This month's challenge was a little out of the ordinary, but still delicious!
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've been baking for ages and this is one of the few times I've felt like I failed at something.
I don't have a pasta machine, so I rolled it by hand and it was taking far too long, so I gave up and used boxed no-boil noodles for half. I added a ton of mozzarella to the bechamel and added a ricotta layer because that's what my family wanted.
Mostly I made it up as I went, as I tend to when cooking. To make the meat sauce I first cooked a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, added a pound of bulk sausage, cooked it up, added a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, and a cup of water. For the bechamel I cooked a roux, added hot milk and cooked until thick, then added a lot of grated mozzarella cheese (I don't know how much, but I'd guess about a pound). I also mixed a couple of eggs into a pint of ricotta, then stirred in a couple of handfuls of grated parmesan. I layered it all in a pan, topped it with more mozz and parm, and baked. I've only made lasagne one other time, and it was several years ago and I don't remember how it turned out, but this one was good. I'd make it again, but never again will I make my own noodles without a pasta roller, even if it's just one from the craft/hobby store.
