You will have seen the photo story of lasagna making I photographed in Italy and now I have made my own quick version. There is no comparison but we working mothers and wives have to find shortcuts or we would have to wag work in order to make the original versions of these time-honoured recipes. It was such a pleasure to watch the making of the pasta sheets from scratch but I used wonton wrappers. It was the first time I had used them and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they are to handle. They separate easily and don't rip. I will be using them again for all sorts of things. I decided to make this a chicken lasagna to shake it up a little and also to not seem to be imitating the lasagna that Laura made in Italy. I really loved the fact that these lasagnas popped out of their containers without hassle. That made them easy to eat. See the copper dish containing the lasagna in the photo and the two copper containers behind it? I bought them all in flea market in Italy for … [Read more...] about Mini Chicken Lasagnas with Wonton Wrappers
lasagna
Lasagna made by three generations of Italian women
Here is the promised lasagna which I photographed in Italy while the mother (Laura) of my sister-in-law (Sabrina) made the dough and assembled the dish. In the end, Sabrina and her daughter, Sofia all joined in and you will see the three generations working together in the photos. It was a symphony of co-ordination and much discussion, which is integral to any Italian endeavour. Laura had already made the ragu sauce and white sauce and they were sitting nearby awaiting their moment. Then she set to work. She placed a lump of cooked silver-beet (but you could use spinach) in a mini food processor with an egg and whizzed it. Once it was blended, Laura placed it into a well of flour and added several eggs, then initially mixed it with a spoon, before getting her hands involved. The dough was completed and then came the rolling out. Laura had a great way of turning the dough when it got too large to handle easily. She would roll it onto the rolling pin, turn the rolling pin and … [Read more...] about Lasagna made by three generations of Italian women
Lasagna Al Forno with Spinach – the fastest lasagna I know
Lasagna is quintessentially Italian but I don't make it very often because it takes too long and, even though my family eat late by New Zealand standards, we do like to eat before 9pm. I do think I cook slowly no matter how much I try to speed up but I started this a little early tonight at 7pm and we ate just after 8pm including cooking time so that was pretty fast for lasagna. I found this recipe in the latest Verve magazine and they noted it was courtesy of Victoria Ave Meats. Here we go: This recipe is not low Fodmap. Lasagna Al Forno with Spinach Print Author: Suzanne Perazzini Ingredients Fresh lasagna Grated cheese Olive oil 450g sausage meat 1 red chilli - finely chopped 2 cloves garlic - crushed 150g/5.3oz mushrooms - sliced 200ml/7oz of creme fraiche 100g/3.5oz spinach - chopped salt and pepper 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes 2 tbsp tomato paste 1 tsp sugar Fresh thyme Method Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Oil a 15x25x5cm ovenproof dish. Heat oil in a … [Read more...] about Lasagna Al Forno with Spinach – the fastest lasagna I know