squares instead of the 6-inch squares described in the recipe. Make the Bolognese and béchamel sauces.

　　

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Choose a baking dish large enough to hold four pasta squares comfortably. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the Bolognese and 1 tablespoon of the béchamel sauce into a puddle roughly the size of a pasta square over one-fourth of the pan. Repeat in the other three-fourths of the pan. (The sauce helps prevent the fazzoletti from sticking to the pan as you build up the fazzoletti.) Center a pasta square over one of the puddles and spread an even layer of 2 tablespoons of the Bolognese and 1 tablespoon of the béchamel over it. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the grated cheese over the sauce, and top with another pasta square. Build three more layers like the first and top with a pasta square. Build three more stacks like the first, centering each over a puddle of sauce.

　　

Step 3

With the back of a spoon, make a shallow indentation in the center of each stack. Spread 1 tablespoon of the Bolognese and 1 tablespoon of the béchamel over the indentation. Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese over the tops of the stacks, and bake until the edges are crispy and the tops are lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.