Lasagne al Forno

The story

Lasagna is eaten all year long, yet in many central and southern Italian families it is baked lasagna, not a roast or fish, that sits at the center of Christmas lunch. It is festive and rich enough (layers of pasta, meat ragù, béchamel and cheese) to justify hours in the kitchen, and familiar enough that no one at the table greets it with suspicion. It is almost always prepared a day ahead, because lasagna that has rested in the refrigerator before being baked and cut holds its shape better and slices into neat pieces more easily, a practical advantage on a day when the oven is already taken up with other dishes. The ragù recipe is guarded as a family secret for generations, and arguments over the proportion of meat, the type of tomato or whether béchamel needs nutmeg can be as heated as those over the proper tortellini. For many Italian Americans, lasagna on the Christmas table is less a surprise than a confirmation: proof that a festive meal, even one built on a familiar dish, can be something else entirely when Grandma makes it.