Friday, March 27, 2009

Simply the Best - Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

People, I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw what the March challenge for the Daring Bakers. Lasagna. I KNOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? How much fun is that???? An absolutely brilliant choice.

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.

There are 3 parts to the dish - homemade spinach pasta, bechemel sauce, and ragu. Our hosts were kind enough to allow for variations, but I thought the dish sounded so perfect as written, my changes were minimal.

When I was in my early 20's living alone in my teeny Calgary apartment I used to make pasta from scratch on a regular basis. I had forgotten how simple and fun pasta from scratch is. This was my first time making spinach pasta, but it won't be my last. Look at that color!


This was a simple lasagna, and different than any I've made or eaten before. Minimal sauce and cheese. No veggies. No cottage cheese. Just delicious noodles, heavenly bechemel sauce, and decadent ragu with a sprinkle of parmesan. Speaking of heavenly bechemel, this was the easiest part of the recipe.


The meat ragu recipe as provided called for 5 meats. 5! I cut it down to 3 - sausage, proscuitto, and beef we ground at home. There is minimal tomato, which is something new to me, and it also contained milk, another new meat sauce ingredient (to me). The sauce took eleventy billion hours. Ok, 3 or so.


To put it together, we briefly cooked the noodles, then layered them with the 2 sauces and a little cheese. We got 6 layers. Then bake. And fall in loooooove.


Oh my. There are no words to describle how fabulous this lasagna is. Seriously. The end.


A huuuuuuge thank you to Mary, Melinda and Enza for being Daring with their choice of recipe this month. It is so exciting to see a challenge like this for the group, and I hope we'll see more like it!

Please check out the recipe at one our of hosts blogs.


15 comments:

NKP said...

Yours looks so perfect!
We loved this one too - especially the bechamel. I think I might double it next time..

Laura Rebecca said...

Yum, Sara! I'm drooling over this lasagna all over again. :)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Plenty good good, YES.
Like you, I'd not done a ragu with meat and milk but it worked.

Jenny said...

Yum. Your lasagna looks great.
I upped the tomatoes by skipping the wine and using a can of tomatoes with the liquid instead. Worked out well.

Juliana said...

It looks so delicious and moist...

kellypea said...

Hey! I have a chair decorated just like that! I agree that this was a terrific challenge. Pretty delicious, too. Seriously thinking I should thaw out the few frozen pieces I have left...

Debyi said...

Your lasagne looks great! Isn't it fun to make your own pasta?! Great job.

Lis said...

I love hearing you (with my eyes) so enthusiastic about something.. this was a great challenge wasn't it? :D Your pasta looked gorgeous!

Sounds to me that you need to join the Daring Cooks. :D

XOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Allison Jones said...

I love that the DB challenge was savory! So fun.

Are you going to be joining the new daring cooks?

Elle said...

It really is a lovely pasta color. Love your photo of the pasta drying. Really looks yummy baked, too!

Sara said...

OR - I am thinking about it!!!

Anonymous said...

Your lasagne looks really yummy! It was such a fun challenge this month, wasn't it? Great job!

Karen Baking Soda said...

That good? It sure looks like it, wonderful! Looked like such a fun challenge (kicks own butt).

TeaLady said...

That looks soooooo tasty. Great job. I loved making pasta for the first time. I WILL do it again - often. I want some of yours.....

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