Gravy's Cooking Thread
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Well yeah if you're buying the big Frozen family pack out of the grocery store. Although a lot of us probably grew up eating that versus really cooking it. Doesn't mean that it's not still tasty.
I know I've posted lasagnas that I've made in the past and they're always delicious. The wonderful thing is you can throw whatever the hell you want in there. I like them because I can turn a massive amount of leftover protein into something utterly delicious but it's a completely different meal.
I do seafood lasagna most years with a leftover hot crab and crawfish dip that I make during the holidays, but I've also been making cannellini or the big pasta shells. All it is is a different type of noodle, but they still taste the same.
We still haven't had a cold day and I've got my list of things I need to make once the weather gets cool, but lasagna is normally one of them in some form or fashion.
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Hell yeah, sausage in lasagna is great.
You use whatever you like. I'll break up Texas Czech style smoked garlic sausage along with my beef. I think one of the critical elements to a good lasagna is you've got a season you ricotta. Egg yolks, lots of salt and pepper, olive oil and fresh herbs. Regular ricotta is just bland but add the other stuff to make it good. Any recipe or video I've ever seen by a true Italian that's what they do.
I just like lasagna because it's a blank canvas that you can do a hell of a lot of different things with. All it is is a damn casserole basically. If I smoke or grill a bunch of chicken, especially if it's Greek chicken, I'll do bechamel with lots of lemon zest, tomatoes and olives, maybe some pepperoncinis, and mozzarella and feta, and maybe a Italian hard cheese. Wilt some spinach and kale, and it's a wonderful dish.
Edit:
moonarchia
there's the score about lasagna being a blank canvas. They're a lot of dishes out there and if you can just start looking at food from different areas of the world and just understanding their flavor profiles and ingredients, you can really change stuff up and make something completely different but it has the same elements of whatever the base dish is, and hopefully create something new that's delicious.
Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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I've made pesto lasagna twice. The first time it was fantastic, the second time I either followed the wrong recipe or just improvised too much and it was a barely edible travesty from how salty it was. My best guess is the first time I mixed pesto with the tomato sauce and the second time maybe I tried using just pesto or something that level of dickbrained.
If I try again I'm thinking maybe just mix a jar of pesto with the ricotta.
If I try again I'm thinking maybe just mix a jar of pesto with the ricotta.
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I've done a white chicken Mexican lasagna with chili peppers and all that, basically it's deconstructed chicken enchiladas except it's in layers with a monterey jack bechamel and a green sauce. You can also do corn tortillas I thought you fry up for just a little bit, and do ground beef rice and beans and cheese. Top it with some avocado cilantro and whatever the hell else.
Yeah it's not a lasagna per se but it's following the same basic techniques. Again it's just an Italian casserole.
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Yeah, you can mix the pesto with ricotta, or I'll mix it in with an alfredo sauce, and if I'm going to add tomato I might put just a little tablespoon of tomato paste in the sauce, or I'll get campari's or cherry tomatoes and just spread them around when I'm doing my layers. You got the white sauce and then you got the fresh herbiness from the pesto, but then occasionally you'll get a bite of a roasted tomato that gets ultra sweet and tangy and it really cuts through the richness.
Protein is normally been chicken, and I think I used shrimp once to not make a huge batch, but I remember turning out pretty good. If I do any seafood lasagnas though normally it's got the holy Trinity, I'm going to always talk with whatever cheese and green onions and parsley.
I just found over the years that I really like spinach and my lasagna if it's not a tomato based sauce. Same thing with kale, or other mixed greens. We typically will get a bag of arugula and spread it around the plate, set your Big slice on top of that with a little bit of oil and some fresh grated Parmesan. Squeeze a lemon always helps.
Lanx
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the base of my lasagna is sunday gravy
i do brown my meats and splash it w/ red wine to break up the fond, i've found it easier just to take out the meats (if you roll the braciole tight, you don't have to worry about it breaking apart, i do use butchers twine, not toothpicks)
i do brown my meats and splash it w/ red wine to break up the fond, i've found it easier just to take out the meats (if you roll the braciole tight, you don't have to worry about it breaking apart, i do use butchers twine, not toothpicks)
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That's basically what we do. If I'm going to do a big pot of Sunday gravy for spaghetti, I'll use some of it to make a tray of lasagna and even if we don't finish it I can package up the sauce and a vacuum pack for the freezer, and then pull it out when we want to maybe make lasagna.
Instead of pork chops I normally will get a few country style pork ribs from The butchers counter. I like a lot more of that fat and connective tissue/gelatin.
I've not ever done the brachioli though, but it seems like it would be a nice addition. Normally it's ground beef and pork chunks, and sausage.
Lanx
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yea it's cuz of braciole i never got the joke "beat the meat", like what are you talking about we all beat the meat on sunday then we roll it up
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You do the same thing with a meat hammer if you're making schnitzel or chicken fried steak. I bought one of those meat tenderizers maybe 6 months ago off of Amazon that's got all the little blades, and I find it does a really good job if I'm doing something like a London broil on the grill, especially if I'm doing it in a marinade. You get a lot more marinade penetration.
I just like having a bigger piece of meat or you can get more Browning or crust or whatever, and it doesn't take me as long to cook.
I know I've seen recipes I call for bracchioli but I always thought just tenderize chunks of Chuck or something, and throw that in there and don't do the whole rouladen step. Stop that you can't add all of the aromatics and stuff into the sauce. I'm guessing it's probably one of those things that you get one of those little rolls when you're dishing up and it's like getting a big meatball.
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LOL, the memories of my mom beating the shit out of some piece of meat, typically pork for breaded pork chops, with a meat mallet. She wouldn't even wrap that shit up in cellophane, I dont think we had that shit in Poland, just go to town on some cutting board like a pro.
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Haha, yeah, I don't use plastic. I'll use a rolling pin or a small steel heavy bottom skillet. Don't have a meat hammer. My problem is the dogs go nuts thinking some one is knocking on the door.
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Lanx
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i bought a meat hammer a while ago, i used beat meat the chinese way..., using the back of the knife, hammer is just easier and faster, but i have to do it on the plastic cutting board cuz the hammer dimples/divots up my wood cutting board
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BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I bet if you squeezed a bunch of them into a pan, packed them down tight, covered them with cheese and baked them until they were warm it would be absolutely delicious.
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Siliconemelons
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Mentioned it in another thread somewhere - but the voice does not match the dude - someone said he did extensive voice lessons - I want the link to his teacher.
Crunch Wrap Supreme is a lasagna
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I will say the crunchwrap supreme is probably a handheld lasagna sort of, but I get your point. Also I think it's one of the most retarded Taco Bell items ever created. All it is is a giant taco supreme on a round disc with an even bigger tortilla to make you get filled up on stupid tortilla and the tostada shell.
If you really wanted to do a Taco Bell lasagna, you would take the Mexican pizza shells, and stack them four high, alternating meat, cheese, sauce, then drop the next Shell, and do beans and rice and cheese. Do one more layer of the meat and cheese, top off, and steam. You can always put pico de gallo or green onions or tomatoes or any other vegetables throughout those layers, and then you'd top it off with cheese and then add your sour cream guacamole or whatever once it's out of the steamer.
Ways to make those all the time when working there back in High School. The best was to do it with steak, and you would use the green sauce versus the red sauce, and just use the pepper jack cheese that we had available at the time.
That was normally dinner or sometimes breakfast depended upon what shift you were working, whenever the years a couple of us perfected the method. But it was a meal unto itself.
I should probably be running that goddamn company, or at least their head chef creating amazing concoctions.
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