What's Cooking (Take Two!)

[Jenise]

Jeff, I read your post early today and was offhand unable to help, as I don't make a tall lasagna. But it reminded me that I read or saw something somewhere about someone who wanted to make a tall lasagna that was saucy enough but stayed in one piece. I finally remembered just now--I THINK. The data base that is my brain turns up Tyler Florence in Florida helping somebody with that problem. God knows what show or why him or if I'm right about Florida, but it might lead to recipe and discussion of the right technique for what you want. I'll go see if I can find it, in fact.

[Jenise]

Well, that was an interesting foray. I googled 'Tyler Florence lasagna' and got a recipe for Tyler's Ultimate Lasagna from the show Tyler's Ultimate. But the Ultimate set isn't the picture in my head, I see an outdoor patio table near a white apartment or condo building. So I added Florida to my search and up popped "Orlando lousy lasagna" from his earlier show, Food 911.

That recipe's below. But I see it's only a three layer job using 1 pound of lasagna noodles. The Ultimate version used two pounds and the picture (not that you can trust food stylists) shows more layers. Anyway, doesn't solve your problem, but they're data points.

Lasagna al Forno
146 Reviews

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence
SHOW:
Food 911
EPISODE: Lousy Lasagna -Orlando FL


Lasagna al Forno
Total Time:
2 hr 40 min
Prep:
1 hr 10 min
Cook:
1 hr 30 min
Yield:12 servings

CATEGORIES
Beef Main Dish Lasagna
Ingredients
1 pound dried lasagna noodles
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground Italian sausage
6 ounces tomato paste, (1 can)
30 ounces ricotta cheese, (2 containers)
1/4 cup Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
Salt and black pepper, to taste
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups tomato sauce, prepared
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
Grated Parmesan and mozzarella, for topping
Directions
Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Drain the noodles thoroughly, coat with olive oil keep them moist and easy to work with.

Coat a large skillet with olive oil. Saute over medium heat, onion, garlic and herbs. Cook 5 minutes. Brown beef and sausage until no longer pink, about 15 minutes. Drain fat into a small container and discard. Stir in the tomato paste completely. Set aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, parsley and oregano. Stir in beaten eggs. Add Parmesan, season with salt and pepper.

To assemble the lasagna: Coat the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch pan with a ladle full of tomato sauce. Arrange 4 noodles lengthwise in a slightly overlapping layer on the sauce. Then, line each end of the pan with a lasagna noodle. This forms a collar that holds in the corners. Spread 1/2 of the meat mixture over the pasta. Dollop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the meat, spread to the edges with a spatula. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta. Top with a ladle full of tomato sauce, spread evenly. Repeat with the next layer of noodles, meat, cheeses and sauce. Top last layer with noodles, sauce and shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. Tap the pan to force out air bubbles. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Let lasagna rest for 30 minutes so the noodles will settle and cut easily. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyle ... c=linkback

[Jenise]

Today's my darling hubby's birthday. Dinner is going to be roast duck with a brown sauce studded with fresh blueberries over roasted slices of red potato with rosemary. The wine will be a Burgundy. The starter will be a salad of soft red lettuce and escarole topped with a fat warm disc of chevre cheese dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried.

So last night was the pre-birthday dinner. We started with the most delightful salad--it was honestly just dribs and drabs that were left behind from other things but which, adjusted for color and crunch, was a salad worthy of any fine dining restaurant menu if more restauranats were smart enough to make better salads--most aren't, I have no greater gripe. This one contained the last few inner yellow leaves of a head of butter lettuce, raddichio, shaved fennel, diced fresh mozzarella, smaller diced watermelon radish, chopped walnuts and snipped chives tossed with a squeeze of lime juice and a few drops of roasted hazelnut oil. That was served with a 2012 Beringer Luminous chardonnay, an elegantly non-Californiaesque California white that we adore. The main course wine was a 1981 Grand Puy Lacoste that was a good match for a pan-seared/butter-and-garlic basted ribeye, and an even better match for the crushed brussels sprouts that went with it. Most of us don't think of matching vegetables to wine, but a brussels sprout cooked a little longer than usual so that it loses all raw flavors and develops an intense sweetness, cooked with cardamom pods which add something exotic to the last flavor of the vegetable, is a match made in heaven for an old Bordeaux.

Ribs tonight, but I did not cook them. The market up the road has a huge oak grill going on Fridays and they cook a bunch of stuff. We picked up a rack of ribs that needed about 20 more minutes on the grill. I will finish it off in a hot oven. Trader Joe's sweet potato fries with chipotle pepper seasoning. A stir fry of zucchini rounds, sweet maui onions, garlic, and an array of peppers I have frozen from last years garden. It's been raining and we've had one heck of a busy week. All I wanted to do today was curl up by the fire, with my Jazi girl(Havanese dog) by my side and read.

Jenise, tell Bob Happy Birthday, and remind him what a wonderful lucky fellow he is to have you cooking for him!

Thanks for the Lousy Lasagna, Jenise. (...gee, that was fun!)

I sometimes think that Pumpkin has somewhat unrealistic expectations for food. I'm looking at my leftover lasagna -- about half a tray -- and about a cup of leftover sauce and I'm thinking... could I just sauce it, cut it in half and stack it up? Maybe freshen it up with a layer of chopped cooked spinach in between?

How old can lasagna be and still be, um, fresh?

Roasting an organic whole chicken today. Stuffed it yesterday with lots of fresh garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon wedges, then put sage leaves under the breast meat (tried to keep them whole and pretty), then into the fridge it went overnight to dry out the skin. This morning skin was rubbed with a nice fruity evoo all over the bird, then rubbed in lots of fresh chopped herbs, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, coarse sea salt and gr. pepper. Chicken is sitting on a rack with three fat, halved leeks under it. This morning, beneath the rack, I threw in baby yellow fingerling potatoes, rubbed with evoo, threw fresh herbs, s & p all over them. I will add a few, whole baby carrots during the last quarter of cook time. Picked Swiss Chard this morning, it is ready to quickly sauté with fresh garlic, evoo, then drizzle with a little champagne vinegar prior to serving. We'll have leftovers for tomorrow!

[Jenise]

Leftover lasagna, now that it's cooked and you don't have any raw meat and dairy elements to fear, should keep fine for 5 or 6 days. I like the idea of the restack!

[Jenise]

Meatloaf's on tonight. I'm doing a blend of lamb and chicken. The lamb, which I bought ground, looked a bit too fatty and since it's the fat that carries the gamey flavor in lamb, I decided to cut it with chicken--the seasoning I went for has the flavors of the middle east: white pepper, Lan Chi sauce, ground dried ancho chile and mint. Am going to serve it over, or with, some roasted red potatoes, an idea I've had in my head for awhile of how to do make enough thinly roasted potatoes on a baking sheet for company, a method I'm hoping will come out elegantly rustic, if that makes any sense. Salad is going to be a stacked affair with soft green lettuce on the bottom, red cabbage slaw (oil & vinegar style) in the middle and tiny lightly pickled carrots with fennel and caraway seeds on top.

Today's episode of This Week in Vegan Lenten Cooking involves pasta. Specifically, penne with one kind of beans (white), two kinds of greens (beet and dino kale) and three kinds of lemon (juice, zest, and preserved). Onions and garlic are included as seasonings along with plenty of black pepper.

[Jenise]

Mike, is it eggless penne, or are you not being that strict?

Mike, is it eggless penne, or are you not being that strict?

I may have slipped in a little egg there. First completely cheeseless pasta I've made in a long time, though.

Switch to a spaghetti squash and you can have pasta-less pasta, too!

I didn't take a picture, but last night we had roasted duck confit with roasted fennel and smashed potatoes with basil, garlic and olive oil. One of the tastiest meals I've ever made.

Mile-high lasagna met with praise from you-know-who tonight.

Mission accomplished.

[Jenise]

Mile-high lasagna met with praise from you-know-who tonight.

Mission accomplished.

You stacked the other two together?

[Jenise]

Rack of lamb, Ted's roasted potatoes with basil and garlic, and 1970 Pontet Canet.

Mile-high lasagna met with praise from you-know-who tonight.

Mission accomplished.

You stacked the other two together?

Yes, I did... with an extra cup of sauce and a pound of ricotta between them, as well as an extra handful of mozz on top. Six layers high! I did not own a pan deep enough to put it in so I nipped over to the supermarket and spent 54 cents on a deep disposable foil pan.

When I next make it fresh it will be four. That will fit in my pans. ::whew::

Last night Betsy did Judy Rodgers' short ribs braised in Chimay. Great, but the star of the evening to me was a cauliflower recipe ("steaks" over puree) from a Dan Barber (Blue hill) recipe. Highly recommended.
http://food52.com/blog/5775-dan-barber- ... ower-puree

[Jenise]

Oh my, Dale, what a lovely idea the cauliflower is. Will try soon, too.

Also on my list is this recipe for chicken wings (one of my favorite meats)--they look deep fried (and since you can't trust food stylists, maybe they were) but if the marinating and drying overnight as described in the recipe yields the glassy look shown in the picture, then I'll be in heaven.

http://food52.com/recipes/26380-ideas-in-food-s-korean-style-chicken-wings

[Robin Garr]

http://food52.com/blog/5775-dan-barber- ... ower-puree

I am SO making this! I actually do something kind of similar by cutting florets into thick flat slices, sauteing them in an iron skillet and then slamming the skillet into a very hot oven to finish. That's good. But this looks insane!

[Jenise]

No idea re tonight. We're going to a wine tasting. I'm the only one who ever makes real food for these, and that's getting tiring. It's also moving me to eat beforehand out of self-defense.

Interesting comment Jenise. What is your take on what's going on ? I think I know exactly how you feel....your efforts do not spur people to be more creative, inventive or even make an attempt to do anything interesting. It is easy to attribute it to intimidation but it could just be as simple as laziness or worse, no real interest or understanding.
It does get old.

[Jenise]

Christina, my comment was actually kind of crummy--yes I'm discouraged but I'm not sure I have a right to be bothered. Alan sometimes brought wife and food, but now Alan rarely comes at all. Johns wife used to come and bring great food, but john died and nancy isn't into wine without him. Two other guys come straight from work, sans wives, but work for both is the food coop so it's not like they don't have access to good groceries--oh, and ones wife owns and rUns a nearby cafe. But, both bike most of the time--a limitation but a loaf of bread or pint of olives would be so hard? I guess it comes down to me mostly being the only one who cares about it enough, who personally cooks and drives.

[Jenise]

After a weekend of fairly complex foods (and sherry tasting), tonight we're back home and a big pot of homemade soup is just what we need. Tonight it will be tomato-beef-onion, hyphenated to emphasize that all the flavors are fairly equal in strength, made with short ribs. I'll later remove the meat from the bones and cook some thick wider-than-fettucini style flat noodles in the broth. The seasonings in the broth are white vermouth, black pepper, bay leaf and garlic.