The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.
I love to make Lasagna at home, but this was my first green one! And I'm now a green believer!
Only 3 ingredients.
Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
- 10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
- 1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
- 1 recipe Bechamel Sauce
- 1 recipe Country Style Ragu
- 1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)
- 2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
- 10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
- 3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours. (I’ve used a pasta machine to roll it out). Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag. Cooking the Pasta: Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagna from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.
Roll it baby, roll it!
Assembling the Lasagne: Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.
Layers and more layers. Yummy and more yummy!
Baking the Lasagne: Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes.
Gotta love a cheesy topping!
After baking my lasagna I cut round portions of it ( they looked like lasagna burgers) and served them on a grilled portobello mushroom (the bun?). It was a delicious meal!
Aren't you a tiny bit green with envy? So go to the awesome new site of the Daring Bakers and check all the other lasagnas!
56 comments:
I love lasagna! You are right, me also don't know anyone who doesn't lasagna :D
This one looks amazing yummy. I have a friend living in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Hmmm... wonder why he's never mentioned about this yummy lasagna....
What cute little rounds! Great job!
I guess everyone loves lasagna! :-) Looks terrific!
Awesome job as expected! I cut my leftovers into circles but they came out pretty messy, not to mention I didn't have time to really brown them. Your lasagne is perfection! Great job!
Very well done! Your lasagne look great! I love that little round one...
Cheers,
Rosa
I envy you a lot! great Idea serving it on portobello mushroom :)
Lasagna burger on a mushroom..magnificient...
quelle belle présentation !
lovely! i went with circular shaped lasagna too! great going on this!
That's a unique way of serving lasgane.
Btw, I know of one person who doesn't particularly like lasagne - my husband!
Looooovely lasagna!!
Ooo - I love the idea of serving it over a portabella mushroom. And yes, making the sauces without a recipe makes you a bona fide Italian mama :) Beautiful job!
What a fun and novel way to present your lasagna. Great job!
I love your presentation! I want a lasagne burger on a portabella bun!
lol@ 'eyeballing like a true Italiam Mama' :) Nothing beats home made pasta and fresh, straight from the oven lasagna with home made sauce! looks deeee-licious :)
Great job and again you've come up with a totally unusual presentation. Love it.
I am actually not the greatest lasagna fan. Yours looks so good, however, that I would certainly be willing to try! Any leftovers?
MMMMmmmm, that looks so good, love spinach pasta and that cheesy crust?! Oh, man what to say.
~ingrid
i love adding the mushroom at the end so cute. yours looks fantastic and i agree who doesnt love lasagna and delish melty cheese!
Great lasagna! Wonderful!
Looks awesome! Lasagna rules. But I do know one person who doesn't like it, my girlfriend. Sigh. Heh. ;)
I love lasagna!! This looks awesome. Never thought of cutting shapes from the lasagna. The "burger" sounds mmmmmmmm!
SO creative! wow! how do you do it?
This looks great - Love that shape and size!!
you never cease to amaze me. love how you kicked this up.
I like my lsagna this way too!
This looks so good!! I love your little 'spin' on it with the mushroom!
That's a great idea! I love portobello mushrooms, and it's so cute and round!
lasagna burger... that's kind of awesome
That is SO AMAZING. Omg, a lasagna burger. I think you're definitely onto something here... what a smash hit!
I am green with envy! What a perfect way of capturing my emotions. In fact, I just had a very bland soup for lunch, and I'm totally wishing that I could have had your scrumptious-looking lasagna instead!
Lasagna burgers! Will the variations never cease? :) I bet that was delicious with the portabello mushroom!
Good idea with the portabello. I bet it really perked up the flavor!
Ha! I was going to cut rounds too, and ran out of gas at the end of a very long day. All I wanted to do was eat it. Oh, my it was yummy! Nice job on this -- I'll take a lasagne burger to go, please. ;)
yummmmm. that pasta looks so good :D
Haha.. I'm a green believer too! Your lasagne 'burger' is so cute :D
Dear. really love your lasagna, look wonderful and tasty!!! xxGloria
OH yum! Looks amazing!
I'm green with envy. Yum.
Mmm, your lasagne looks amazing!! Beautiful job =D!!
Beautifully executed. I really like the little cutout serving. Great job!
Your lasagna looks amazing! I love the idea of serving it on a grilled portabella mushroom - very creative!
We adore lasagna too :-) Well done on the challenge :-)
Oh this looks divine. I wanted to make it but I do not have the room in my kitchen to hand roll pasta. I finally found a pasta roller, LAST NIGHT grr the irony.
Love the mushroom version!
I love the lasagne burger! So cute...
hahaha.. lasagne burger. Genius!
Love it!
Looks AMAZING! I love the presentation on the mushroom!
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You are so creative! Great job on this month's challenge.
yum! love how you made them into little circles!
Super idea de presentación!!!
Se ve muy apetecible!!!!
Felicidades!! :)
Qué buena pinta, dios mío. Pánico me da ver los blogs de las DBrs con este reto ¡¡¡ qué hambre !!!
What a nice idea with the mushroom. Glad to see that so many others also used a pasta machine. For whatever reason I thought only a rolling pin would get us "points".
Lasagna ON a mushroom is a wonderful idea!
Riquísima!!! ciero es que no conozco a nadie que no le guste la lasaña, de hecho mi hijo que nunca la había comido repitió y desde entonces me la pide para cenar, tendré que hacersela y congelarla...
Besos....
Your lasagne looks great! It was such a a fun challenge, wasn't it.
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