Lasagna and other pasta bakes
- Thread starter SandwichShortOfAPicnic
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Normally, I wouldn’t be so indulgent, but this is a dedicated lasagna topic, so here are two shots of yesterday’s dish, shot cold when it was a little more together:
…and heated up for tonight’s go-around, with some garlic toast and steamed broccoli (tossed in garlic butter).
Sent a big hunk of lasagna over to the neighbors, and froze the rest (four more servings).
SandwichShortOfAPicnic
Veteran
Goddam what about your forum neighbours?
karadekoolaid
Legendary Member
I think if you're going to make a vegetarian lasagna, you have to make sure there's something substantial there. Additionally, any Italian will tell you that the whole point of a lasagna is that you appreciate the pasta itself, not the 4,000 lts of cheese/tomato sauce poured over it.
Well I'm not Italian, but I do like my lasagna fairly "dry"rather than dripping in sauce, bechamel and loads of cheese.
This one is vegetarian and has a layer of ricotta & spinach, then a layer of aubergine (eggplant),onion, tomato and probably a bit of red pepper.
Well I'm not Italian, but I do like my lasagna fairly "dry"rather than dripping in sauce, bechamel and loads of cheese.
This one is vegetarian and has a layer of ricotta & spinach, then a layer of aubergine (eggplant),onion, tomato and probably a bit of red pepper.
JAS_OH1
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I only ever heard that (from my mother of course) when I did something she didn't like. Since I was rather proud of my dad I didn't see how that was a problem, LOL.It’s amazing how a child can strongly take after one parent in looks and someone else entirely for their inner working.
I look very similar to my mum and yet have spent my life listening to “You’re just like your father”
My eldest looks very very similar to Mr SSOAP and yet his brain seems to work similarly to mine.
JAS_OH1
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That's my Italian-American DH's concept. He does like lots of pasta and would rather have more sauce than cheese for sure. I am the cheese lover, but I like mine "set" more instead of oozing.
SandwichShortOfAPicnic
Veteran
Ditto!
Except I think my mum says it whether she disapproved or not, she just happened to like to use that disapproving tone
Here’s my vegetable lasagna story:
Growing up in culturally-deprived rural Ohio in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, the only lasagna I’d ever heard of was the “classic” Italian-American lasagna with meat sauce (which I posted pics of) - red sauce, lots of cheese, curly noodles. The only time I ever had a chance to eat it was during school lunch period. We didn’t have things like that at home.
Time passed, I grew up, left home, married, and in October 1992, moved to the UK, with MrsT arriving the following month. As she planned on working, we knew we needed a second car, and after looking over the available used motors for sale by departing US service members (usually the best buy), MrsT settled on…a brand-spanking-new Volvo, purchased through US Diplomat Sales, which included in the price a short break over to the Volvo factory in Sweden to pick it up. Sweet!
December, just before Christmas, we set off…first a train from Bicester to London, then another train from London to Harwich, then a big ferry ride (27 hours!) across the North Sea to Gothenburg, and finally, a bus to the Scandic Crown hotel.
Planes, trains, and automobiles to get to a destination…I felt proper European traveling about, and couldn’t have been more excited.
Next day, we phoned the customer rep at Volvo, and they arranged to send a car for us the following morning. More sweet!
Car arrived (a Volvo, of course), and we were chauffeured out to the auto works, and that’s when our day really began, as the purchase price included a detailed going-over of the car, a test drive round the track, free entry to the onsite Volvo museum, and free lunch in the employee canteen.
Our rep met us, and he looked like George Hamilton’s older brother - magnificently bronzed skin, a white cloud of perfectly-coiffed hair, impeccably-tailored Italian suit…he walked us through every button and feature of the car, then handed us vouchers for the museum and lunch, and instructed us to meet him back in the delivery facility when we were done, and we’d be set to go.
Museum was quite interesting, and then…lunch!
Riding trains…picking up a new car from a golden god…luxury accommodations downtown…Christmastime as well…oh, what delights shall greet me at the employee canteen? Haunch of reindeer, perhaps? A hearty winter stew?
Room-temp vegetable lasagna and a bottle of warm Coke.
I didn’t even recognize it as lasagna. It was all white. It reminded me mostly of what a pig’s heart looks like, when it’s been prepared for high school science class - all greyish-white, flabby, sort of just…there.
“What’s this green stuff?”
“Spinach…I think.”
“In lasagna?…what’s this…other green stuff?”
“Pretty sure that’s zucchini.”
“I’m done. There’s a Pizza Hut across from the hotel. I can wait for that.”
And that’s exactly what we did - took delivery of the car, drove back to the hotel, and walked over to PH for pizza.
Growing up in culturally-deprived rural Ohio in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, the only lasagna I’d ever heard of was the “classic” Italian-American lasagna with meat sauce (which I posted pics of) - red sauce, lots of cheese, curly noodles. The only time I ever had a chance to eat it was during school lunch period. We didn’t have things like that at home.
Time passed, I grew up, left home, married, and in October 1992, moved to the UK, with MrsT arriving the following month. As she planned on working, we knew we needed a second car, and after looking over the available used motors for sale by departing US service members (usually the best buy), MrsT settled on…a brand-spanking-new Volvo, purchased through US Diplomat Sales, which included in the price a short break over to the Volvo factory in Sweden to pick it up. Sweet!
December, just before Christmas, we set off…first a train from Bicester to London, then another train from London to Harwich, then a big ferry ride (27 hours!) across the North Sea to Gothenburg, and finally, a bus to the Scandic Crown hotel.
Planes, trains, and automobiles to get to a destination…I felt proper European traveling about, and couldn’t have been more excited.
Next day, we phoned the customer rep at Volvo, and they arranged to send a car for us the following morning. More sweet!
Car arrived (a Volvo, of course), and we were chauffeured out to the auto works, and that’s when our day really began, as the purchase price included a detailed going-over of the car, a test drive round the track, free entry to the onsite Volvo museum, and free lunch in the employee canteen.
Our rep met us, and he looked like George Hamilton’s older brother - magnificently bronzed skin, a white cloud of perfectly-coiffed hair, impeccably-tailored Italian suit…he walked us through every button and feature of the car, then handed us vouchers for the museum and lunch, and instructed us to meet him back in the delivery facility when we were done, and we’d be set to go.
Museum was quite interesting, and then…lunch!
Riding trains…picking up a new car from a golden god…luxury accommodations downtown…Christmastime as well…oh, what delights shall greet me at the employee canteen? Haunch of reindeer, perhaps? A hearty winter stew?
Room-temp vegetable lasagna and a bottle of warm Coke.
I didn’t even recognize it as lasagna. It was all white. It reminded me mostly of what a pig’s heart looks like, when it’s been prepared for high school science class - all greyish-white, flabby, sort of just…there.
“What’s this green stuff?”
“Spinach…I think.”
“In lasagna?…what’s this…other green stuff?”
“Pretty sure that’s zucchini.”
“I’m done. There’s a Pizza Hut across from the hotel. I can wait for that.”
And that’s exactly what we did - took delivery of the car, drove back to the hotel, and walked over to PH for pizza.
kaneohegirlinaz
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Dang it all!
I have been craving pasta, but am doing the whole low-carb diet thing ...
I have been craving pasta, but am doing the whole low-carb diet thing ...
kaneohegirlinaz
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I could have sworn that I took a photo 
I had just a smidgein' of leftover whole milk ricotta and I'm never without Mozz ... I made up a small Lasgana of sorts with some Trottole pasta, cooked quite el dente, tossed in some leftover Meat Sauce, used a disposable tin loaf pan, layered in extra sauce so we had no stickage, pasta, cheeses, one more layered of pasta and finally more Mozz & Parm - baked it until melty and gooey - rest for a bit and devour!
I had just a smidgein' of leftover whole milk ricotta and I'm never without Mozz ... I made up a small Lasgana of sorts with some Trottole pasta, cooked quite el dente, tossed in some leftover Meat Sauce, used a disposable tin loaf pan, layered in extra sauce so we had no stickage, pasta, cheeses, one more layered of pasta and finally more Mozz & Parm - baked it until melty and gooey - rest for a bit and devour!
SandwichShortOfAPicnic
Veteran
Well it was a bit of a marathon as I couldn’t get started on the cooking until 5pm but eventually I got there!
As I made it with dairy free ingredients I went for creamy garlic mushrooms in place of the bechamel or cheese component and kept the vegan cheese ‘Cheddarton’ for just the topping because used sparingly in cooking you would genuinely mistake it for real cheese but over do it and you’ll be able to tell it’s not dairy.
The good gluten free sheets required pre-cooking, which at this volume was time a consuming pita!
Five kilos of mushrooms cooked in plenty of garlic.
In their creamy Dijon garlic sauce, it was hard to stop ‘testing’ those. Would have liked to put some aside to put on toast but it never ceases to amaze me how much mushrooms shrink and I could see I probably had only just enough.
Made a strongly flavoured ragu. Two bottles of red wine reduced right down with four kilos of beef mince and plenty of sofritto amongst other things.
Had a taste test (or three
) and was happy with the result, so assembled ten loaf tins worth, no-one will be leaving hungry!
Fingers crossed they stay happily in the freezer until they’re needed!
As I made it with dairy free ingredients I went for creamy garlic mushrooms in place of the bechamel or cheese component and kept the vegan cheese ‘Cheddarton’ for just the topping because used sparingly in cooking you would genuinely mistake it for real cheese but over do it and you’ll be able to tell it’s not dairy.
The good gluten free sheets required pre-cooking, which at this volume was time a consuming pita!
Five kilos of mushrooms cooked in plenty of garlic.
In their creamy Dijon garlic sauce, it was hard to stop ‘testing’ those. Would have liked to put some aside to put on toast but it never ceases to amaze me how much mushrooms shrink and I could see I probably had only just enough.
Made a strongly flavoured ragu. Two bottles of red wine reduced right down with four kilos of beef mince and plenty of sofritto amongst other things.
Had a taste test (or three
) and was happy with the result, so assembled ten loaf tins worth, no-one will be leaving hungry! Fingers crossed they stay happily in the freezer until they’re needed!
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How do you make this dairy free?
SandwichShortOfAPicnic
Veteran
‘Elmlea Plant’ is an excellent dairy substitute for double cream, particularly if (as with a lot of other dairy substitutes) if it’s flavoured with other herbs or spices. Get it right and if people don’t know they can’t tell. If you did know you’d note the cowy edge is missing from the cream
When I don’t want it to be too rich or need a large volume (as I did here) I use an barista oat milk to thin it a bit, they seem to work well together as good favour carriers.
Generally I get questioned “Is this really dairy free? Are you sure?” thats when I know I’ve hit the nail on the head and get that quiet feeling of satisfaction that it was worth the effort.
Grated Cheddarton stinks like strong cheddar so it hits the right notes to fool the senses.