Not a bad score. Perhaps.
The mozzarella was a success: I wasn't sure that the curds were going to come together, and then they did: I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to knead it, and then I could: I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to stretch it like taffy, but then I was able to do so. And it was really fun: a small downside being that the temperature was way too high for the sprogs to handle it, so it was just a spectator sport for them.
Another small downside: I used an entire gallon of milk, and got a small amount of mozzarella out --- a very scant two cups, perhaps, if that.
Still, I thought, I had seen that I could recook the whey and get ricotta (re-cook, get it?) But no. I recooked the whey, and if I get a half a cup of ricotta out, I am going to be surprised. And that took until now to drain --- I certainly couldn't use it in my cooking earlier in the day!
That's the cheese.
But when I arrived home somewhat earlier, I discovered a package containing yeast and Danish (made in Poland) bread whisks. And so Boo and Skibo insisted that they wanted to make bread. So we made bread. It was a quick loaf: less than three hours from start to out of the oven, with an additional half hour cool-down after that: so, let's say three and a half hours. But as always, I started by proofing the yeast, and threw in some old dough from the fridge, and it was good. Not as good as taking longer, but good enough for a quick fix.
Finally (actually, right at the beginning) we made pasta: just threw three cups of flour into the food processor, added three eggs, a little salt and enough water, and pulsed with the dough blade until it came together as a dough: kneaded it a bit, then wrapped it in plastic and threw it in the fridge to relax. After an hour or so, I rolled it out into lasagna noodles.
I had some sauce left over from the other day, and some store-bought ricotta, and layered sauce and ricotta with lasagna, several layers, and topped it with shreds of the mozzarella I'd made earlier, and some grated parmigiano reggiano.
I baked the whole thing, covered in foil, for about an hour, and then removed the foil for a few more minutes in the oven: then let it sit for twenty minutes.
Definitely the best lasagna I've ever made: the cheese on top was good (and the sauce I'd made Sunday was really quite nice): but the noodles made the dish for me. And for LOML.
Oh, and the sprogs ate it. Lots of it:-)
Yours, far and a-whey,
N.
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6 comments:
IF I wasn't stuffed full of pizza, this would all sound very delicious.
Here from Michele.
Carli! Heh! I am stuffed full of lasagna, and it still sounds good;-)
N.
Whoa its sounds lovely, you sure sound super talanted in the kitchen - i would love to make my own pasta and stuff
Laura: enthusiastic, and perhaps adventurous -- that's all. Pasta is *really* super easy to make: throw 3 -3 1/2 cups of bread flour (I use King Arthur brand) into a big food processor (fitted with the dough blade if you have one: don't worry if you don't) and add a teaspoon or less of salt. Add three eggs, and a little less than half a cup of water. Pulse until it's a dough, adding a little more water if necessary so that it is not stiff.
Let the dough relax wrapped in plastic wrap for an hour in the fridge. Take it out, cut it into 12 equal sized pieces, roll each one of those out into a lasagna noodle.
The last step needs a lot of rolling pin work, but is hard only in the sense of taking a lot of work.
I used the noodles directly in making lasagna, without cooking first.
N.
No. Way. Did you post the instructions for making the mozzerella? I so want to try this!
Lorraine: I didn't post the instructions: I bought the kit from www.cheesemaking.com, out of New England -- it is about $30 including shipping, and includes the rennet, citric acid, cheese making salt, cheesecloth, thermometer and recipes. If you go to their web site, they have the instructions online too
You will probably have much more luck finding a store to sell you each of these for much less than the total cost of the kit, but here in the boonies our local health food store had never heard of rennet!
It was really very easy to make the mozzarella: though it was too hot for the children to get involved with the kneading of the curds, they enjoyed watching me stretch it...
Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
N.
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