Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Lisa,

Fingers crossed for you. Let us know when you know.

Good luck with it, Lisa. We are thinking of you

One more pasta p.s. -- I "taught" (using that word very loosely) a pasta workshop at a retreat on Saturday, and because I knew some, if not most, of the women in it wouldn't have pasta rollers, I found an ATK recipe for pasta made without a machine. (Well actually it does use a FP for the dough, but after that it's all by hand.) Anyway, it was really quite easy and the pasta was very good. If anyone's interested, here's their video:

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=35740

Emilie

Thanks all. This will go on for 9 months, so it is really hard to say. But I very much appreciate the good thoughts.

--Lisa

Question on using fresh pasta for lasagna - can you make it ahead? I have all my ingredients for lasagna on Friday either thawing, resting or cooking but I would love to make it today and bake it on Friday - that's about 48 hours. Will the lovely, light, whisper thin homemade lasagna noodles stand up to that?

I have a super tiny kitchen and would rather get it done than have folks trying to help in my limited space. And I'd rather spend time with them than disappear for two hours to roll, boil and assemble.

Thanks,

--Lisa

If you have the time, I'd recommend assembling the whole lasagna ahead, and then baking when you're planning to serve. (Make sure you build in at least a half hour for resting out of the oven.) But, yes, you can make the pasta ahead. Just make sure to dry it thoroughly. It will take a hair's breadth more time to cook when you boil prior to assembly, but not an issue.

Amy

Amy, thanks. That is actually what I meant. I was hoping that the pasta wouldn't fall apart if I assembled ahead, so that is what I will do today.

--Lisa

Well, the lasagna is done and in the fridge. It took hours because the pasta fought me every step of the way, tearing in chunks down the middle when it went through the roller. I probably ended up adding 50% more flour than I started with after the rest period. I am not sure what I was doing wrong, but each quarter of recipe I was trying to roll (I doubled the recipe) took more than an hour to finally get smooth and glossy.

I'm exhausted and I haven't even made pies for tomorrow yet. I probably should have done that first.

I think you are all right that it is going to be a PITA to get a slice out of this pan, but it certainly looks impressive. There are only six of us for dinner on Friday - I am sure there will be leftovers!

--Lisa

Looks scrumptious!

The lasagna was a hit! I fed six people and we ate less one quarter of the pan. I have another crew coming over for leftovers on Wednesday. We actually got the first and subsequent pieces out nicely. I need to do a better job of draining the noodles on the towels before building - I had some residual water in the pan and the pieces kind of spread on the plate. I was in a hurry by that time because of the extra time I spent on the pasta. However, it was quite good. Thanks for all the tips!

--Lisa