The Lasagne..

Words failed me. Upon the first bite, my eyes closed, I jumped up and down and I squeeled in utter delight. It was THAT. DAMN. GOOD. It was *exactly* what I imagined it would be. The only thing that would have been better was if I had a pasta roller and actually made the noodles. I think next time it's going to be an all day project and I'm just going to roll the noodles by hand.

I tweaked a few things.. The grocery store *and* the farmer's market were both out of fresh sage, so I had to substitute dried... that really bummed me out. It would have made SUCH a difference. It was still almost unholy in how freakin good it was... but fresh sage would have just.. *made it*. I added a LOT more cheese than called for. Like a least a pound or two of shredded mozzarella. LOL And I also added a bit of dried basil and oregano to the ragu of squash and sausage. After it was cooked and reduced(I added a little more than a cup of chicken broth so it could reduce nicely), I took my potato masher and gave it about 4 mashes, to thicken up the sauce a bit.. but not destroy all the cubes of squash. Also the recipe made a HUGE amount of bechamel sauce.. I think a standard 4 cup thick bechamel would be *plenty*... 6 was wayyyy to much.

I think I will only do one thing different next time (aside from the fresh sage).. I think I would like to add some carmelized fennel to the ragu. I think it would really add a nice sharpness that will blend well with the sweetness of the squash and sweet basil in the sausage. Basil and fennel play really well with one another, so I think it's going to really make a nice addition. We shall see... :) Of course Dave and I barely at 1/4th of the pan I made tonight... so it's going to take us a while to finish this one up before I can make another. LOL

Heather was the only turkey brave enough to try mama's crazy lasagne.. And she LOVED it!!!! :) Everyone else opted to make themselves a sammie or cereal. Crazy kids. They're lucky I let them get away with that crap every now and then. Usually what gets put on the table is what's for dinner. I just couldn't bare to watch them groan about not liking my beautiful yummy lasagne. I would have taken serious offence and there would have been bloodshed. It was better for ME that they just do their cereal and sammie thing. LOL I mean how could they resist THIS:


Holy Crap! The pictures worked!!