Cook's Country

-"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

Today, on "Cook's Country," Christie makes Bridget a fresh and bright pesto lasagna, and I talk about the history of lasagna.

Hannah reviews electric wine openers, and Morgan makes the ultimate Caesar salad.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

Monument Grills, offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with LED touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at MonumentGrills.com.

-Teakhaus -- inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet.

Each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.

-You don't have to put tomatoes in a lasagna.

Just ask the Italians.

In the northern city of Genoa, where basil pesto is king, that's what they used to flavor a beautiful light version.

Now Christie's here, and she's going to show us how to make this new to me version of lasagna at home.

-Well, Bridget, lasagna is delicious, but it's often really heavy.

-Right.

-But when you start with a bright, flavorful pesto, then it really lightens everything up, and it can almost feel like a summery version of your hearty, hearty lasagna.

-Okay.

I'm intrigued.

-[ Laughs ] Some lasagnas start with ricotta.

Some start with cottage cheese.

For this one, we're going to start with a bechamel.

-All right.

-I've melted 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter... -Okay.

-...over medium heat.

And then we know that to thicken, we need to start with a roux.

So we have our fat, and we need an equal amount of flour.

So I have 7 tablespoons of all purpose flour.

We're just going to whisk this in to make sure that the flour and the butter have combined.

And we have a chance to cook out any of that raw flavor.

We only want this to go for about a minute.

-Okay.

-So that's come together.

Now I'm going to slowly add some milk.

So I have 5 1/2 cups of whole milk.

We just want to go slowly at the beginning so that we can make sure that the milk gets worked in and we don't have any big clumps.

So I'm going to turn my heat up to medium high and just bring this to a boil.

-Okay.

-You can see that we're just about at a boil.

So I'm going to add my last two ingredients to the bechamel.

I have a teaspoon of ground black pepper.

-Okay.

-And 1/8 of a teaspoon of ground nutmeg.

Now I'm going to whisk this constantly until it gets nice and thick.

And you'll definitely be able to tell as soon as that happens.

It should only take about a minute.

All right.

We have thickened.

And now we're going to transfer to a big bowl so it'll cool down a little bit while we make our pesto.

-Okay, great.

-So we'll let it sit here for about 20 minutes.

-Great.

-The bechamel is done.

Now it's time to talk about pesto.

-Yes.

-When you're prepping basil, you know, as soon as you start to cut into it or tear it, it starts to bruise and starts to get brown.

-Right, it's the oxidation.

-Exactly.

And pesto does the same thing.

As soon as it's all mixed up, it's great for two seconds, and then it's brown.

-Right.

-So we found that if we blanch the basil before we make the pesto, it's going to hold that nice green color a little longer.

-Okay.

-Now I happen to have my water for my pasta already boiling.

-Okay.

-There's 4 quarts of water here.

So I'm going to add a tablespoon of salt to the water.

And obviously we're going to use that to season the pasta eventually, but it's also going to help to set the color in the basil.

I have 4 beautiful ounces of basil leaves here.

I'm going to pop the whole thing in.

And I'm just going to give it a quick dunk.

And we're talking like 5 to 10 seconds.

It really doesn't need a lot of time.

So we want it while it's emerald and really not much longer than that.

So I'm going to use my spider.

You could use a slotted spoon if you don't have one of these.

I have a salad spinner here.

Now we spin.

-Applying the brakes.

-Yep.

Ooh.

All right.

So now we're going to pop this in our blender.

Now we can add the rest of our pesto ingredients.

So to the basil I'm going to add 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Now here's one of my favorite ingredients for this.

It's 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts.

-Mm.

-And not every version of pesto uses pine nuts, and they don't all toast them.

But boy, do you get a great flavor when you do.

-Definitely.

-And I have two garlic cloves, and you can just leave them whole because the blender will do the job.

-All right.

-And then another tablespoon of salt.

We'll blend until everything's nice and smooth.

About a minute.

-Okay.

-Look at that.

-Gorgeous.

-Nice and smooth.

Our bechamel has cooled.

And so now we're actually going to combine these two sauces.

-Instead of separate layers?

-Right.

It's one super sauce, which also makes building the lasagna a lot easier.

-Okay.

-Look at that color.

This is emerald.

-Mm.

-All right.

So we'll mix these together.

-Oh!

-And as I'm mixing this in, I'm going to add my last two ingredients.

I have 2 ounces of grated Parmesan cheese.

-Okay.

-It's about a cup.

And then 2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest, which kind of leans into that whole idea of just lightening everything up, keeping the flavor really fresh.

And we'll just fold in the cheese.

So now the final thing we have to do is cook our pasta.

Now we're using curly lasagna noodles.

I have 17 noodles here.

So we'll add these.

And we're going to cook these until they're fully tender.

-Right.

-I'll go in and give them a stir every now and then just to make sure they're not sticking together.

-Okay.

-Now, let's check one of these noodles.

Wow.

See how floppy it is?

-Floppy bendy.

-[ Laughs ] Yes.

Absolutely tender.

So we're going to take it off the heat, and I'm going to go drain the noodles.

-Okay.

-Now we don't want the noodles to stick, so I'm going to spray my sheet pan a little bit with some vegetable oil spray.

And then we're going to turn out the noodles on to the pan.

And I'm going to give it another spray.

And just toss them a little bit to make sure that they're separated.

So noodles are sprayed.

I think we're ready to start assembling.

-Fantastic.

-We're building this in a 13x9 inch baking dish.

We made a few extra noodles in case your dish is a little bit bigger than the length of the noodles.

-Okay.

-So first thing we're going to do is load up some sauce in a 1 cup measuring cup.

We want a good heaping cup.

So this is the base.

So make sure you get in there and kind of smush it all the way into the corners.

All right, so now we'll take three of our noodles.

So we're going to repeat this three more times with the sauce and the noodles.

-Okay.

Three noodles each layer.

-Yes.

-All right.

-All right, so this would be our last layer of noodles.

So now we should have about a cup of sauce left.

So I think we're good here.

Now the last thing, I have another ounce of grated Parmesan here, which is about 1/2 cup.

And we'll sprinkle that over the top.

And then we want to call back to that yummy toasted pine nut flavor that was in the pesto by topping the lasagna with another 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts.

I have my oven rack set at the middle position.

It's heated to 375 degrees.

We're going to bake this until we start to see some bubbling around the edge.

We're going to look for some spotty browning on the top, and that's going to take somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes.

-Lasagna is an ancient Roman dish.

Its wide, flat noodles are likely the earliest version of pasta, appearing in texts as early as the 15th century.

The dish was originally prepared with rich ingredients and warm spices like cinnamon, making it popular among the wealthy.

Centuries later, when Italians migrated to the United States, they formed new communities and shared their unique regional cooking styles with one another.

Greater access to cheese and meat enabled them to make the dish more often.

Cooking lasagna became a way to honor Italian heritage while also celebrating newfound wealth in America.

As they blended American ingredients and methods with their ancestral ways, lasagna began to evolve.

Today, an American lasagna often contains ground beef, ricotta cheese, and tomato sauce.

It's become such a weeknight standard that it's even sold in the freezer aisle.

Here at "Cook's Country," we embrace the spirit of culinary adaptation with our version, pesto lasagna.

-Let me get that rack for you.

Oh, my goodness.

-Let me get this for you.

-Whoa!

-Ah!

-Ooh, baby.

See how it's bubbling around the sides.

We've got some nice spotty browning all over it.

But you know that, A, we have a molten center in there, which, if we cut into this now, the sauce will go all over the place.

So we really do need to give it time to set up, which is about 45 minutes.

-I will wait for this.

It's worth waiting for, definitely.

-[ Laughs ] We've been so patient.

-45 minutes patient.

That is cool enough, I'd say, to eat.

-Okay, I think we're good.

I think we're good.

-I think we're great.

-All right, so I'm going to cut this baby.

Little crispy edges.

Moment of truth.

-Now, the thing about Christie is she's known for her stingy slices.

-[ Laughs ] -Hubba hubba!

Cuts beautifully.

-Look at those layers.

-I was not expecting that.

The texture inside with the bechamel and the pesto, it's ethereal.

It's almost puffed a little bit.

-It's rich, but not heavy.

-No, it's silky on the inside.

The flavor is out of this world.

It's still vibrant, still basil pesto, no doubt about it.

-And aren't the pine nuts really nice?

-They're lovely.

I love the juxtaposition of the softness of the pesto inside with the bechamel, that luxury inside.

Little pops of toasted nuts on the outside.

And the pasta itself is cooked beautifully.

It's cohesive, it's fresh, it's inviting.

It's everything I want.

It's pesto perfection.

-Wow!

I'm done, I'm done.

I think I need to retire.

-There you go.

I'm not quite done.

I got to eat this.

But thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

-Now, if you want to make this beautiful lasagna, it starts by blanching basil to ensure bright green color, stir the pesto into a thick bechamel, and then layer between sheets of curly lasagna noodles.

And don't forget to top it with those pine nuts and bake until brown and bubbly.

So from "Cook's Country," the big, the bold, the beautiful pesto lasagna.

-The first recorded use of a bottle opener dates back to the ancient Egyptians.

They sharpened a reed, stabbed it into the cork, and pulled it out with their hands.

And boy, have we come a long way.

Now we have something as easy as an electric opener.

And Hannah is here to tell us more.

-Yeah, I think I can do a little better than the reed for you.

-I'm hoping.

-Yes, so we tested electric wine openers, which are very popular now.

Very gifty, too.

I see these everywhere.

And there are a ton on the market.

We tested eight, priced from $20 to $110.

-Ooh.

-Yeah.

Big range there.

And guess what?

-What?

-Our favorite was the cheapest.

-Oh, I love it when that happens.

-Me too.

Me too.

So here's how we tested.

We opened hundreds of bottles of wine with these because durability has been an issue historically.

And we looked at natural corks and synthetic corks because synthetic are very hard and slippery, and they can be very challenging for these openers.

there are two different styles.

The first is automatic.

Here.

Here's the rabbit.

This is an automatic model.

Go ahead and open this bottle of wine for me.

-All right.

No buttons, no nothing.

All right.

[ Whirring ] Wow!

It's coming back at me.

-Yep.

You didn't tell it to, right?

-No.

-Just coming back out.

-I kind of like that.

It's like a little robot.

-It is a little robot.

-Oh.

-Yeah.

Not bad.

-That was really easy.

-The second style is manual.

So let me have you open a bottle of wine with this model right here.

-Okay.

I like that you can see where you're putting the end of the corkscrew.

All right.

Two buttons, down.

[ Whirring ] -So do you notice a difference there in the manual versus automatic as far as what you're required to do?

-Well, I was able to center this.

And, you know, I was able to also start it when I wanted to start it.

And that just gave me a little more feeling of control.

This one started going before I was ready, but it worked out just fine anyway.

-We had a strong preference for the manual style, because we just wanted to know that we were perfectly positioned before we started.

So we preferred manual because we were able to align it and then shoot off the cork at the end, right into the trash when we were ready versus it just like coming out when it's ready.

-Makes sense.

-Come over here.

I want to talk about worms.

[ Both laugh ] -This kind.

-Yeah.

-This part is actually the worm.

And there was a big range in sharpness.

And sharper worms were able to dig in faster and more effectively.

Shape was also a huge factor here.

We preferred models that were slim and straight up and down like this one.

No fancy ergonomic bumps like this one has.

Try that one out.

See these ridges right here?

You're supposed to put your fingers on there as you hold it.

-Yeah, well, that's a little limiting.

That doesn't work for me, actually.

It's very awkward.

I'd actually want to move my hand around, and those would get in the way.

-Exactly.

Weight was also a factor.

Pick up that Peugeot right there and tell me what you think about it.

-Ooh.

-Yeah.

-This is a weapon.

-You could hurt -- You could hurt an intruder with that if you needed to.

-You could.

Yeah, this is a lot heavier than these other two.

-Right and you're holding them for, you know, 20, 30 seconds, a minute.

So weight really matters.

We preferred those that weighed under a pound.

That was about the sweet spot where they weren't taxing our wrists.

And remember, some folks are buying these for diminished hand strength reasons.

So it's really helpful to have a lighter model there.

Height was also important.

We preferred those that were under 12 inches.

You want to have these things out.

They need to charge.

It needs a little space in your home.

So we wanted that space to be as small and contained as possible.

Speed was a huge factor with these.

So it takes an experienced person about 20 seconds to open a bottle of wine.

And some of these matched that.

-Some of them.

-Uh-oh.

Others took 40 seconds.

Peugeot over here took a minute thirty.

With a synthetic cork, but still, that's a long time to wait.

And speed was something that our winner had in its favor.

The Secura, right here, opened bottles of wine in 20 seconds.

So the same as a pro.

Here, let me have you hold this.

-Okay.

-It had a really sharp worm that pierced corks -- synthetic, natural, anything with ease.

We really liked being able to align it perfectly and then throw the cork out right in the trash when we were ready.

-Okay.

-You're noticing something else.

What are you noticing?

-Yeah, well, it's not too heavy.

-Nice and light.

Taxed our hands less.

And it also has this stand right here.

Stored nicely on the counter top.

It comes with a foil cutter to open the top that has its own little spot right there so you don't lose it.

Very compact.

Fit on our counters nicely.

And this was our overall pick.

-Okay.

Thanks, Hannah.

There you have it.

If you're in the market for a new electric wine opener, check out our winner, the Secura Electric Wine Opener, at just $21.

Caesar salad has been popular on restaurant menus for decades, and for good reason.

The creamy, punchy dressing, the crisp romaine, the crunchy croutons.

It's a winning combination.

And today, Morgan has promised to show us how to make the ultimate Caesar salad, which is a high bar.

-It is a high bar, but I'm here for it.

I'm a Caesar salad fan.

-You are?

-And I do feel like you have to give every ingredient some love.

So I'm starting with the croutons.

Here, I'm taking 4 ounces of ciabatta.

This is a little bigger than that, but I'm just going to use 4 ounces of it.

I'm going to cut it into half inch pieces.

So I really like using ciabatta just because of the texture of it.

Like it's really nice and airy.

It's a little more tender than something like baguette, when you can get that like sort of tough piece in there.

And no tough croutons in here.

All right, so I've got about 4 ounces over here.

Now I want to toss them in something flavorful.

So here I've got 1/4 of a cup of oil.

And then I've got a garlic clove.

And then I've got 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

-Oh, so you're just making a flavored garlic oil.

-Yeah.

Exactly.

That's it.

I'm just going to give this a nice little whisk.

And actually, do you mind grabbing that bread and dumping it in here for me?

-You bet.

-Thank you.

-Mm-hmm.

-And just get this nice and tossed together.

All right.

And I'm just going to dump this out on to a rimmed baking sheet.

So I'm going to bake these in a 350 degree oven.

I'm just going to look for them to get nice and golden brown.

It'll take about 18 minutes.

I'm going to get in there and stir half way through.

-Oh, those look good.

-I know, and they smell nice and garlicky.

-They really do.

-All right.

Definitely firmed up.

You can hear them.

It's a good sign.

-They sound crunchy.

-Exactly.

Now let's talk Parmesan.

So here I'm actually going to grate it two different ways.

-Huh.

-I'm going to try to get about 1/2 cup on the large holes of the box grater.

And this I'm actually going to mix into the salad.

So I get these nice bigger chunks of Parmesan in the salad.

All right.

So that's 1/4 and 1/2.

And then we use this fine grater for the Parmesan for just a little bit more.

This is actually going to go into the dressing to flavor the dressing.

-A-ha!

-It almost dissolves in there.

So you get this really nice Parmesan flavor in your punchy dressing.

And one more piece I want to do over here.

Anchovies.

So I'm just taking them.

I'm doing like some really nice long cuts and then turning them the other way just to get a really nice mince on here.

Okay.

So now time to get into our dressing.

So this is just the same bowl from earlier.

I just wiped it out.

But what I'm doing is I'm taking this damp towel, and I'm going to give it a nice little twist.

And then I'm going to place this under the bowl.

It's going to give me a lot of nice traction.

And it's going to hold this in place.

It gives you kind of a surface once we're whisking.

So I am doing a classic Caesar which starts with a raw egg yolk.

It'll help emulsify everything.

And if you want, you can use a pasteurized egg yolk here.

To that I'm going to add a tablespoon of lemon juice.

I'm going to add 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons of Dijon which add a nice little kick in here.

I've got my anchovies.

I have a garlic clove that I'm also adding in.

-That looks like it was really minced to a paste, too.

-It was.

It was really nice and fine.

1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

On our team, we talk a lot about the flavor cliff.

Like you want to take food to the cliff of flavor and, like, as punchy as you can get it without going over where it's, like, too salty or too spicy, and, like, this is hanging on to the cliff.

-[ Laughs ] Is it?

-Yeah.

So it's like, it's got a lot of punch going on.

And 1/4 teaspoon of table salt.

Okay.

So I'm going to whisk this up.

Make sure everything's really nice and combined.

And then actually, since I have you here, can I have you start drizzling?

-I was just gonna offer.

-Yeah.

So it's 1/2 cup of olive oil.

Again using the best quality oil you can.

And if you could, just drip real slowly.

It's really important to drizzle it in really slowly like this because it does emulsify it.

Like, the egg yolk's doing the work here.

It'll keep it nice and even, but you do want to drizzle slowly so that the egg yolk has the time to catch all the oil and contain it.

-All right.

-All right.

-There you go.

-Okay.

And then will you do me one more favor and grab the fine parm.

-Oh, yeah.

May I?

-You may.

Let's see.

Let's whisk that on in there.

All right.

And our dressing is complete.

So one more piece.

-The lettuce.

-The lettuce.

-Here, I've got romaine.

I have two hearts.

It's about 12 ounces total.

I'm just going to cut this into 1 inch pieces.

So sometimes I always am a little off on how exactly much in inch is.

I'm going to cut it down lengthwise.

I'm going to use the guide for my 1 inch.

And then I can fit another here.

I'm going to turn it, and this way is a little thinner.

So I'm just going to do one cut down the center.

And then again -- I actually don't feel like I need this anymore.

I've got my measurement down.

I'm just going to go through now and do my one cut.

And it's kind of going to fall apart itself.

So you get these like nice 1-inch chunks.

-Perfectly sized.

Okay.

Time to assemble.

Just add it in the lettuce, the cheese.

And now I'm adding these croutons right in here.

And now you can hear the crunch.

-Yeah.

-Good sign.

Yeah, so I always kind of just like to go in and actually do a little turn with my tongs.

Get it nice and coated.

All right.

Do you see any dry leaves in here?

-I don't.

That looks perfection.

-Thank you.

Then let's serve.

-Okay.

-Let me get you some.

I got to make sure I get you a lot of croutons up in here.

-You do want a crouton with every bite.

-Yeah, exactly.

-You can smell the garlic from here.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

This is definitely punchy food.

Like you can't be afraid of garlic.

You can't be afraid of anchovies.

Can't be afraid of flavor.

-That's delicious.

Does take you right to the edge, but it's not sharp.

It's really round on the backside.

And I think that's because you used the right amount of olive oil, and you started with the yolk.

-Yeah, it's all about balance.

It's like you want to have those punchy ingredients, but you also want to balance them out.

And so we played a lot with ratios in the salad just to get it exactly, you know, hanging on the cliff.

-And the Parmesan flavor is so present.

It doesn't overtake everything.

But you get Parmesan with every flavor.

And again, it kind of softens the sharp edges of the dressing.

-Mm-hmm.

-You set the bar high, but you exceeded it.

This is a fantastic Caesar.

Thank you.

-Thanks, Julia.

-There you have it.

If you want to make the ultimate Caesar salad, season and toast cubes of ciabatta to make your own croutons, make a punchy, emulsified dressing with egg yolk, anchovy, and garlic.

And use Parmesan in two different ways -- finely grated in the dressing and shredded in the salad.

From "Cook's Country," a recipe for the ultimate Caesar salad.

You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with select episodes and our product reviews at our website, CooksCountry.com/TV.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for the newest season's rigorously tested recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

CooksCountry.com/TV.

-"The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook" brings together every recipe, tasting, and test from 18 seasons of the beloved TV show.

With trusted equipment recommendations and insights from the entire cast, this book is your guide to the very best in regional cooking.

The cost is $24.99, $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at CooksCountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills, offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with LED touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at MonumentGrills.com.

-Teakhaus -- inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet.

Each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.