Lasagna

This Is my attempt at Lasagna  With fresh pasta, Like most the the things I try for this blog, This was a learning Experience.

I used the same pasta from ( This Post) and the sauce I made for that post aswell

Pasta Ingredients:
1# Ap Flour
4-6 Eggs Depending on size( I used Eggs from our chickens , they are small so I used 5 and an extra yolk



Start by  Making a well in the Flour and beating your eggs

 After you have it all mixed up  wrap it in plastic and Let it rest for a bit

 Mix up the Cheese Mixture, it's a quart of Ricotta, I added Garlic powder, and Italian herbs  and an egg mix it alll together and keep to the side.

The lasagna pasta rolls out the same way  as the other pasta I made,   roll it out a bit by hand  then if you have one run it through your pasta machine on the highest number a few times  then go down one number ... etc My roller ranges from 7-1  I stop at 2

Make sure the past is  floured so it doesn't stick to the rollers, especially when it's  thin

first run of pasta through the Lasagna Cutter  attachment on my machine , this cuts way smaller pasta than normal , I cut them long , next time I'd cut them to 13inches  so they'd fit perfectly in the pan

Goin for the longest run of pasta i've tried !

 I layed down some hot  sauce first in the pan (it's my bolognese  with some added mushrooms and peppers)

Then a Layer of fresh pasta, It will cook through in the oven so no need to precook it, If I were to make this again I'd  double the amount of sauce and I would thin it out a bit. with the amount of sauce I had and how much the Noodles absorbed cooking, This lasagna was  lacking sauce after the pasta layer the riccota mixture on top in spoonfuls then smoothing out

keep alternating sauce then noodles then cheese mixture  when I got the last layer of pasta I combined the little sauce I had with the cheese  and made that the  top layer

Then I added Shredded mozz  so  the top got all brown and goooey cheesy tasty

With the pre-rolled pasta I didn't need  for lasagna and ran it through the angel hair  blade on my machine,  cooked it off, and oiled it so it could be eaten another day.

Finished Lasagna!    I forget how long it took  but I cooked it at 350  for 30-45ish... then heated the cheese under the broiler to get it all  delicious!!!!

corner Piece !!!   It was pretty tasty!  it could have used a lil more  sauce Like I mentioned before...

Bacon Blue Burgers!

It's been a while since I posted so I am gonna start doing write ups of all the things I documented for the blog.

this is  just something quick i made when I wanted burgers it's easy stuff.  plus I got  to cook bacon which I like to do!

 Slice a pound of bacon  and cook it in a pan (it helps to add a little water to start it'll help heat evenly while the fat is melting and it will all evaporate before the bacon is crisp.)

 when the bubbles get small the bacon is getting crisper.  depending on how crispy you want it you may want to drain it now. or wait  a little bit longer for really crisp bacon, pay close attention so it doesn't burn

 Drain the bacon, Yum Bacon!

 drain the fat into a Mason jar and let it cool down a bit before lidding it up and putting it in your fridge,  bacon fat is ALWAYS usefull

 Burgers are easy! 2# beef

 1/2 the cooked bacon and about 3-6 oz of blue cheese depending on your taste for blue cheese

 Mixed

 Make into patties.

 cook on preheated grill. it helps to make sure the bottom of the grill is clean so it doesn't light on fire and  flame broil the hell out of a couple of your  burgers

once they're done  just eat  the meat patties or  put   them on a bun with more cheese and bacon !

Stuffed Chicken Breast and Cous Cous

Let me start off by Saying Sorry about the absence, I've been sick with Strep  so I haven't done much of anything

on with the food! 

My mom went to the Grocery and  picked up a bunch of different proteins with no real  plan .  One of the  Meats was Chicken breast. I went to the grocery and  picked up some spinach so I could Unroll the  chicken and roll it back up with some spinach and Swiss cheese.

I also decided to make Cous cous  with sun dried tomatoes and some Minced Kalamata olives.

  I  rolled out 4 chicken breasts, like fileting a fish it's a bit difficult Unrolling the breast that is opposite your dominant hand.  the  breast  are all  big at the top which is why I  unrolled them instead of just splitting the breast down the center or " Butterflying" them

 The filling for 4 breasts:
2# Spinach
2 tablespoons olive oil or bacon fat(1 for each 1# batch of Spinach)
6 cloves Roasted Garlic
1 cup Shredded Swiss

 heat 1 Tbsp of  oil and garlic in large Saute pan, add  1# spinach and a pinch of salt.  after the greens have wilted remove them , cook second batch the same way, Cool both batches  chop the spinach , making sure the garlic is also chopped. Mix in the cheese

after you've unrolled all the breasts take your spinach mixture and split into 4 portions.

season the meat and spread mixture onto about 7/8ths of the meat leaving a bit of exposed meat on the side you are going to end your roll on

 Roll  the Meat back up, Trying to keep even pressure so the  newly rolled/ stuffed piece is an even size all the way down

Repeat with the other Pieces and Truss with Butchers Twine.Make sure to evenly space the trusses,  you can also uses the twine to help adjust the shape of the  breasts

I layed the remaining spinach out on the bottom of an 8x8 pan. Covered the pan and put in a 375 degree oven, after about 30 mins I uncovered and finished cooking untill the internal temp reached  165 degrees

 I drained the Juice from the pan into a small saucepot  over med heat, I stirred in a stick of butter  untill it was melted and Emulsified making a sort of Beurre Blanc  to spoon over the  sliced meat

 The cous cous
2Tbsp chopped sun dried tomatos
3Tbsp Chopped Kalamata Olives
2 Cups  homemade chicken stock
1 box Original  cous cous
 bring stock , olives, tomatoes to just off a boil. Add cous cous   remove from heat and cover for 5 mins. Fluff with fork. Serve

Yum!

This is a nice little meal to test / practice your knife and  trussing skills

Caramel Pear Butter

I was at a local Fruit stand and decided to make some sort of Fruit butter My dad Always  makes Apple Butter, normally after going to apple orchards in Eastern WA  and getting a  box of apples

I got 8 #'s of pears  (3.5# comice, about 6 and 4.5# Green Anjou)

Due to my dad's apple butter  making we have an apple peeler/corer/slicer.

DID NOT work on the pears! the spikes that hold the fruit in place Tore out the inside of the pears,

I hand peeled and cored the pears and Placed them in water to boil them down(in hind sight I'd have used a juice  of some sort)

 Once They were boiled and I could I Pureed them With my Immersion Blender Then I Put the Puree in a crock pot on High and let it cook for about 6-8 hours (the less water you start with  the faster this step goes)

sorry I don't have a complete Picture, my camera ate it

 Caramel!
2C Sugar
.5 C Water
1 Tbsp Light corn Syrup

Mix it all together and start cooking over Med High heat

I cooked it to about 380 degrees,  then I pulled it and waited a bit for the camera to work so it went a little over(it's right on the edge of being toooo Burnt tasting)
Alton Brown said to pull it when you see the first signs of smoke

then stand back and add 2 cups of heavy cream.

When it  starts to settle down stir with a wooden spoon and return to a boil for 3 mins

In the last 30 seconds I got a 9x9 metal pan to pour the caramel into so I could rapidly cool it in the freezer

after cooling I mixed it all up and  Started to mix the 2 parts together( pear and Caramel)

I did a little test and decided 2 parts of Pear and 1 part Caramel is pretty good, Maybe up the pear to up to 3 parts instead of 2

 Finished Product, A little thicker than applesauce, a bit grainy  due to the texture of the pear

 Would be perfect on toast . or ice cream   or mixed into anything that could use a little sweetness