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Ingredients – For The Meat Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• ½ carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 cups passata
• 1 ¼ cups water
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1–2 pinches hot pepper flakes

For The White Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1–2 dashes black pepper
• 1 ¾ cups milk

Extras

• 1–1 ½ cups chopped fresh mozzarella
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 16 lasagna noodles, prepared per package instructions

Directions — Meat Sauce

1. In a large pot, combine the olive oil, ground beef, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, and salt. Sauté about 10 minutes, until the meat begins to brown. Stir in the passata, water, oregano, basil, and pepper flakes, and simmer over medium heat until quite thick, about 30 to 60 minutes.

White Sauce

1. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt the butter, then whisk in the flour and salt until smooth. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens; taste for salt and remove from heat. (A good store-bought white sauce works too.)
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Putting It Together

1. In a 10x10x2-inch (25x25x5 cm) baking dish, spread 2–3 spoonfuls of meat sauce across the bottom. Add a layer of noodles, then layer in this order: meat sauce, white sauce, chopped mozzarella, and parmesan. Repeat for 3–4 layers, leaving the white sauce off the top layer — so divide your ingredients by the number of layers you plan to make.
2. Bake 20–30 minutes, until hot and cooked through. Let rest 5–10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Stop by and pick up your favorite pasta to celebrate National Pasta Day this Saturday, October 17. Did you know the first mention of pasta dates to around 1154 in Sicily? Or that the first macaroni machine came to America in 1789, thanks to Thomas Jefferson? At its heart, pasta is beautifully simple — unleavened dough mixed with water or egg, shaped, then cooked fresh or dried for later.

That simplicity is exactly what makes it so versatile: from fettuccine Alfredo to spaghetti and meatballs, baked ziti to stuffed ravioli, every great dish starts with pasta and builds from there. Browse our collection for a little dinnertime inspiration.

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Celebrate National Mushroom Day this Thursday, October 15, by working them into your everyday cooking — from breakfast omelets to a hearty steak-and-mushroom dinner. Did you know there are roughly 2,200 species of edible mushrooms, each unique in size, shape, color, and flavor?

In honor of the day, we’re sharing some favorite mushroom-centric recipes like Beef Wellington, bruschetta stuffed mushrooms, mushroom risotto, and easy beef Stroganoff. You’ll find several fresh varieties in our produce department, from the
classic button to the hefty portobello — whether you’re a longtime mushroom lover or just looking to expand your palate, Bianchini’s has what you need.

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It’s the first Tuesday of October — and that means it’s National Taco Day! This Taco Tuesday, October 6, we’re honoring the endlessly versatile, endlessly delicious taco. From the crunch of a hard shell to the pillowy warmth of a soft corn tortilla, the taco is the perfect food for any occasion — ready to be filled with just about anything you love. Serve them up with Bianchini’s tortilla chips, fresh salsa, and your favorite Mexican beer, and you’ve got a fiesta.

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October is National Apple Month, celebrating the harvest, history, and delicious versatility of apples. Autumn brings bushels of orchard-fresh apples to local markets — and your Bianchini’s produce department is stocked with crisp, freshly delivered varieties right now. Stop by to explore over 25 kinds of apples, from deep red to bright green and everything in between; there’s a perfect apple for every taste.

In honor of the harvest, we’ve curated a big collection of apple-centric recipes — everything from caramel apples and apple crumble pie to quick applesauce, apple fritters, cinnamon apple bread, and autumn fruit salad.

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Cozy, savory, and made for fall.

Roast beef and melted Gruyère piled with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and fresh arugula, finished with whole-grain mustard and roasted garlic aioli on toasted sourdough. Warm, rich, and made fresh in-store.

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National Coffee Day is this Tuesday, September 29, and we can’t think of a better excuse
to pour yourself a hot cup of joe. Bianchini’s stocks a wide variety of coffees, so it’s a great
week to try something new.

Coffee’s origins are wrapped in legend, but the earliest reliable evidence of coffee drinking dates to the mid-1400s, in the Sufi monasteries around the port of Mokha in Yemen. There, monks roasted the seeds and brewed coffee much the way we still do today. Yemeni traders had brought the plant over from Ethiopia and began cultivating it at home. Legend has it that in the 1670s, a pilgrim named Baba Budan smuggled seven coffee seeds out of the Middle East strapped to his chest and planted them in the hills of Mysore, India. From there, coffee spread to Italy and the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and on to the Americas. Today it’s the third most consumed beverage in the world, right after water and tea. It’s also a wonderfully versatile ingredient: stir it into cakes, cookies, and pies, blend it into an ice cream float, rub it on a steak, or go classic with tiramisu.

View Our Favorite Coffee Recipes

Postseason baseball starts the very same day, Tuesday, September 29. And nothing says ballpark like a great sausage or brat. Bianchini’s takes pride in making our own sausages in-house, using only the best ingredients and finest seasonings, and crafting each one to bring out its best. Grab a few for the game and pair them with your favorite craft beer.

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Fall is here, and so are the pumpkins! Our stores have a special delivery of everyone’s favorite fall squash. The classic pumpkin is tall, round, and orange, but they come in a surprising variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. Plenty of people bake pies and treats in October, but the most popular pumpkin activity by far is carving jack-o’-lanterns. That tradition goes back centuries to Ireland and Scotland, where people carved faces into turnips and other root vegetables and set a glowing ember inside to ward off wandering spirits. Stop by on your next trip and take your pick of carving pumpkins, minis, and decorative gourds.

September is Love Local Month — and tomorrow, September 22, is National Eat Local Day! It’s the perfect excuse to cook at home and pull together a complete meal made entirely from local ingredients. Here’s one to get you started, built around Mary’s chicken.

Local Mary’s Chicken with Caramelized Carrots

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Mary’s whole chicken legs
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 bunch small, thin carrots, preferably with their green tops
• 2 heads garlic, unpeeled and halved crosswise to expose the cloves
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed
• ½ bunch oregano, plus more leaves for garnish
• 1 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 325°F and season the chicken all over with salt and pepper.
2. If your carrots came with greens, trim the tops to about ½ to 1 inch and set the greens aside for
garnish.
3. Nestle the chicken legs flat and snug in a large shallow baking dish or braising pot (about 2½ to 3
quarts). Tuck the halved garlic, carrots, lemon slices, and oregano in around the chicken, then pour
the olive oil over the top and season once more with salt and pepper.
4. Roast, uncovered, until the chicken is meltingly tender and the carrots and lemon have
caramelized — about 55 to 65 minutes.
5. Let rest a few minutes, then serve on plates or right from the dish, scattered with the reserved
carrot tops and a little extra oregano.