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.

Bloody hell - this wasn’t what I signed up for!

At least that’s what I first thought when this month’s DB challenge was revealed. Lasagne ostensibly has little to do with baking, aside form the obvious observation that it goes in the oven. Nonetheless, I soon appropriated this sophism and I am am extremely happy with the result of this project.

Here’s how it all went down.

Part One: (Saturday at 7:00 a.m.) Project Pasta< The full recipe makes a big, honkin’ lasagne, but with only two of us in residence I was skeptical that we could or should eat that much pasta and cheese, I made a half batch of pasta (eventually cooked in an 8 x 8 pan). Making the dough went relatively smoothly. I used two large eggs (note that the recipe calls for two jumbo), and I did have to add a touch of water to make it all come together. I started to get anxious around the 12 minute mark, but I persisted and eventually it came together. Our intrepid leaders suggested that with enough work the dough would eventually feel “alive” under one’s hands. I never quite got there. Nor did my dough-ball feel “silky,” but it did get more supple and perhaps a bit animate and I think I felt a bit of the “something magic” that other DBers described. I never had a moment of clarity where I realized it was ready, but eventually I though all seemed approximately right, so I put the dough in some saran and let it sleep for two hours. Rolling the dough was a challenge. I had a lot of difficulty getting it thin enough and when I was done with it my noodles were covered in flour. Also, they were all kinds of weird and jagged sizes and shapes. Eventually I put them on my clothes-drying rack and let them dry (”where you dry your panties??!” Mr. Rabbit exclaimed with disapproval). Part Deux: (Saturday at 11:30 a.m.) Ragu Because we’re in the sticks right now (rural-ish New England), I had trouble sourcing both pancetta and veal, so I ultimately settled for some nice quality bacon and extra beef to round out my recipe. I used the food-processing method to both mince veg and grind meat and it worked like a charm. OK, it looked slightly dog foodish for a while (like “Alpo” as another DB hilariously confessed). The sauce smelled succulent cooking (of course it’s commonly known that everything’s better with bacon). It is also a very time consuming project, but all in all this sauce is probably the most successful facet of this recipe coming out of the Rabbit HHQ. Part Trois: (Saturday at 5:30) Bechamel 

This part was very easy - just keep stirring. It looked creamy and lovely and I was quite pleased with my first bechamel.

Part Quatre: (Saturday at 6:00) AssemblyFatigue was setting in and this part got a bit messy. My noodles were clearly too thick, and I was quite worried that they wouldn’t be cooked through or that they would be gummy. None the less, I poured myself a glass of champers and slapped together a rather inelegant but stalwart block of lasagne using the sauce, the ragu and some freshly grated reggiano. I put it in the oven as per instructions and waited to see what would happen. 

So how did it turn out?? Quite deliciously, if I do say so myself. The flavours were great and it had gravitas without being too heavy or overwhelming. In the end, it was well worth the labour. Actually, this is exactly the sort of scary thrill I was hoping Daring Bakers would bring to the Rabbit-kitchen each month. Thanks so much to Mary, Melinda, and Enza for this fantastic challenge.

* Note that this recipe is about four printed pages so I opted not to reproduce it here. The receipt for Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno) can be found in Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (published by William Morrow and Company Inc., 1992).

To see other Daring Bakers’ results for this challenge, visit the Daring Bakers blogroll.

Posted on March 28th, 2009 by rabbit
Filed under: Uncategorized