Back to Cooking - Lasgna

Hello everyone, and while Ike is recovering nicely I wanted to get back to some cooking on the blog. Last Sunday we were talking about what to have for dinner and the subject of Lasagna came up.  Now, Sandy and I have different ideas about Lasagna - hers very traditional and mine notsomuch..... 
We has always had to either compromise, where neither of us were perfectly happy or dirty two different pans, and try to fit them into the oven.  Well, we found the solution - A three tray lasagna pan. That pan allows for each "tunnel" to be constructed independently of any other.  The ingredients can be completely different as well as the sauces. 

Sandy's was very traditional Lasagna noodles cooked al dente and a combo of ricotta, Parmesan, and Mozzarella combined with and egg and some spices for the cheese filling.  We used a traditional red sauce and topped with shredded moz and grated Parmesan.  It was very good.

For mine, I first made a Bechamel sauce.  3 tablespoons Butter, 3 tablespoons flour and cooked it into a roux.  Then added about 2 cups of warm Milk (I would have like to used a blend of whole milk and half an half but didn't have any) and then 4 oz of Shredded Havarti, and 2 oz of shredded mozzarella and 2 oz  of shredded Asiago.  When that was incorporated and smoothly melted in I added some freshly grated nutmeg (maybe an 1/8 of a teaspoon).  Removed from heat and began to prepare the noodles and sauce. 
The sauce consisted of my traditional red sauce but I added some Hot Italian Sausage to it and then cooked the sauce down to tighten it up a little.  By that time the noodles were ready and assembly began.

I had sliced up some fresh green pepper and baby portabella mushrooms and proceeded to layer 2 of the three tunnels alternating sauce, noodle vegetables and Bachamel until they were full.  I left a layer of bechamel and grated parm on the top and cooked covered for 25 minutes at 375* and then reduced the temp to 325* and finished uncovered for 15 minutes.  I was very happy to see that excess moisture of the vegetables were absorbed by the al dente noodles and I think some of the bechamel sauce as the end product was firm and not watery.  We completed the meal with a salad and garlic bread and a very nice Merlot. 
We finished up with a very good "Ice Wine" from Canada - very sweet and almost syrup-like. It was a very nice way to end the meal.

Cooking and Writing with Ike

Hi everyone;

Going to kill a couple of birds with one stone (pardon the pun there) and put a couple of really unrelated topics in this post.

Item #1 - Cooking part:

During the long weekend we got our pots and pans out and made an assortment of items - Chili, Sloppy Joes, Red Sauce and to use the red sauce, some lasagna rolls.

We have made lasagna before, but it never seems to come out quite right - so we found a recipe for Lasagna Rolls - instead of the traditional preparation. Pretty simple really and won't really spend the time on the sauce etc. but more on the filling and the prep.

For the 4 cheese filling:

16oz Ricotta Cheese

1/2 cup each, Mozzarella, Parmesan and Asiago Cheeses (grated)

1 half package of Frozen chopped Spinach (thawed, and drained very well)

1 whole egg

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Boil Lasagna noodles 8-9 minutes -al dente only don't over cook them, Drain and lay out on wax or parchment paper to cool and to facilitate stuffing and rolling

Combine all above ingredients in med bowl and mix until well incorporated

Take a large Tablespoon - maybe a little more and place on one short end of a lasagna noodle. Roll up - Repeat until out of noodles or stuffing.. this recipe did one entire box of noodles (18) but you will have to gauge the amount of stuffing you put in each one.

Place a small layer of sauce on the bottom of an 9 x 13 pan and place each roll seam side down in the sauce. I was able to get 4 rows of 3 rolls each in the big pan and then got an 8 x 8 pan and put the other 6 in it.

After placing all rolls in sauce, cover each row of rolls with more sauce... (Now this is where my wife and I have a difference of opinion) I prefer then putting a bechamel sauce over it and then sprinkling with a little more grated Parmesan... But she likes shredded mozzarella, Parmesan and asiago blend sprinkled over the top..... Guess who won :) Cooked covered for 45 min at 350* and then uncovered for 15 more minutes. Take from oven, tent with foil, and let rest while you make some garlic bread and salad... Serve with a nice wine of your choice - then take a nap.

Item #2 - Writing part:

As you may remember, last October Ike and I went out to South Dakota pheasant hunting, and as part of that we kept a journal of our week of hunting. We provided it to the editor of Naperville Dog Magazine and the published the article. Many thanks to the editor Brooke Keane and here is a link to the on line article entitled "Diary of an Outdoorsman":

http://www.napervilledog.com/magazine/Jan2012/Jan-2012-1.html

I really enjoyed writing it and I hope enjoy reading it as well... If so let the editor know.

Until the next time, "Ike, find that bird!"