Phil M0OFXTonight's #food, scratch cooked lasagne. And the first lesson is it's better to get over the feeling of "uurgh that Wusthof could take my fingers off" and just grab it. Especially for carrots. It makes the wee Kitchen Devil look like a toy.
Vegetables nicely softening, pancetta nicely cooking. With this and half a kilo each of pork and beef, this is going to be a very porky lasagne
The meat is in and OH DOG I NEEDED A SAUCEPAN ABOUT TWICE THIS SIZE AAAAUGH HOW BIG IS THIS LASAGNE GOING TO BE
DogDAMN. I was hoping to sneak away and do something else for an hour but I'm going to have to watch this like a hawk in case it spills over.
This serves EIGHT?! No wonder I feel like I'm cooking for the King's entire blasted Banquet...!
AURRRR. MY COOKER!!!
Also it's on the smallest burner on minimum heat and STILL BOILING OVER?!
Also it's on the smallest burner on minimum heat and STILL BOILING OVER?!
The tupperware might get a good run this evening..... I've calculated (guesstimated) there's between three and four litres of sauce and meat in this pan.
I probably need a 7-litre stock pot if I make this again.
I probably need a 7-litre stock pot if I make this again.
Uncovered it early because it needed a stir and and I can't be bothered to put the lid back on for two measly minutes. On with the half an hour to an hour simmering uncovered (aka: reducing)
Meanwhile seeing as I used two thirds of a bottle of this in the meat sauce and I've spent an hour watching that, I figured I'd earned a wee dram. I'm not much of a wine drinker but it turns out Casillero del Diablo is actually rather nice.
I'm sure wine connoisseurs will rush to tell me how awful it is and I should try something else - but it was seven quid and I'm not disappointed.
It doesn't taste like cleaning fluid or Smirnoff (same thing) at least
I'm sure wine connoisseurs will rush to tell me how awful it is and I should try something else - but it was seven quid and I'm not disappointed.
It doesn't taste like cleaning fluid or Smirnoff (same thing) at least
Pedantry, thy name is "getting the gas flame perfectly centered under the pan". Absolutely pointless but the neurospicy part of me likes it like this.
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...
And now, the Bechamel. The meat is delicious. Nailed the seasoning. It's taking all my self control to not throw it on a bowl of rice and eat it.
Well, in an hour I should have dinner. I did use all the sauces in the end... It's going to take another hour to cook and probably another hour or two more to cool enough to freeze. Oof. The three hours estimate in the recipe was very optimistic.
Finishing off with a Pepsi Max with a splash of Disaronno for flavour. Feel like I earned that. Not sure I'll be doing it again in a hurry...
Tryst 🏴 🇮🇪 
Rivaclaw🏳️⚧️ΘΔ
Alaric Snell-Pym@philpem ❤️ thankyou for the CW, means a lot to me for reasons too terrible to go into!
@kitten_tech you're welcome! glad it was appreciated :)
Cyberspice@philpem Nope it is rather nice for a cheapish bottle of plonk. I like my rich reds.
@cyberspice I didn't want to spend too much on cooking wine, and for that it's very good indeed. What would you recommend if I fancied something a little nicer?
bitsavers.orgit may be time to freeze half of the batch for another time
@bitsavers I'm strongly considering that - specifically freezing half of the prepped sauces and making a second batch when I have more lasagne sheets.
Lett Osprey 
🍉 
@philpem I am so glad I have induction and not gas :O
@lettosprey I wish I had a 32A circuit for an induction burner! It'll be on the list for whenever the kitchen gets rebuilt... Call it future proofing.
@philpem I think you can come pretty far with 16A That is at least enough to have twoish burners going on full...
Mine has 16A, but 3 phase, so that is at least plenty :P
miunau@philpem lol the kilo of meat didn't tip you off?
damn i gotta try that pancetta in it too
@miunau I thought it was just a really meaty lasagne!