Sunday, November 28, 2010

What's a little lasagna between friends...

We had friends over last night for a lasagna feed. It was a wonderful evening full of good conversation and good food. I made two batches of lasagna. Well, actually, J16 made lasagna while I did other things. I had all the children in the kitchen helping since I was so far behind schedule. J16 was the kitchen assistant/prep chef, I16 was the sous chef and K10 was the bus boy and runner.
The first was a traditional lasagna with tomato sauce and italian sausage- that was the lasagna "with". The lasagna "without" (the vegetarian option) was something new for me. I made a winter squash lasagna. One of my pumpkins was starting to get soft and needed used so I researched recipes online and then made my own creation...
Mmmm, tasty!
I started by peeling and cubing about 2.5 lbs of squash. This I tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped onions and garlic then roasted it at 400* until tender and beginning to get a bit of caramelization. Once out of the oven, I added finely chopped fresh sage leaves (5 leaves) and a bit of dried rosemary. I used a pretty traditional cheese filling with ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan but substituted some shredded provolone for some of the mozzarella. The sauce over all was a garlic white sauce. That's where I13 came in as sous chef since I didn't have time to stand there and stir the sauce with a whisk for 15 minutes. The layering was noodles, cheese, squash mixture, a bit of sauce, repeat, ending with noodles and sauce over all. I didn't let it brown as much as I would have liked on top but the cheese was beginning to bubble over the edge of the pan onto the bottom of the oven- ick.
For sides, we had breadsticks and salad. Thanks to Jena at Married to the Farm for the recipe for The Best homemade breadsticks EVER! They were definitely a hit. I made a tossed salad and yes, even after all the frost and cold weather, I was still able to pick some leaf lettuce out of the yard to dress up our purchased lettuce.
All in all, it was a great night. We'll have to do it again soon.

3 comments:

  1. mmmmm that looks good! My hubby makes an incredible white lasagna with homemade alfredo, sausage and tons of garlic... I know how to do it, but don't... it will taste all the better when he gets home and serves ME LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Lasagna! Doesn't matter to me what's in it! I love all of it! I love Pasta dishes! Yours looks good! How nice to have all your kiddos chipping in to cook!! You are one lucky momma!!...debbie

    ReplyDelete

Glad you stopped in. I would love to hear from you.