Vincisgrassi

Sounds like the title of an aria by Verdi or Bellini, doesn't it? (Imagine an evil basso singing "Nessun mangia!") But, hey, it's just noodles. And noodles can be very tasty, as we know. Still, these are special.

So, the background. Alfred, Prince of Windischgrätz, had a distinguished career as a general in the Austro-Hungarian army. At the end of the 18th century, he commanded the Marche region, south of the Po delta on Italy's eastern seabord, where a local chef created a multi-layered pasta dish in his honor, a variant on a local dish called Prinzgrassi. The original recipes called for various organ meats; today it's made with chicken livers or veal ragù. Over the years, tomatoes have found their way into the recipe alongside the bechamel sauce, and the spelling has evolved to vincisgrassi.

Vincisgrassi at Sorrentino; scamorza and pecorino cheese

It's the northern Italian flip side of lasagna al forno, Garfield's red-sauce, oven-baked favorite. (Remember those giant bricks of frozen lasagna at Costco? A $50 million a year business for Michael Angelo's Gourmet Foods until Costco started making its own about a year ago.)

Now, before you start sending in comments about your favorite recipe, remember that the word lasagna actually refers to the ceramic dish used for cooking, like pot-au-feu or Eintopf or, gee, "casserole."

One thing's for sure: a true vincisgrassi wouldn't use a "foreign" cheese like mozzarella, which comes from Naples. (Naples was literally a foreign country until Italian unification in 1861.) Ricotta, yes, that's as universal as cottage cheese. But in the north, cooks might also use a mild cow's milk cheese called stracchino, often melted atop pizzas. Even better, a "plastic" curd cheese called scamorza; like mozzarella, it's aged for a few days in the whey, then stretched and kneaded before molding. Smoked scamorza is even more flavorful and makes a lively complement to the traditional ingredients. Having developed the "hearty" vincisgrassi for La Vita è Bella, Enza Sorrentino uses pecorino and parmigiano for her milder version at her own place on Queen Anne.

Enza also makes a more traditional lasagna for Via Tribunale, a genuine Neapolitan pizzeria on Capitol Hill. They used to keep a sheet-pan of lasagna on hand for the occasional guest who wanted an alternative to pizza; since they switched to Enza's version, they're selling a dozen portions a night.