Homemade pasta for lasagna
Elery decided he'd like to take lasagna to his family Christmas party, and he loves homemade pasta. So, like a good wife, I agreed to make pasta sheets for the holiday meal.
I start like Grandma always did, one egg to each cup of flour. Dump it on the board, make a well, sprinkle with salt and break the eggs into the well:
I use my hands to mix it all together, and I usually add a drizzle of olive oil. If it's too dry, I'll sprinkle on water, a tablespoon at a time, until it's all a cohesive mass of dough. Knead for a couple of minutes and you'll get this nice smooth ball of pasta dough:
Time to haul out the pasta machine. I cut this amount (4 eggs and 4 cups of flour) into 8 portions, so they don't make a sheet too long for the space I'm using to work. I start on "one", of course, and run it right up to 5 or 6, which is the right thickness for lasagna, at least in my opinion.
Pasta freezes well, so I made this last week, cut it into sections that are the right length for my pans and laid it out on sheet pans covered with parchment, then put them into the freezer:
Tomorrow night I'll make the sauce for Joey's Killer Lasagna, a recipe I got here several years ago. I'll assemble the lasagna without cooking the pasta first, let it set overnight and bake it on Friday, to be finished with a reheat and fresh layer of cheese on top on Saturday.
Merry Christmas, I'll try to remember to take pictures of it when it's cut for serving, but it's just not something I remember, usually. I'd rather eat, LOL.
Annie
Comments (28)
8 years ago
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Homemade Pasta- Can you refrigerate or freeze in advance?
Comments (16)My Noodle Recipe 3 cups flour, I like to use bread flour 2 teaspoons of salt 3 whole eggs 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 9 tablespoons water Put flour and salt in food processor and mix. Mix the eggs, oil and water together and then add to the flour mix. Pulse the food processor until the dough is well mixed. If too dry add another egg or yolk or more water. Take the dough out and make in to a few rounds of dough. Let rest in a covered container for half an hour. If not making at this time, refrigerate. After 30 minutes, take each mound of dough and roll as thin as possible. Let dry on clean floured cloths or on counter or table, turning the dough rounds over to help them dry. When dry enough to handle, I cut them into strips and stack, then with a sharp knife on a cutting board, cut the width of noodles you wish. Place the cut noodles back on the cloth to dry and cover with another clean cloth. Let dry over night. This recipes makes probably 10 servings. When dry, put in freezer bags or use right away. Sue...See MoreHomemade Pasta?
Comments (35)lindac, Cretons are a French Canadian dish sort of a poor man's pate made with ground pork. I made a batch of each of the recipes below but the traditional version came out a little bland so I used it to stuff the squash ravioli. It was yummy. Here's the traditional version: Creton 3 lbs. ground pork (Have it triple ground) ½ large yellow onion, minced (Make sure itÂs a pungent yellow onion; it makes a huge difference in the flavor.) 3-6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine Ginger, nutmeg, dry mustard, cloves, salt & pepper Place the pork, onions and garlic in a pan and just cover with water. Bring to a boil. Break the meat apart with a potato masher. Add spices to taste. Reduce heat & simmer until water is almost gone. Cool the meat mixture and refrigerate. Serve chilled or at room temperature with Dijon or grainy mustard and toast points or crackers. My mother used to make homemade mayonnaise to go with it as well. She would mix the mustard and mayo together. And of course pickles, always tiny but the debate has raged on in the family for years whether they should be sweet or dill pickles. I prefer sweet. I've never measured the spices but I'd guesstimate about 1/2 tsp. each of nutmeg and ginger, 3/4-1 tsp of cloves and 1 tsp. of dry mustard. I sometimes add cinnamin but just a dash so maybe 1/4 tsp. Yes it artery clogging but it's yummy. Traditionally once cooled the Creton should have a layer of fat on the top. I usually remove some of the fat at the end of cooking so there is no visible fat on the top once chilled but I leave enough to hold the meat together. Here's another not so traditional version: Savory Creton 2 lbs. fresh ground pork 5 oz. salt pork, minced very fine 1 large shallot, minced fine 1 small yellow onion, minced fine 6 large garlic cloves, peeled then minced fine 2 tbs. dry vermouth ¼-½ tsp. ground sage 1 tsp. herb de provence, rubbed in your hand until very fine 1 bay leaf 2 cups of water ½ cup very strong pork or chicken stock In stock pot, slowly brown salt pork until crisp. Remove from pot, cool and mice fine. Add onions, garlic, and shallot to pot and sauté slowly until just cooked. Add sage and herb de provence and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground pork to pot, breaking up with your hands as you add it to the pot. Add vermouth, water, bay leaf and chicken stock, stirring to gently break up pork. Bring to a boil reduce heat to a simmer add crisp salt pork. Simmer about 45 minute then remove bay leaf, continue simmering until all the water is gone. This one is very fatty so I always drain some of the fat off before coling and chilling. Cool the meat mixture and refrigerate....See MoreHomemade lasagna noodles. How to?
Comments (5)This is all very interesting. . .I always use homemade noodles when I make lasagna. (Which is why it is my boys favorite meal - and why it takes longer to make and I do it less often.) My noodles are made only from eggs and flour (in the food processor). I roll them as thin as I can with my Atles and cut each sheet in half length wise. I gently boil them until tender (not very long) and then proceed with the meat sauce and cheeses. I try to always make extra for the freezer. I prefer to use a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese in place of the cottege cheese. (I think it looks prettier and sets up better; it's more fattening but probably costs about the same.)...See MoreWhat's Your Holiday Repertoire?
Comments (48)Thanks for the vote of confidence, plllog! I do love shortbread (my old boss said it was just sugar, held together with butter, LOL), but my kids really prefer chocolate chip and those flourless peanut butter cookies. They do like the peanut butter cookies baked in a mini muffin cup and then when still hot, they stick a mini Reese's cup in the middle. MmmmHmmm. lpink, I do can it because I have pears on the trees in the fall, and they don't last until Christmas. It's actually a recipe that's meant to be canned, but it could easily be reduced and just used when made. I do reduce the sugar, depending on the ripeness and sweetness of the pears, I add half the sugar, cook a few minutes, taste, add more sugar until it is to my liking. It does thicken as it cools, as it's actually a conserve type of mixture. I don't always have to cook the entire 40 minutes, as sometimes it reaches a suitable thickness in less time, depending on the juiciness of the pears. I like the spicy flavor, it reminds me of mincemeat. It's good in pies but I actually like it best in filled cookies, like the filled date nut type, or in a thumbprint cookie. Bud likes a dollop of it baked in the middle of a bran muffin. Old Time Pear Mincemeat (Farm Journal Freezing and Canning Cookbook) 7 lbs. ripe pears 1 lemon 2 lbs. seedless raisins 6 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup vinegar 1 tbls ground cloves 1 tbls ground cinnamon 1 tbls ground allspice 1 tbls ground nutmet 1 tsp ground ginger Cor and quarter pears. Quarter lemon, removing seeds. Chop raisins, lemons and pears (If you use the food processor be very judicious, the pears will puree easily. I leave the peels on the lemons, and I put the lemons and the raisins in the food processor, but I chop up the pears by hand so they stay in definable pieces) combine remaining ingredients in large kettle. Add chopped fruit mixture. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer 40 minutes. Pack into hot jars and process in a hot water bath 25 minutes for pints. Annie...See More
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OK, we've eaten the pasta and it was amazing. I used the Joey's Killer Lasagna recipe posted here several years ago, and made a double batch of sauce. Cheese included ricotta, parmesan, asiago, mozzarella and provolone. It made two large and deep pans:
The pasta held up and did not become mushy. I used three layers of pasta and four layers of sauce and cheese, a nice deep dish lasagna:
I did not cook the pasta sheets before assembling the lasagna and baking it, and I didn't even thaw them, I used them straight off the baking sheets, while they were still stiff enough to easily handle them. I do think a bit less cheese on the top would have been better, but pretty much everyone else disagreed, they all like more cheese. Meats included grassfed beef, locally grown pork and some Italian sausage that Elery and I made. I was surprised that I couldn't really taste the Italian sausage, it was unobstrusive but did make a difference in flavor.
There are two pieces in the fridge for Elery's supper tomorrow night, and the remainder went into the freezer for the parents-to-be.
Next experiment, I think, will be gluten free pasta for lasagna....
Annie
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Hi,
We made lasagna with homemade extruded noodles for Christmas dinner. Sorry for the meatball picture above, I can't delete it.
The sausages are browning in the sauce pots while we sauté the vegetables.
The sausages are ready to be added to the sauce.
DH's famous meatballs.
Pasta, you can see the sauce cooking in the background.
Finished product. The large pan is for Christmas dinner. The smaller pan will be frozen and likely served at DH's "boys week end". I always bake my lasagnas twice because I think it is firmer when baked twice. There will be more cheese on top for the 2nd bake.
Merry Christmas,
MJ
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