Lasagna From Scratch

When i was growing up, my mom would always make a big lasagna if we were expecting house guests. It was easy to put together and fed a bunch of folks for at least two meals.

The four of us almost finished the lasagna i made last night!


I was lucky to have two of our very favorite friends over for dinner last night and spent the day preparing a fresh lasagna for the four of us marrieds to enjoy. My friend brought over some fresh lettuce and heirloom tomatoes that i whipped into a salad and a meal was made (plus delicious wine, of course). Now, i must admit i pretty much literally spent all day on this meal. I could have divided the chores into several days, but i like to commit a day to cooking every once in a while and Monday is the perfect day for that, if you ask me. Get me in an apron with some dance music (i admit it was a compilation of Britney and some other beat driven music) blasting and i'm a happy girl!

My day started with finishing off some great artwork and then packaging it all up to be shipped while making mozzarella using this recipe and a gallon of raw milk. I finally own good rubber gloves so i was able to do the stretching in steamy hot, salted water. The mozz turned out well, not as fine as some recipes but perfect for shredding, which is what i needed for the lasagna anyway. I also made a batch of ricotta with the leftover whey and got a really nice yield. We'll be using that with the extra pasta i had tomorrow night.

Once the mozz was made, the ricotta draining and the artwork shipped, i started on the pasta. I used 2 cups white whole wheat flour with four eggs some salt and ground basil. Mix well, knead it up and start rolling in batches. To get really good pasta you have to have PATIENCE and a lot of time. Each batch of pasta is rolled out on the widest settting at least 4 or more times before you start thinning it down and shaping it. Lasagna is easy as you don't have to cut noodles, but getting the wide noodles rectangular is a struggle on its own. The pasta turned out great and cooked in 3 minutes in salted, oiled water.

My workspace

This is where the timing got tricky. I didn't cook all the lasagna noodles and saved some to the side to be cut into fettucini that is drying in the kitchen presently. I cooked just the right amount somehow, pulling the cooked noodles out into a bowl of ice water for safe keeping. During the rolling and resting pasta phase i also sauteed some veggies (mushrooms and greens from the garden -chives, chard, broccoli greens, kale- with some truffle oil and red wine) and thinly sliced some zucchini. I blended up the pasta sauce using garden tomatoes that i'd roasted with garlic, onions, salt and olive oil the last two nights or so in two batches. That was one awkward sentence- that's how my whole day felt yesterday! But it somehow all came together. The ricotta layer was mixed ricotta (store bought) garlic, salt, pepper, fresh basil and one egg. I cooked the pasta last once all these other things were ready and layered up the lasagna.

I used this fancy pan someone gave us for our wedding, and i'm afraid it held the chill of the refrigerator more than i'd like. I probably should have set it out to warm before sticking it in the oven, or cooked it all longer while covered. It tasted delicious but was a bit moist still - i might try drying the noodles better next time when layering. Hey, it was my first lasagna ever. And we all agreed - it tasted different than lasagnas we're used to, in a good way. The fresh ingredients were delicious and lighter than store bought Prego, Ragu, and boxed dried noodles. The noodles were way thinner, for one thing and the fresh sauce and veggie layer felt less heavy too. We each had two pieces and walked away feeling great rather than catatonic.

Spending a whole day preparing a meal for friends may not be in everyone's schedule capacity, but if it is - do it! Very gratifying.... Though it is sad to see that labor of love scarfed up in a matter of minutes. Nah, it's not sad.
It's delicious.

PASTA PASTA PASTA **GIVEAWAY**

As promised, the pasta giveaway is here.
One batch of whole wheat pasta made with backyard fresh, organic, free range eggs and optional garlic and herb flavoring could be yours!

A local winner could swing by 'the farm' next Monday for uber fresh pasta, and out of towners would receive their pasta dried and in the mail.
I can't guarantee that pasta that is shipped in the mail arrives nice and unbroken, but i'll package it up as carefully as i can.

For your chance to win simply comment on this blog post with a link to your favorite (easy) bread recipe or visit my online portfolio/shop and let me know what your favorite image is. 

Special favors will not be granted to folks who forward those links to a few friends, but you'll make me a little happy :)

Have a wonderful week, and check back on Friday to find out who the winner is!

My New Pasta Maker, A Review (*Pasta Giveaway on Monday!*)

Time to test out the new pasta maker, enjoy some delicious food, and write up my opinion of this device's functionality.
Also, get ready to enter to win a pound of freshly made pasta: Giveaway starts Monday, so come on back!

The things i'll be judging this little machine on will be

• Ease of setup
• Ease of initial 'dough into machine at the widest setting'
• Ease of level adjustment
• Effectiveness of dough pull through
• Satistfaction with thinness of pasta
• Ease of the fettuccine cutting attachment
• Finally - was it a joy or a burden to use: will i be using this often, or will i prefer to roll out the dough on the counter and cut by hand

And the results are in! sort of. I am giving this machine the benefit of the (i have no idea what i'm doing) doubt. My first batch of pasta was lumpy and gross: because i didn't blanch the spinach enough and it caused all sorts of crumbly problems. My second batch, sans spinach, did just great though - and i can see getting better and better at the use of this machine and being quite delighted with it.

Ease of setup:
Couldn't be easier. Clamp to the counter, stick on the crank, away you go. Attachment slides easily on.
Cons: crank falls out too easily. 1-2 dents on floor already counted. Width adjustment is not obvious - i couldn't tell based on numbers on the dial where i was really setting it, ended up adjusting by eye based on how large the little gap looked.    -   9

Ease of 'dough into machine':
No problem. Once i figured out that i needed to pat a little flour on each side of the dough and squish it down into a rectangle and aim it in wide end to gap, it worked great.    - 9

Ease of level Adjustment:
Again, this was where i got the most irritated. Hard to tell what level i'm setting the width to, dial doesn't slide easily from level to level, it's hard to tell how i'm supposed to actually change the settings, and the instructions do not explain.    - 7

Effectiveness of dough pull through:
The spinach one: terrible. Broke apart, lots of little tears. The plain: pretty easy. Still a few tears but i think that's learning curve. The first few times through are harder, but as the dough is kneaded further it cranks through more easily.   -  9

 Sorry it's out of focus: my fingers were covered in dough.

Satisfaction with thinness:
Great. I found it more difficult to handle as it got thinner, but the plain pasta got nice and thin. We'll see how it cooks up.   - 9

Ease of cutting attachment:
Easier than i thought it would be. No good for the lumpy spinach, but worked really well for the plain. The spaghetti turned out evenly cut and professional looking. I will definitely be using this to roll out all my pasta - but may choose to cut some by hand versus using the attachment. It's definitely a kitchen helper and not a burden  - 10

Overall Satisfaction:
Very satisfied.   If you average my ratings this machine gets a high B. I'm sure my satisfaction will grow as i get used to using it.
I would recommend it to a friend.

So tonight we eat pasta! I think i'll freeze some of it and dry some of it. Come back on Monday for your chance to enter to win a pound of homemade pasta made with organic eggs and whole wheat flour (basil, oregano, or garlic flavored by request!). I promise it will look better than this:

Dinner was delish. The last of the tomatoes were sweet as ever. Added a little pesto, and voila! Noodles cooked in about 3 minutes (until happily floating) and were gorgeous in my mouth. Yum yum yum yum.

New Pasta Maker! Upcoming Product Review and *GIVEAWAY*

Yipeeeee!
I love it when i hear the UPS truck stop outside my house, especially when it's followed by the DingDong of my door bell and the plop of an unexpected package on my stoop.
This particular package contained a brand new CucinaPro Pasta Maker sent from CSNstores. Not the fanciest pasta maker on the market, but quite affordable at around $30.  This Thursday or Friday I will whip up a batch of fresh pasta and let you all know how the little machine does. We'll probably eat that batch (with the last of my frozen tomatoes from last Summer's garden). I'll be whipping up a second batch over the weekend, however, and would love to offer a pound of fresh pasta as a free giveaway to my lovely readers. More details will go up with the review post.

So don't miss out! Check back this weekend to find out if this pasta maker is a thumbs up or down, for those of you looking to make your own pasta maker purchase, and to enter for your chance to win some delicious, nutritious homemade pasta made by me with my chickies' eggs.