Can't wait for dinner tonight

[silverpig]

So yesterday I decided to make a huge lasagna for tonight. It's great because it tastes just as good reheated as it does fresh. However, I wanted to make everything from scratch. I wussed out on the noodles and bought the boxed stuff, but I'm not using anything canned. Here's what I did:


Yesterday @ 2pm

Blended ~40 Roma tomatoes with olive oil, a handful of fresh basil, and a handful of fresh oregano.
Sauteed ~10 sliced brown mushrooms with a chopped white onion and 2 heads of minced garlic
Roasted 3 red peppers
Fried 2 lb of lightly seasoned ground beef
Fried 6 italian pork sausages, cut up

At about 3:30 or so when it was all done, I put everything into my slow cooker and set it to low. This morning when I woke up at 8 am (after about 16 hrs of cooking) it smelled oh so good. I turned the slow cooker onto "warm" setting and there it sits.

I also have a lot of fresh spinach and ricotta cheese I'm going to put in as well.

Tonight will be the assembly steps. I've got a very deep turkey roasting pan that I use.

Top
Parmesan/Mozzarella/Romano
Noodle
Sauce with a little mozzarella
Noodle
Spinach and Ricotta
Noodle
Sauce with a little mozarella
Noodle
Tiny bit of the liquid part of the sauce
Bottom

Mmmmm.

If I was to do it again I think I'd probably just squeeze the sausage meat out of the casings instead of cutting them up... they'll blend better with the beef that way. And I'd also probably throw a bottle of red wine in the sauce as well.

All in all it will take about 30 hours start to finish for this bad boy.

edit: forgot about the roasted red peppers I put in!

 

[ScottFern]

Sounds scrumptious!

 

[Platypus]

sounds delicious.... post me some to Chicago?

 

[toekramp]

and suddenly i'm hungry.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
Sounds scrumptious!

it's all in the sauce

edit* : damn, you edited the post when I hit quote

 

[pcnerd37]

No food is worth 30 hours. I can see all day for some good BBQ but not 30 hours.

 

[dullard]

I really like to go all out like that for my meals. Since you already put in 30 hours, you might as well go all the way. Use fresh cheeses or at least shred it yourself. I hope you don't go out and get that overly dried pre-shredded crap covered with inedible powders to prevent caking.

I'd probably add in more onion and some chilis, but otherwise that looks quite tasty.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: toekramp
and suddenly i'm hungry.

 

[JoeyM]

I'm not so sure about adding spinach.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Italian = :thumbsup:

 

[Yreka]

Oh wow, that sounds good.

 

[Coquito]

Lasagna is always better the day after. Everything settles & the top layer gets a little crispy. Eat it tomorrow.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: JoeyM
I'm not so sure about adding spinach.

Yeah, lose the spinach and the mushrooms and it sounds bad ass.

 

[TallBill]

You are making me hungry.

 

[torpid]

I made lasgana last weekend from scratch. The noodles were not made by us but they were fresh noodles from the market. Soft and everything. Took about 2 hours. I find it questionable that the overnight slow cooking adds enough to the lasagna to make it worthwhile.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Platypus
sounds delicious.... post me some to Chicago?

tramp

 

[ponyo]

30 hours for a lasagna? :shocked:

I'm too lazy to make even 45 minute lasagna so I buy frozen Kirkland at Costco. Ingredients alone will cost me about the same if I made my own.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: silverpig

If I was to do it again I think I'd probably just squeeze the sausage meat out of the casings instead of cutting them up... they'll blend better with the beef that way.

Crumbled sausage is the way to go. Cut the meat out of the casing and let it blend in with everything.

 

[dmw16]

you made the cheese from scratch too? seems a lot harder than pasta

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: dullard
I really like to go all out like that for my meals. Since you already put in 30 hours, you might as well go all the way. Use fresh cheeses or at least shred it yourself. I hope you don't go out and get that overly dried pre-shredded crap covered with inedible powders to prevent caking.

I'd probably add in more onion and some chilis, but otherwise that looks quite tasty.

Oh yeah, I have 3 x 1 lb bricks of mozzarella, a large chunk of parmesan, and a wedge of romano that I'm gonna grate by hand.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Naustica
30 hours for a lasagna? :shocked:

I'm too lazy to make even 45 minute lasagna so I buy frozen Kirkland at Costco. Ingredients alone will cost me about the same if I made my own.

Homemade lasagna pwns store bought frozen any day of the week. Plus if you double the recipe you can cut up the extra and freeze it.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: JoeyM
I'm not so sure about adding spinach.

The spinach and ricotta layer is what makes it a lasanga. Otherwise you're just eating a layered spaghetti.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Coquito
Lasagna is always better the day after. Everything settles & the top layer gets a little crispy. Eat it tomorrow.

All told it's about 15 lbs worth of lasagna... I'll have plenty of leftovers

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Naustica
30 hours for a lasagna? :shocked:

I'm too lazy to make even 45 minute lasagna so I buy frozen Kirkland at Costco. Ingredients alone will cost me about the same if I made my own.

I'm not doing work the entire time. It was about 1-2 hrs to get the sauce ready, and it'll take another hour or two tonight to boil the noodles, assemble the thing and then bake it.

 

[tw1164]

Why didn't you take the 30mins (assuming you have a pasta machine ) and make your own noddles?