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Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna – Daring Bakers

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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 was thrilled to read that the Daring Bakers’s challenge for March was to make Emilia-Romagna Lasagne. Lasagna is my favourite pasta dish and although I have made it countless times, I realized after reading the recipe that I have never made this version of lasagna.

No handy dandy Kitchen Aid pasta attachment necessary for this version – the dough had to be rolled and stretched entirely by hand!! Now that’s a challenge – for me anyway. There were two different types of sauces to make – the béchemel sauce and then the meat ragu style sauce – completely different than the meat sauce my Sicilian mother taught me to make. I decided to make the lasagna and the sauces over a period of three days so we could eat it for Sunday supper.

Friday – Make the Dough


The kitchen is literally the centre of our home and there’s always some kind of activity going on, so I waited for a day when I knew I would have the kitchen all to myself.

I worked on the kitchen island, the only surface large enough to accommodate the rolling and stretching of the dough, rolled up my sleeves and got to it. I added an extra egg as the spinach and egg mixture seemed dry. Then I realized that was because I used large eggs instead of jumbo eggs.

Well, after kneading and resting and rolling and stretching – I was cutting out lasagna pieces and proud of it. Maybe they weren’t as thin as they should have been, but they looked thin enough to me. I really think next time I make pasta I will used this method again. I layered the lasagna sheets between pieces of floured wax paper, sealed them in a plastic bag and stored them in the fridge until I was ready to used them.

Saturday – Make the Sauces and Assemble the Lasagna


For the meat sauce, I used Italian sausages and beef braising ribs. The ingredients in this sauce were so different than the ones I use to may my own sauce. There really is a difference between northern and southern Italian cuisine. Nevertheless, the sauce was exquisite – robust and flavorful. I had no problems making the béchamel sauce which also turned out delicious.

While assembling the lasagna, I was running out of the béchamel sauce so the last layer before the top layer of lasagna was only covered with meat sauce and Parmesan cheese. I poured the remainder of the béchamel sauce over the top layer and sprinkled more Parmesan cheese that was called for in the recipe. I covered the lasagna with a layer plastic wrap and foil paper and stored it in the fridge until the next day.

What for Supper on Sunday? – Lasagna!!

Today was the lasagna tasting day. My family was anxious to eat this lasagna I have been talking about for three days. After supper I would write my post to publish on Monday, March 30th. Good thing I went back to the Daring Bakers’ Kitchen Web site to double the check the posting day which was TODAY!

The lasagna was delicious and quite filling! A small piece goes a long way. Would I make it again? Definitely I will make the pasta dough by hand again – the ragu sauce I am not sure. The combination of the ragu and béchamel sauce, although delicious, was too rich for my taste.

Thank you Mary, Melinda and Enza. I really enjoyed this month’s challenge. I learned how to roll and stretch dough and make a different type of sauce.

For the Emelia-Romangia recipe, view the recipe archive at the The Daring Kitchen Web site or visit Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande.

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Comments

  4. Elyse says

    Great job rolling by hand! I’m super impressed. Your lasagna looks sooo delicious! I’m sure everyone enjoyed this wonderful dinner.

    Reply

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