This previous week has been the week of lasagnas. I went from a sometimes almost never eater of lasagna to the "chef" or "sous-chef" of three different lasagnas. In general I find oven dishes mysterious, maybe due to my stir-fry Chinese food background. Also, I never had the ambition to try to learn any oven dishes in particular, liking my relatively 1:1 ratio of action time to cook time. Lasagnas belonged in the realm of Lynn, who I associate with lasagnas.
The first lasagna happened because Floris felt like eating "healthy." We made an oven full of lasagna out of ground beef, carrots, onions, and spinach. The result was simple but delicious. We cleared off the whole lasagna amongst the four of us and packed down some dessert as well. I felt inspired to make lasagna again in the future. It was much easier than I had anticipated or imagined.
The second lasagna was made for 11 people at JVB 15 on a Sunday. I needed to feed my sister who was visiting with her friend Emily, so I volunteered to cook with Joost for all the hungry Sunday bums. We made veggie lasagna out of tons of vegetables. I didn't like the result that much as it was less a lasagna than a oven fantasie (don't ask) with lasagna leafs and béchamel on top.
The third and final lasagna came about when Vaniek, who was present for the first lasagna, wanted to eat another one when I happened to be making dinner for a friend and had no idea what to make. I think that this is by far the most successful of my creations so far and I will post it here. This is a recipe I modified from an Epicurious recipe for Wild Mushroom Lasagna, by substituting porcini mushrooms for portabella mushrooms and adding spinach. From this recipe I also learned how to make béchamel sauce from scratch (which is surprisingly easy!)
Lasagna Recipe (for 4)
béchamel sauce from scratch or from a box
mushroom tomato sauce
2 cups chopped portabella mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 (14- to 15-oz) cans diced tomatoes in juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
lasagna noodles
parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
1. Make the mushroom sauce by cooking the onions first in oil, and then adding the mushrooms. Add the tomato sauce plus the basil and garlic after awhile. Simmer.
2. Boil the lasagna noodles for 3min until soft and run under cold water.
3. Preheat oven
4. Spread 1 cup béchamel over buttered/greased lasagna dish saving some for the top layer. Arrange lasagna noodles over first layer. Spread mushroom tomato sauce layer and sprinkle with cheese. Repeat layering and on the last layer spread the remaining béchamel on top and sprinkle cheese.
In the future I will not be so hesitant to make oven dishes, but this is definitely the first of many small steps. I will still always think of Lynn when I eat/make lasagna, which is definitely a good thing.
Other cooking related things:
I made a successful chocolate mousse for meisje's avond last week after one failed attempt. My wrists still remember stiffening countless egg whites. Daniel and Jorn both thought I would fail, but helped me tons :D
I bought some Dutch cookbooks in the second hand shop today including: Wijn Etiquette (no translation needed), Fish, Crustaceans, and Shellfish from the French Kitchen, Soup as a Meal, and My First Cookbook for less than 3 euros! Now I can learn and practice the most important parts of Dutch...
Now I am happily looking forward to Christmas dinner at JVB 15 and Easter morning with Naomi who is visiting starting Friday!
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1 comment:
i think 1:1 action to cooking time is still too much cooking time. i have absolutely no patience. i'd rather make something that takes longer, but involves my hands in some way at all times, than wait in a shorter period of time. action makes time go by so much faster.
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