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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Gutsy Cooks Club: Mediterranean Lasagna

Over the weekend we made lasagna which was another one of our Gutsy Cook Club assignments. We haven't made lasagna in years. Lasagna isn't a good "go to" usually when you are mostly cooking for just two so this was a good excuse to make it again. This version is basically a roasted vegetable lasagna we discussed whether to add some spicy Italian sausage but decided we need to go back to our couple nights a week vegetarian attempts.


Getting ready to make fresh pasta
We were both under the weather this weekend which meant a lot of Food Network and the Cooking Channel was watched. We watched Kelsey's Essentials on the Cooking Channel and she made homemade pasta which inspired G to make fresh pasta for our lasagna.

We followed her technique this time. In the past I had made the dough in the mixer so this was a fun challenge to make the flour well and what not.




We used whole wheat flour which was also something we just thought we'd give a try. Our lasagna noodles came out just fine.


I then made a red sauce using a few types of canned tomatoes; pureed, fire roasted and diced. I like a thicker red sauce. We first saute'd some garlic and shallot in olive oil. Added the tomatoes and oregano, thyme, red pepper flake, salt & pepper and finally fresh basil.


We roasted the eggplant, red pepper and portabellas in the oven. This was a quite a process today. I had cleaned our self cleaning oven which it desperately needed but forgot how long it takes and then how much longer it takes for the oven door to unlock because the temperature has to come down before it will unlock. But it all worked out fine in the long run. I was starting to worry we'd be eating lasagna at midnight.


I started the first layer of lasagna with putting down the sauce then the fresh pasta topped with veggies, then ricotta & mozzarella layering until finished. I used fresh mozzarella because nothing is better in my mind. And then baked the lasagna for 30 minutes covered in foil and then 15 minutes uncovered. The recipe didn't call to mix the ricotta with eggs or anything like I've done in other versions which made the ricotta difficult to spread, should of went with my gut and did that anyway.



Ready to be covered and go in the oven

Out of the oven ready to sit for 15 minutes










We served our lasagna with a Walter Dacon Syrah purchased at the Walter Dacon Winery in Shelton.


My sister had actually purchased a special wine tasting for a group at a school auction  a few years ago that they ended up being unable to attend. So we benefited, took a few friends, spent the afternoon in Shelton of all places and ended up loving this Syrah. This was the last bottle of it left in our cellar. It was a good complement to the rich flavors of the lasagna.


It was a good Sunday Night meal. And we'll be having lasagna a few nights this week as well as putting half in the freezer for a later date.




3 comments:

  1. Your photos of making the pasta the "old fashing way" took me back when I use to help my grandmother make it on her kitchen.

    I usually use the food processor, I should try to do the "hand" version more often.

    Your final product looks good.

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  2. Kudos to you for making fresh pasta! There is nothing like fresh pasta and I bet your final dish was all the better with it. Great wine pairing too!

    Cheers!

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  3. Hi there!

    My name is Steve Walters and I recently started blogging at http://www.eatingbangkok.com, which is currently being updated with recipes, but in the next few months will be my vehicle for covering the food and restaurant scene in Bangkok Thailand.

    I am now in the process of meeting as many food bloggers as I can and I found your site The Foodie Couple recently and was pretty impressed. I've added your site to my Foodie Blogs list here: http://www.eatingbangkok.com/foodie-blogs/ and would also like to add you to my blogroll.

    If you could add my site to your blogroll and write back to let me know it has been added (foodie [at] eatingbangkok.com) I will add you to mine as well and the exchange would be greatly appreciated!

    As you might imagine I am very excited to get moved to Bangkok and get started on covering the food scene there as I feel it is an area that isn't well covered by English speaking bloggers. I plan on adding loads of great reviews, pictures and even video and will be holding contests as well. It should be fun, entertaining and informative for everyone that visits.

    Thank you so much in advance for adding me to your blogroll and I look forward to reading your posts (I've subscribed!) and maybe even featuring some of your own posts as I do plan on a weekly roundup of Thai themed recipes and posts from other food bloggers.

    Warm regards,
    Steve

    P.S. If you are on Twitter I would love to have you as a follower and I follow back:
    http://www.twitter.com/eatingbangkok

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