Sometimes an impromptu night of home-making lasagna is exactly what you need.
The Lasagna
The star of the show, naturally, was the lasagna. We started with homemade pasta sheets.
Anthony made his secret tomato sauce recipe, which included ground beef, Italian sausage, tomatoes, wine, and a set of spices that shall never be revealed. It simmered for hours, literally. I think it was supposed to go for 3-4 hours, but we pressured him into accelerating the process to 2 hours.
To add to Anthony’s dismay, we also discovered that Colin doesn’t own a large baking dish. This is the guy who owns a sous vide machine, kitchen torch, and Banneton basket, but alas no baking dish. We resorted to using his giant cast iron skillet, which almost made Anthony just call the whole thing off.
But he stuck with it, and dutifully layered sauce, pasta, three kinds of cheese, pasta, and so on.
We reached the top of the skillet just as we used up all of our ingredients – couldn’t have worked out more perfectly, though I think Anthony still had his reservations. One final layer of cheeses and into the oven!
Turns out a cast iron skillet works just fine for lasagna – you don’t even miss the corners. Top with fresh basil and this golden beauty was ready to go.
While we waited…
Of course, two hours to cook the sauce and an hour to bake the lasagna meant quite a bit of patience on our part. Anthony had made a spice cake and a Texas chocolate cake. So we decided to break into those… Cake is as good an appetizer as any, no?
And to help ease Anthony’s anxiety over our deviations from the Italian tried-and-true lasagna-making procedures – cocktails!
Finally, the Meal
I also made a corn muffin pudding (go here for the Guessipe) to accompany the lasagna. Colin had the genius idea to top it with dried edible flowers. Yes, he has dried edible flowers, but no baking dish. It’s so festive – like a savory birthday cake!
The lasagna was worth the wait. Cheesy layers, hearty sauce, delicate pasta.
And of course we wouldn’t have eaten the cake if that was our only dessert. Sheana taught us how to make a raspberry and cream dessert with a brown sugar brûlée top. So good and easy, I’ve adopted it – see the Guessipe here.
A home-cooked meal shared with friends warms the heart, and the tummy!
