I have been in a cheesy, gooey mood lately can you tell?!?!??!

I’ve got much going on here and my stress levels are at their maximum and the one thing I can always look forward to ease that is an hour or two of kitchen therapy. If it is kitchen therapy in the form of pasta…even better.

I have been dying to try Heidi Swanson’s recipe for lasagna for ages and I just never seem to make it when I have the chance. So last night, after ending the day with piles of hair on my desk and a roll of Tums, I headed into the kitchen with my talented budding cook daughter to lose myself in the glories of pasta, cheese and sauce. My ingredients can be so different than yours since most of mine come right from my backyard, so I will just share mine and if you can’t put it together that way hop on over to Heidi’s blog for her recipe.

Ingredients:

6 cups of sauce (I used a light marinara I had in the fridge)
1 pound duck egg pasta
1 pound fresh mozzarella torn into bits
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

First, the pasta…

Like I said, your pasta will most likely be much different than mine. Hopefully in the very near future you will be able to order mine, but for now you’ll just have to take my word for it. This is the very best pasta you can eat. The texture, taste…wow.

3-1/2 cups of sifted all purpose flour (if you have type 00 use it)
5 Indian Runner eggs

Make a well with the flour in the bowl of your Kitchen Aid and add the 5 eggs to the well. With the dough hook blend and knead for approximately 2-3 minutes until the dough comes together in loose, somewhat dry shaggy mass. Turn it out on your work surface and knead it by hand for 3-4 minutes or so until it starts binding together into a stiff dough. Cover it with a damp paper or kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Come back and knead again for 3-5 minutes…the dough will be very stiff but smooth.

Divide the dough ball into 4 equal parts. Now divide each quarter into thirds. Divide each third in half…each of these sections will be run through your pasta roller to become a translucent pasta sheet. I run each through to number 8 and then through number 8 twice, stretching gently as it rolls through to make it impossibly thin.

I don’t par boil the pasta, just increase the sauce…the result was delightful and it saves so much time.

I generously butter a 9 x 13 (14 cup) pan, I use a stone wear pan I picked up years ago form Pampered Chef…love that pan.

Place a thin layer of sauce and then a layer of pasta. A bit more sauce and a bit of the cheese. Go light on the cheese…you’re not going for oozey cheese here..it’s all about the pasta really. Repeat the layers and finish with a layer of pasta, the  rest of the sauce and the remaining cheese. If you want more cheese on the top, feel free to add more. I added a few crumbles of Locatelli Romano for tang.

Cover your dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake 20 minutes longer.

Let it rest for 1-15 minutes, if you can…

The lightness of this dish cannot be over emphasized. You’d expect it to be heavy, but it is far from it.

Again, I urge you to try this…but use the recipe at 101cookbooks.com because my ingredients are likely to be so different than yours.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and do something delicious (like make this lasagna!)

Colleen

www.foodwineartdesign.com

Today being the Columbus Day holiday  my daughter and I did some hanging around doing nothing, and then had lunch with friends Michelle, Valerie and FINALLY Kristin. We visited Moghul in Vestal and opted for the buffet, something I wouldn’t have normally have done but it seemed the popular choice so I went along for the ride.

First let me say that the restaurant interior is lovely. The tile work on the walls was exceptional…cobalt, purple, steel and gold lent a metallic shimmer that was understated in daylight, but most certainly must be stunning under the dim lights of dinner service. Brass, blues, and softly twinkling accents of metallics along with a waterfall wall and strategically placed mirrors (which I loathe, but they work here) all lend a relaxed but upscale feel.

The buffet offered standard fare such as Tandori Chicken, Chicken Curry and Mixed Vegetable Korma, all were richly flavored and thoughtfully prepared.  A supply of blistered Naan was always at hand. My only true quibble about our visit was related to service , in part our fault for not requesting individual checks, but not deserving of the drama it resulted in.  I haven’t ever been in, or worked in, an establishment that did not allow multiple payments or the option of simply deleting the bill and starting over…but, again, it was a small quibble but I am a stickler for service.

Because a buffet doesn’t give a true representation of the overall quality of a restaurant, please use my quick thoughts as a basis on which to visit Moghul yourself soon.  We will be returning soon to sample the menu and take in the decor during an evening visit.

What’s for dinner? A favorite food of teenagers everywhere….Gorgonzola stuffed, prosciutto wrapped figs. The prosciutto wrapped in pink ribbon fashion to show our support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Have a wonderful Monday, and do something delicious! (Like go to Moghul for dinner!)

Colleen

www.foodwineartdesign.com