Daring Bakers: Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

• Recipe's origins: Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from "The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food"
• Recipe's orginator: Lynne Rossetto Kasper
• Our hostess: Mary of Beans and Caviar
• Our co-hostesses Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande

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.

As much as I love being a part of the Daring Bakers, I've often felt there's too many challenges involving sweet baking. Don't get me wrong, I love cakes and cookies and pies and whotnots, but I think it's important to remember that savoury baking can require just as much skill and patience as sweet offerings.

Is savoury baking the poor cousin to much-loved and sought-after sweet baking? Not in my books.

Needless to say, I was doing a little dance of joy when I found out our lovely hostesses chose home made pasta as an integral part of our challenge.

My Dear Little Cardamummy once attempted homemade pasta. It was...umm...disgusting. I don't think she followed a recipe and what she produced was doughy and stodgy and sat in my tum like a lead-lined brick. I did my best to discourage further experiments. Whether or not she continued, I don't know as I think I've blocked all other attempts at feeding me her pasta have been blotted out of my memory.

Fast forward to this past Christmas. The lovely people at KitchenAid met with me as a follow up to their 2008 Kitchen Trends Report (Adobe Acrobat required), which I co-authored, and offered me a pasta machine attachment for my stand mixer. Of course I accepted and immediately thought of a couple of things I wanted to try it out on...pasta and non pasta alike.

Yeah, I didn't roll the pasta sheets by hand, as required in the challenge. But I had a new piece of equipment and I so very much wanted to try it out. For those of you who have been salivating over the attachment--I'm quite happy with it--after hand kneading the dough, I ran it through the rollers a few times and came up with a very lovely product.

Home made pasta is quite easy (and I'm sure if Mum had a recipe, her attempt would have been much more successful). The only thing I would do differently is purée the spinach instead of finely chiffonading it. The chunks were a bit large and I think was the cause for a few nervous moments of dough tearing during early rolling stages.

I used the challenge's bechamel, but substituted half the milk for heavy cream--I had some in the fridge that needed using up. My word the sauce was good. I had to be careful to keep from...ahem...oversampling.

The ragu was my own which I made and froze a few weeks before I knew about this month's challenge. Quite simply: soften diced onions, carrots and celery in olive oil, add a small tin of tomato paste and fry for a bit. 300g each ground pork, beef and veal, then a 798ml tin of unspiced puréed tomatoes and a good glug or two (or three) of red wine. Add salt, pepper and basil, stir well so the meat is nicely mixed, cover and set simmer for about an hour or so. Stir every once in a while. Check for doneness and flavour, spice as you see fit.

I didn't want an overly tall dish, so I limited my layering, reserving the rest of the pasta and sauces for future use. The finished lasagne was delicious--one of the best I've had.

To see what the other Daring Bakers did, please visit our blogroll.

cheers!
jasmine

Be it ever so humble...

...there's no place like home.

I'm now a home-owner. Well...to be accurate, the bank owns most of my home; I think I own the powder room, spare bedroom, and linen closet.

Michael and I began to talk about living together, probably selling his condo and buying a bigger place for the two of us (and his 2000 dvds, my 2000 books, his TV temple, my piano...). So I suppose I was already in the mindset...after many ponderings on my own, with friends and with my parents, I took the plunge and purchased his condo.

I know some of you wonder if this is wise or not, but he made it a place of peace and comfort for me--a place to escape from daily stresses and turmoils. And throughout everything, his home kept those qualities. Yes, at times it is difficult being here, but it really is the best thing for me.

Well...apart from the kitchen.

Meet Beelzebub:

(the stove, not the pot)

Yes. I now live with Beelzebub. Oh sure he looks all sweet and innocent, promising to come up to temp or even just turn on, but as soon as you turn your back on him...well, it's not nice. He's either is cold as ice or his ire singes the most innocent of foodstuffs. He even kept his white cloak from the days before his fall to lull you into believing he's one of the good 'uns.

I've developed the theory that his fall from grace came out of sheer laziness. He wasn't used much in the previous nine years, pretty much replaced by the microwave, steamers, the grill thingie and toaster oven. I put him through is paces every so often--as did My Beloved One--but not often enough, apparently. But now that he's required to be...well...fully functional at a moment's notice, he's just not happy.

My father even made derisive comments about this stove. So much so that I'm given free access to their wonderful stove to feed myself and others. It will be a while until he is exorcised from my kitchen--I'm hoping for a gas stove, but I need to a) save up for a mini-reno and b) get the association's okay (in case the gas piping needs to go outside the townhouse)--but until then, I'm stuck with this fallen angel...

cheers!
jasmine

And then there was a blood-curdling scream...

... from the kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on the couch, completing some readings and I heard a tiny, high-pitched scream, followed by the scrabbly sounds of tiny little feet coming from the kitchen.

No, it wasn't a cat.

It was a mouse. I figure what happened was it scampered across the stove by the heat vent...given I was baking and was using the stove, the surface was very, very warm, and it got its wittle teeny feet burned.

Unfortunately, it's not a unique occurance--whenever it warms up, or cools down, the four-footed populations increases...temporarily.

Out came the arsenal: a newfangled trap, the old reliable one and a sweet little live trap. Unfortunately, as much as I prefer live traps, mousie is too smart and ran in got the peanut butter and ran away. The traditional wooden one scare me too much--it's very sensitive and I'm paranoid of snapping a finger off. The new fangled one is easy to set and effective. Very effective.

I must admit I get very girlie when it comes to mice...I hate dealing with them. Thank goodness other people will. I just hate the idea of killing the little furry things when all the did was invade my space. Yes, I know they are germy, but still...I think what bothers me more is the fact their eyes are wide open when they've...umm...met their maker. All I can think of is Stuart Little.

I wish the local mice didn't have such high-fallutin' palates...they aren't interested in cheese (of any sort). Nor did they want any bacon fat. They wanted (and eventually got) organic peanut butter....a small price to pay . I suppose that is my fate. Beanie, as much as he loves chicken, will not eat plain chicken...it needs to be spiced (coriander, pepper, garlic). Hagia prefers lemongrass and black olives (with pits).

I also wish my cats would earn their keep. I told Beanie to go and eat the mouse (before the traps came out). He just looked at me with a "you've got to be joking" look and walked away. This is the cat who, a few years ago (when there was a different and effective live trap around), brought his toys to the soon-to-be-freed mouse.

Sigh...

cheers!
jasmine

tags: Salads
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Kitchenalia: Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker

A couple of months ago Catherine, Food TV Canada’s resident blogger, found herself with quite the dilemma: her workstation was overrun with Jamie Oliver Flavour Shakers in need of homes. Whomever received one had to try it out and blog about it. Always one for toys – especially kitchen toys – I dropped her a note and the gadget appeared last month. It’s taken a while for me to complete toy testing as my sore wrist kept me from unscrewing the tool.



It looks like a plastic Barbapapa: bowling pin in shape with a bulbous bottom, slimish middle and bit of a head on top. Did I mention the snazzy rubber grippy swoosh?

It’s made of four parts: a two-piece plastic case, a ceramic ball and a rubber gasket. You use it as you would a Boston shaker – seal the spices, herbs and whatnots into the contraption, and you shake so the ball bruises and crushes its contents.

I read the pullout (“Once you’ve used my Flavour Shaker you’ll never want to be without it,” and “It will crush, grind, mix, purée, blend and release flavour from whole spices (including cinnamon stick and star anise), herbs, garlic, nuts citrus rind or even lime or bay leaves.”) and perused its recipes (Best herb marinade, Hot tandoori rub, Spicy jerk Caribbean rub, Old English sugar’n’spice, and Creamy garlic French dressing) before deciding to follow my own path.

Experiment Number One: Dry Spices
I popped in a cinnamon shard, screwed the shaker together, and was careful to align the two sets of guide arrows that ensure that the unit locks correctly, and shook. This was more difficult than originally thought; my Flavour Shaker’s two sets of arrows will not align at the same time.

I shook it for about 15 seconds before adding cardamom seeds and whole cloves. As Jamie would say, I gave it a good bash for 30 seconds, and produced a course grind: discernable bits of spices, not anywhere close to the powdery and slightly gritty texture I was accustomed to with my trusty mortar and pestle. I closed it up again and shook it for another 30 seconds: medium coarseness: mostly homogenous, but there were still chunky bits. I closed it up again and bashed it for another 30 seconds: I still considered it a medium grind, just with more powder.

I stopped then because I realized that the Shaker probably wouldn’t mimic the fine-ish grind I prefer.

A static charge built up because of all that mid-winter shaking and called upon my trusty pastry brush to sweep out the finer contents that adhered themselves to the Shaker’s insides.

Experiment Number Two: Wet and dry spices
The second set started with a 60-second bash of cumin and coriander seeds along with a few black peppercorns. Afterwards I plopped in garlic chunks and crushed everything for another 30 seconds. Thanks to the garlic’s moisture, the contents clung to the ceramic ball for dear life. At best, the garlic was coarsely chopped – again nowhere close to finely chopped niblets my knife produces. I stopped here as I didn’t believe anything better would come of additional bashing time.

Washing instructions seemed hopeful: “It’s not fiddly to keep clean like electronic equipment.”

I washed it by hand in hot and soapy water. After it dried I gave it a sniff. It smelled like curry. I washed it again, this time soaking in soapy water for a while. After it dried I gave it a sniff. It smelled like curry. I filled it with acidulated water, let it sit for a couple of hours and then washed it. After it dried I gave it a sniff. It smelled like curry.

Experiment Number Three: Whipped cream
The instruction pamphlet indicates emulsified sauces could be made but I wasn’t interested in making creamy vinaigrette. I was interested in whipped cream for one—not an emulsified sauce, but the shaking motion would whip in air and hopefully produce creamy goodness. I poured in a little heavy cream with a pinch of sugar and shook. After about 45 seconds I had a very thick cream, akin to luscious double cream. It would have been perfect if the cream hadn’t picked up the residual curry flavour.

The instructions noted it was dishwasher safe (top rack only) and my darling TFE has a dishwasher. I trundled over there, Flavour Shaker in hand (yes, the gadget still smelled like curry) and explained the situation. He was more than happy to help out. A couple of days later he returned the gadget to me. It smelled like curry.

The only thing that got rid of the smell was soaking the pieces in bleach water. After a 30-minute soak I checked the pieces…they were submerged in murky liquid…. I had no idea that bleach dissolved unglazed ceramics. I took out the ball, washed it, and dried it—only a wee bit smaller than when it started life. I washed and dried the other pieces. I sniffed it. They didn’t smell of anything…apart from a little bleach. Of course I wouldn’t be able to use it for a couple of days as it needs to air properly.

In the grand universe of kitchen gadgets, I categorise Jamie Oliver’s Flavour Shaker as a toy: cute, friendly and plastic. Now that I’ve had a chance to use it, I’m glad I didn’t actually buy it. There are too many annoying things about it: the guide arrows don’t align; it takes too long to get a mediocre grind, and cleaning it is more than a pain.

I’m going back to my usual ways: mortar and pestle and a good sharp knife. I can get the texture I want in less time and there aren’t residual oils left to taint my next preparation.

At a glance:
Ease of use: 3/5
Effectiveness: 2/5
Clean-up:1/5
Total rating: 2/5

Pros: It’s cute.
Cons: Ineffective for fine grinding and difficult to clean.

cheers!
jasmine

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