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
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8 years ago
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Can I freeze or store uncooked homemade wheat pasta?
Comments (9)EGGLESS SOURDOUGH PASTA (makes 2-3 servings) 1 c. freshly-milled durum wheat flour (or other whole grain flour of choice - including spelt, kamut, einkorn, etc.) 1/8 t. salt 2 t. coconut oil or lard 1/4 c. active sourdough starter water or whey (I use whey from homemade kefir) Mix flour and salt. Cut in fat with a pastry blender or fork (Helpful Hint: If you are making a large batch, it is easier and faster to use an electric hand-held mixer to blend in the fat). Add the starter and enough other liquid to make a stiff dough. Knead for a few minutes. Wrap in a sheet of parchment paper and set aside at room temperature for 8-24 hours to ferment (this is a traditional method for making pasta/noodle dough that has been all but forgotten). When ready, knead the dough while in the paper a bit and then roll out. Cut or extrude. You can now use it immediately or dry it on a pasta drying rack to cook later. For longer storage you can dehydrate it until completely dry. The link below gives information about how to freeze whole wheat pasta. FYI: The preferred grain to use for pasta and noodles is durum wheat (which is the type of wheat noted on most commercial pasta). Use durum flour for making noodles and a coarser grind similar to semolina for making pasta - especially if you are extruding pasta shapes. Semolina is a coarse grind of durum wheat which has the bran and germ removed, so you are essentially milling a wholegrain version. If you have a Nutrimill, use the coarse setting used for cornmeal to make a grind similar to semolina. Durum wheat has a high protein content, but it is higher in the protein gliadin than glutenin (these are proteins from the gluten group we often reference as "gluten"). Bread flour is higher in glutenins for that elastic quality that allows bread dough to expand and lower amounts of gliadins. Gliadins contribute to the viscosity and extensibility and are important in pasta and are in higher amounts in durum wheat. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: How to Freeze Whole-Wheat Pasta...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 MoreKAW - my 13 year old makes homemade pasta
Comments (14)True, Debrak! Even within the cult of drawers there are doctrinal differences. I will encourage my children to be flexible and open-minded since we are in the "bullet-proof" counters denomination but accepting of "patina"-ists. And maybe, with time, and beautiful, well nurtured grandchildren involved, I could be respectful of an alternative flooring lifestyle....See MorePasta life, homemade & store bought
Comments (7)Eatbydate.com says dried is good for a couple of years. Pasta made with just flour and water and dried? I can't see a difference between 2 years and 10, if the quality of the pasta hasn't deteriorated. It will continue drying, and start cracking, meaning it won't be nice, but I think if you were hungry and it was all you had, it probably wouldn't make you sick. Vitamins are pretty delicate, but there aren't many in pasta anyway. Homemade pasta with eggs, however, is another story. Dried but not chilled, we've always used it within a few days. Chilled, a week, or even a long week, if it has been air tight and isn't going weird, and gets boiled. If not dried, a short week or until it starts getting weird....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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