OK, I made pasta two days in a row... so shoot me.

I made spaghetti yesterday... the tomato sauce was made with 1/2 lb
hot italian sausage (browned), onion, garlic, oregano and cans of
various tomato - not cooked forever. I used one can of paste with a
paste can full of water, 1 can of regular tomato sauce, two cans of
diced tomato and one can of stewed tomato, whirled so it was between
chunky and smooth. Last night's meal had leftover sauce.... so I made
lasagna with it today.

Today's lasagna was made with no boil lasagna noodles (is that a
crime?). LOL!

I used one bag of spinach from Trader Joe's (1 lb), 1 lb of ricotta
from Trader Joe's (24 grams of fat for the 1 lb container), one egg.
Now we're getting into the "I didn't measure part", a tiny sliver of
gruyere, shredded, two kinds of thinly sliced hard cheeses left over
from last weekend, julienned (just 4 or 5 two inch by three inch or
smaller slices slightly thicker than "shave") - slightly less than 1/4
cup total.

I mixed the spinach, ricotta and egg together. I could have added
some onion, but I didn't think about it until now and layered the
lasagna beginning with sauce on the bottom, then layered noodle, 1/2
the spinach mixture, more sauce repeat. The top layer was noodle,
sauce, the hard cheese I'd used a knife on, and maybe 2T or 3T or an
Italian cheese mixture (pre-shredded). The non-ricotta cheeses were
*not* heavily applied, so overall my lasagne was very light! It's a
do-again for me.

http://i39.tinypic.com/jfkowj.jpg

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:

> Today's lasagna was made with no boil lasagna noodles (is that a
> crime?). LOL!

No crime, sf, but the starch from the noodles gives lasagna a slight
tendency to be glueyish, so if you pre-boil the noodles a couple of minutes
you'll leave much of that starch in the pan.
Try it next time you use no-preboil noodles. Everytime I make lasagna and
don't want to knead my noodles, I have to use store bougth noodles and they
all say "no preboiling required" on the package: I just ignore it and
preboil the noodles 2 minutes, the results are nice.

> I mixed the spinach, ricotta and egg together. I could have added
> some onion, but I didn't think about it until now and layered the
> lasagna beginning with sauce on the bottom, then layered noodle, 1/2
> the spinach mixture, more sauce repeat. The top layer was noodle,
> sauce, the hard cheese I'd used a knife on, and maybe 2T or 3T or an
> Italian cheese mixture (pre-shredded). The non-ricotta cheeses were
> *not* heavily applied, so overall my lasagne was very light! It's a
> do-again for me.
>
> http://i39.tinypic.com/jfkowj.jpg

Nice picture, and nice ideas combined there, too
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:32:53 GMT, "ViLco" > wrote:

>sf wrote:
>
>> Today's lasagna was made with no boil lasagna noodles (is that a
>> crime?). LOL!
>
>No crime, sf, but the starch from the noodles gives lasagna a slight
>tendency to be glueyish, so if you pre-boil the noodles a couple of minutes
>you'll leave much of that starch in the pan.
>Try it next time you use no-preboil noodles. Everytime I make lasagna and
>don't want to knead my noodles, I have to use store bougth noodles and they
>all say "no preboiling required" on the package: I just ignore it and
>preboil the noodles 2 minutes, the results are nice.

These noodles are *very* thin and the box expressly says *not* to
preboil... I didn't think the result was gluey, but I wasn't looking
for it either. The way they turned out, I wonder if they'd end up too
soft if I preboiled. The brand is Barilla, are you familiar with it?

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:

> These noodles are *very* thin and the box expressly says *not* to
> preboil... I didn't think the result was gluey, but I wasn't looking
> for it either. The way they turned out, I wonder if they'd end up too
> soft if I preboiled. The brand is Barilla, are you familiar with it?

Yes, they aare the ones I used last time I made lasagne
I don't know if they have different noodles for the US market, I see two
different kinds of blue box and a yellow box, which is the one I use:
http://www.supermercatialta.it/catal...s/DSCF0331.jpg
I preboil them just ignoring the advice "Subito nel forno" (directly in the
oven) on the box and the result improves. I never tried the blue box ones,
maybe they're thinner? I'd pre-boil them anyway.
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

sf wrote:

> Mine are the Blue Box and they are *very* thin. I haven't noticed a
> yellow box, so now I have to *look* for it the next time I'm at the
> store.
>
> I googled for an image of the blue box and well... you know how it is
> following links. I veered off to grilled pizza and the next thing I
> knew, I stumbled upon a quinoa and squash recipe.

LOL
Your blue box is probably this one, since the domain is barillaus:
http://www.barillaus.com/Home/Pages/...OvenReady.aspx

Thanks for the Quinoa recipe
BTW - lasagna noodles can also be used to craft "cannelloni": just boil
them, put some filling over them and roll'em up as big fat cigarettes. I do
this when I don't find cannelloni noodles or only small paccheri. Big
paccheri are wonderful for cannelloni
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

ViLco said...

> sf wrote:
>
>> Mine are the Blue Box and they are *very* thin. I haven't noticed a
>> yellow box, so now I have to *look* for it the next time I'm at the
>> store.
>>
>> I googled for an image of the blue box and well... you know how it is
>> following links. I veered off to grilled pizza and the next thing I
>> knew, I stumbled upon a quinoa and squash recipe.
>
> LOL
> Your blue box is probably this one, since the domain is barillaus:
> http://www.barillaus.com/Home/Pages/...OvenReady.aspx
>
> Thanks for the Quinoa recipe
> BTW - lasagna noodles can also be used to craft "cannelloni": just boil
> them, put some filling over them and roll'em up as big fat cigarettes. I
> do this when I don't find cannelloni noodles or only small paccheri. Big
> paccheri are wonderful for cannelloni


I remember Giada (Food TV cook) did some roll ups with lasagne noodles.
Nice and plump! One of her more enticing dishes. Arranged neatly in a
casserole dish and baked .

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/la...lls/14864.html

Been meaning to try. Only it's not quite in "single serving" territory.

Andy

Andy wrote:

> I remember Giada (Food TV cook) did some roll ups with lasagne
> noodles. Nice and plump! One of her more enticing dishes. Arranged
> neatly in a casserole dish and baked .
>
> http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/la...lls/14864.html

Very similar to what I'm doing.

> Been meaning to try. Only it's not quite in "single serving"
> territory.

Just make a good batch, divide it before baking and freeze the excess. When
I am in a very big mood for lasagne I usually do so. And when you find
frozen homemade lasagne you forgot in the freezer, well, it's always a party

--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

ViLco said...

> Just make a good batch, divide it before baking and freeze the excess.
> When I am in a very big mood for lasagne I usually do so. And when you
> find frozen homemade lasagne you forgot in the freezer, well, it's
> always a party


ViLco,

Why don't I ever think like that!?

Thanks,

Andy

On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:04:32 -0500, Andy > wrote:

>http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/la...lls/14864.html
>
I used to do something like that only (if I remember correctly) the
lasagna noodle was halved lengthwise and (for sure) the roll was
upended. It made a very pretty dish.

>Been meaning to try. Only it's not quite in "single serving" territory.

Do it for company.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf said...

> On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:04:32 -0500, Andy > wrote:
>
>>http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/la...lls/14864.html
>>
> I used to do something like that only (if I remember correctly) the
> lasagna noodle was halved lengthwise and (for sure) the roll was
> upended. It made a very pretty dish.
>
>>Been meaning to try. Only it's not quite in "single serving" territory.
>
> Do it for company.


Right. OR for when I wanna get fat in a hurry!

Andy

On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:12:17 -0500, Andy > wrote:

>sf said...
>
>> On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:04:32 -0500, Andy > wrote:
>>
>>>http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/la...lls/14864.html
>>>
>> I used to do something like that only (if I remember correctly) the
>> lasagna noodle was halved lengthwise and (for sure) the roll was
>> upended. It made a very pretty dish.
>>
>>>Been meaning to try. Only it's not quite in "single serving" territory.
>>
>> Do it for company.
>
>
>Right. OR for when I wanna get fat in a hurry!
>
Andy, there are ways to lighten up lasagna. Use skimmed ricotta for
starters. Don't use a lot of meat for another. Did you notice the
non-ricotta cheeses were just sprinkled on top?


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.