Lasagne is, as Roddy correctly insists, a construction problem before it is a cooking problem. The dish dimensions (20cm x 29cm) determine the sheet count; the sheet count determines the layers; the layers determine whether you have a lasagne or a casserole with ambitions. That precision is not pedantry — it is the actual secret of why some lasagnes hold their geometry when cut and others collapse into delicious rubble. The filling logic here is a hybrid: tiny sausagemeat meatballs, grape-sized and fried just short of done, borrowed from Neapolitan lasagne di carnevale; ricotta loosened with milk and spread in place of béchamel, borrowed from Sicilian tradition. The substitution of ricotta for béchamel is the most consequential decision in the recipe. Béchamel is a binder and a fat vehicle; ricotta is a dairy note with a softer, slightly grainy texture that lets the tomato and cheese layers read distinctly rather than merging into a single rich continuum. It is a lighter lasagne for it, without feeling like a lighter lasagne. The three-cheese logic — ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan — is a classic Neapolitan stack, each doing a different structural job. Ricotta spreads and cushions. Mozzarella melts into ropy pockets. Parmesan crusts the top and seasons every layer. The mozzarella drainage note (at least 12 hours) is not fussiness; undrained mozzarella will waterlog the whole construction, which is the main way this recipe can go wrong. Roddy's 30-second pre-boil recommendation for fresh pasta sheets is the kind of instruction most recipe writers skip because it adds a step. It earns its place: par-cooking firms the sheets enough that they hold their shape during assembly and don't fuse into a single mass under the weight of everything above them. The ice-bath-to-tea-towel sequence is the right sequence. Disagree at your own risk. The 30-minute post-bake rest is non-negotiable and almost always ignored. Lasagne cut straight from the oven is a hot liquid problem. Lasagne cut after 30 minutes is a geometric solid that will serve 4-6 people with clean edges and intact layers. The recipe is straightforward enough that most of the interesting decisions — dried vs fresh pasta, sausage vs vegetarian sausage, aggressive vs gentle tomato reduction — happen before assembly. Make the tomato sauce properly (the full 20-minute reduction is doing real work) and the rest assembles itself.
