Sunday, March 29, 2009

Lasagne of Emilia Romagna - DB March 2009



That's right folks.. It's that time of the month again. Time for another tasty challenge. Daring Bakers went the savoury route this month instead of the usual sweets. Lasagne of Emilia Romagna.

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.



Lasagne was the first dish I asked my mom to teach me before I moved out of my parent's house to fly 3000 miles away to Melbourne 7 years ago. I barely know my way in the kitchen back then. Baking brownies and cookies was as far as I get in the kitchen. I always loved her lasagne for its extra cheesy, creamy taste from the bechamel sauce she made from scratch. She always use packet of dry lasagne and bottled tomato pasta sauce, but it was still sooo good.


There's a couple of stages to this challenge. One, we have to make homemade lasagne sheets, then we have to make the beef ragu sauce and the bechamel sauce. A long and lengthy process, but it was worth the effort and I actually find it quite therapeutic. Especially when I needed to escape from my assignments even just for a while. And to think that I have dinner/lunch sorted for a couple of days, is just what I need when I'm planning to bury myself in my books to do this essay due next week. It's only a minor one, but coming from a design background, essays, especially a marketing one, is not a minor thing to do. I need colours!! not words.


I decided to change a couple of things to the recipe. I don't like veal, and too lazy to go to the store to get some facon (M won't speake to me if I put pancetta in this one, he loves lasagne), so I opt out these two and use only minced beef in the ragu. I also added heaps of mushrooms in the ragu. As I said before, I love my lasagne very cheesy.. so only natural for me to add heaps of cheese to the beschamel sauce. Was quite surprise when I saw the bescamel sauce does not include cheese! Sorry if I crossed anyone for changing the recipe =).

The main thing that went wrong in making this recipe was when I was about to make the lasagne sheet.. got my dough ready.. and when I was about to take out the pasta machine, only then I realized it was GONE! The very moment I actually need it and it wasn't there. The pasta machine doesn't belong to me you see. It was my housemate's boyfriend's. But it had resided here in my kitchen since last November, and I thought it was staying here for good. I did notice that my housemate stopped by at the house last Friday, but didn't think she took the pasta machine (eventhough we're housemates, we rarely see each other at home). Oh well, back to rolling pins and a lot of elbow grease then.. I had some doubts about the spinach pasta since I hate spinach, but in the end I decided to have it a go and boy it tasted good!

I'm eating a plate right now while writing this. Yumm yumm.. Thanks again ladies for the tasty challenge! Can't wait for next month's.

64 comments:

  1. Looks delicious! Adding cheese to the bechamel sounds like a terrific addition. :) Gorgeous photos of the final lasagne!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful pics and delicious Lasagna! Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The pasta machine would have come in handy! Your pictures are gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good for you dear girl! Yes, cheese must make the bechamel 'more yummy' as my son would say. Love the colour coordination of your pictures...beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Painful arms and back apart, the lasagne looks delicious, especially in the first picture.
    I wonder if this satisfied your need for colours.:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great lasagna, great baking tin. Great. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really beautiful and appetizing! Very well done!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your photos are just beautiful! What a wonderful job, soreness aside!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cheese to the bechamel and mushroom to the ragu, those are super idea:)

    Love your step by step pics!

    btw, semoga sukses ngerjain assignments-nya ya :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Way to go deep dish (pretty deep serving pan!)! Your lasagne is a tall hunk of beauty, and like others said, love the cheese in the bechamel and your step by step photo montage! I would love to dig in! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, your blog is lovely :-). I'll keep it in my favorites :-)! Love that first picture of the lasagna :-)!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cheese is like Jell-O.. there is always room for it in ANYTHING. hehe Your lasagne turned out beautifully! And bless your heart for rolling out the noodles yourself, I didn't even gather the courage to try that!

    Oh and I love your lasagne pan- so pretty!!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for swinging by my site - what a great way to be introduced to your pretty blog!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mmm, your lasagne looks amazing!! I love your step-by-step photos =D!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Really great photos. I love your baking dish!
    I am in Chicago but my sister, brother-in-law, and neice are living in Melbourne for a few years. I'm hoping to visit them next winter, so I'll be hitting you up for suggestions on where to go!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow... love your photos. I wish I had made this in time for the posting date! P/s: would love to see your fondant figurines when you're done!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your lasagne looks wonderful and I love your photo collage! I rolled out my pasta also and would have welcomed a pasta attachment on my Kitchen Aid Mixer!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lovely photos! Your lasagna looks so tasty- can't ever go wrong with lots of cheese.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Argh! A missing pasta machine! No fun, but it looks like you got on splendidly without it!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    Great job too on the dish, great to meet you through DB.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great pics. You did a nice job- looks so meaty!

    ReplyDelete
  22. great pictures! i like your lasagne pan too :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks beautiful! Just curious - what sort of cheese did you add to the bechamel?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Gorgeous blog, gorgeous lasagna and photos too. You rock!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Your Lasagne looks delicious. And your pictures are perfect :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Your lasagna looks great! I think a lot of people modified the recipe - especially that almost ridiculous ragu! The pan you baked it in is really cute, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Looks yummy - I adore your baking dish! Rolling out all that pasta certainly was a work out, but worth it in the end :) Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Shame about the pasta machine, but your elbow grease turned out some fine pasta! Love the set of photos at the beginning of the post...and that color can be better than words. your words on this post are quite good, too.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Your lasanga looks wonderful! Sorry your pasta roller went missing, extra points for doing it all by hand! -- Just have to add I love your blog background, I am going to go make some iced tea right now because of it, yum :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. I don't think anyone would be too upset you added more cheese. Your lasagne looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Great pictures of the preparation process. Bravo for rolling the pasta by hand. Nice colour on the earthenware dish.

    ReplyDelete
  32. The photo collages are great (got to figure out how to do that). I'm sure your lasagna tastes as good as it looks.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Looks like a perfect plate of lasagna! I have to say, I really love your blue casserole dish, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. That looks great! I love how piled high the layers are. It always looks so inviting when the layers and filling are so plentiful :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Your lasagna looks nice and stuffed!

    I agree with you on the therapeutic value of throwing yourself into a DB challenge. I made my lasagne while I was on Spring Break, but it seems like I can't stop baking these days now that the semester is getting crazy.

    Also, your blog is really well put together. The tea, strawberry, ice border is so simple and clean. :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Thanks for the comment :)
    Yours looks beautiful, too! Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Thanks for the comment :)
    Yours looks beautiful, too! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  38. I love the pics you posted. Yours turned out great!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Your lasagna looks delicious! I really like your blog and look forward to your future posts :)

    ReplyDelete
  40. looks extremely delicious... who said cheese is bad?????
    thanks for stopping by

    ReplyDelete
  41. Love love love the pictures and the lasagne pan!

    ReplyDelete
  42. What a great job, your lasagna looks AMAZING!!!!!! I had to roll mine by hand too, let me tell you I grew some new muscles!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hi, thanks for visiting my blog. Your lasagne looks wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Very wonderful job with this challenge. It looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Your lasagne looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Your lasagne looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Your lasagne looks wonderful! I love the sound of the mushrooms in th ragu.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I LOVE YOUR PICTURES! all the colors go great w/ each other, great job on the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  49. Oooh I'm jealous - your lasagna is so tall and lovely! Definitely gotta work on my hand-rolled lasagna skills! Haha. Gorgeous job.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Beautiful pictures! Great job with the challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Gorgeous photos! Great job on the lasagne, just lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  52. Such lovely pictures and your lasagne looks very yummy! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  53. Hi Asti,

    I agree. I do not think homemade pasta is going to happen in the near future. I have learned to appreciate the dried lasanga noodles. :) Love your site. Your cake creations are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Well done on this challenge and I just love comments in this post. Thanks for comments on my blog

    ReplyDelete
  55. Bravo for using the spinach anyway. Your pasta and lasagna turned out beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Looks so homey in your first picture--just like lasagne should. Fabulous pics! Great job on this month's challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Well done on your lasagna! The photography is wonderful and I love your blue casserole dish.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Great job on the challnege. I love that you added 'heaps' of mushrooms. I love those things. You're pictures are great also, how cute, I'm assuming that one is of you holding the dish. Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Wonderful photos! The mushrooms look great in the sliced piece.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hi all! sorry for the late reply..
    Thank you so much for all the comments =)
    @Zita - finally, assignmentku dah slesai!! yayyy!

    @Beth - please do.. I love to share my favourite places.. Perhaps we can have some coffee while you're here =)

    @Nikki - I've made the figurines yesterday, I'll be posting about it in the next few days.

    @Zoe - I forgot whether I have answered your question or not, but here it is again.. I used a combination of very strong aged cheddar and smoked cheddar. I was too lazy to get a parmigiano reggiano or other proper Italian cheese, so I used what's available in my pantry.

    @stacielk - yes.. that's definitely me in the first picture still in my nighties covered with an apron =p

    ReplyDelete
  61. Wonderful pictures and cute too! Your lasagna looks absolutely delicious!

    ReplyDelete