Like I said,
this ain't yo Mama's lasagna.
The inspiration for this meal came from
a Food Network show with Tyler Florence.
He was visiting Italian pasta makers.
One of the sauces for their lasagna
was a pesto and Ricotta combination
with a lot of olive oil in it.
I recall the olive oil now,
but when I was making this,
the olive oil was an afterthought for me.
Here's the finished baked dish.
I added EVOO
(That's Extra Virgin Olive Oil!)
on top before baking
and baked it until the topping was nice and brown.
That's Mama Hawthorne's mixing bowl.
I remember it from my childhood.
I'm thinking she made chocolate brownies in it.
I've had it for a while
and this is the first time I'm using it.
My ingredients:
1 pound of flour
4 eggs
And you'll need some water and olive oil.
Turn the shaggy mess onto a floured bowl
and continue to work the dough,
adding oil as needed,
until you have a smooth, uniform texture and color.
When the proper texture is achieved,
form the dough into a ball,
cover it with a towel,
and let it rest while you make pesto.
I have two different types of basil growing.
The paler green on the left is lemon basil.
The bright green in the center is your regular basil.
I'm using the regular basil.
Backtrack up to where I said,
"I have two different types of basil growing."
I originally wrote,
"I have two different types of pesto growing."
Alert loyal reader Ticky caught me on that
within minutes of my post:
"I have two different types of pesto growing."You have pesto growing? Cool. Thanks, Ticks. I know you have my back. I told the Tickster I'd be happy to show her my bed of gazpacho next time she was here.
Here's today's recipe for my pesto:
8 cups loosely packed basil leaves
4 large garlic cloves
1 cup pecans
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt
3/4 cup ELBOO
(That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil!)
Process basil, garlic, pecans, and Parmesan,
then drizzle olive oil while machine is running.
Taste test.
I added some salt.
This made 2 cups of pesto.
I ran the dough through each setting several times,
in opposite directions,
then went to the next setting.
The 3 lengths in the background
I rolled out to the #5 setting.
Mr. Hawthorne complained they were too thin,
so the last 2 I stopped at the #4 setting.
Homemade pasta cooks in a fraction of the time
as store bought.
These were ready in about 2 minutes.
Drain in a colander.
Apparently before I cooked the pasta,
I prepared my veggies.
Squash from the garden, diced.
Some kind of pepper from the garden,
possibly Anaheim.
Tomato and 1/2 onion.
I PSJ'd my mater.
What's that, you ask?
Why, I Peeled, Seeded, and Juiced my tomato!
Peel it first.
I use a Zyliss peeler
for soft-skinned vegetables and fruits.
(Mine is the red one, the first one at the top.
But now that I've seen all the others,
I may have to go Amazon shopping.)
Then slice the tomato in half,
stick your fingers in the jelly pockets,
and squeeze with the other hand.
The jelly and juice and seeds come right out
and you're left with the nice tomeato.
I have easily accessible scallions (left)
and chives (right)
growing on my deck.
I'll try and plant three more boxes tomorrow
of dill, cilantro, and basil on the deck tomorrow.
Love to have summer herbs during the winter.
A little LOLUB and ELBOO in the pan.
(That's Land 0' Lakes Unsalted Butter
and Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil!)
And add in the squash.
After a minute or so of sauteing the squash,
add in the onions ...
Rosie tip:
An older squash needs more cooking time.
An older squash will have a thick yellow skin.
A younger squash will have a thin, light yellow skin.
Younger squash are much more tender than older squash.
If you have to buy them,
look for the smaller, smooth-skinned squash.
If you grow them yourself,
pick 'em young,
but then you already know that.
The bit of sugar I sprinkled over the squash
brought out the natural sugars in the veggies
and helped to caramelize the squash.
Here's my set up:
I'm ready to assemble.
In the pot in the back is my pasta resting in the colander.
To the left is my pesto/ricotta mixture.
In the skillet to the right is my
squash/pepper/onion/tomato mixture.
The baking dish has a bottom layer of the pesto mixture.
And on the chopping board
I have minced chives and scallions
to go in the veggies
and some basil to chiffonade and top the lasagna
along with some chives and scallions.
I drizzled some EVOO
(That's Extra Virgin Olive Oil!)
over top and popped it into a 350 degree oven
for 30 minutes, or until the top was nicely browned.
I don't understand pasta.
It's just flour, eggs, water, and oil.
That's it.
And homemade pasta is so superior
to store bought pasta
there's no comparison.
There's nothing like fresh pasta.
Can you make pasta without buying a machine? Seems like a lot of work, and I've never had homemade, but bet it tastes great!
ReplyDeleteAnony,
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to make pasta without machine.
I guess you could roller pin it out
but I don't think you'd get the consistency of the machine.
The machines are not that expensive and homemade pasta is amazingly superior to cardboard pasta. It's not all that much work. Actually, I enjoy it. It's something I schedule to do.
So that I can enjoy it.