I've never tried to cook an authentic Italian meal before so I thought it was about time I tried. There were a few minor mishaps along the way, but the result was, according to my Dad, "the best thing you've ever cooked". I made lasagne al forno.
The recipe is too long to include here, but if you want it just ask. Sorry I can't add more pictures. My computer is being weird. Really I'm just thankful it let me add one. More to come once I overcome whatever is wrong with this mangled machine.
It took two hours to make, although it is supposed to take longer. When I skimmed over the recipe I didn't realise that the 'let simmer for 1 1/2-2 minutes' was actually 'let simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours'. Oopsies. Just means the flavour in the bolognese sauce didn't sink into the meat as much. It was quite an involved recipe. I've never used so many pots and pans in my life. When we had finally made the meat sauce, bechemel sauce, softened the lasagne sheets, grated the parmesan and layered it in the glass dish, I turned around to put it in the oven. This is about 5 minutes after I asked Ma if she had turned on the oven (it looked different) and she answered yes, so thinking Ma knows best I didn't give it a second thought. Well, Ma officially gets the award for dumbest mistake of the day. She hadn't turned the dial around to fanbake. The oven wasn't on! Double oopsies. We had to wait another 15 minutes for the oven heat up and then a further 15 minutes until the lasagne cooked. lol. Dad was quite hungry but he was satisfied in the end. It was pretty good. I'd only change a few things. Add some tomato sauce or paste to the bolognese meat sauce, simmer it for longer and maybe add a little something else to the bechemel because it needed a little bit of a kick. I had two helpings which my Ma pointed out was my meal plus someone else's. haha. When I put the effort into cooking, I like to reap the award. It's okay though, I'm back to the gym and eating healthy tomorrow.
I brought myself some new breakfast food to replace my beloved Light 'N Tasty. I got some Weetbix which I'm gonna either eat with milk or crunchy with yoghurt. I'm also going to experiment with this thing they call oatmeal porridge. I was never a fan of it before but I think that was because I never put any sugar or anything with it. I really wanted to buy some quinoa to try but I think I might have to go to a health food store to hunt that down. It was the staple food of the Mayans but it's just impossible to find here in NZ. This morning I ate leftover rice with milk, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. It was quite good but would have been better with more cinnamon and maybe cream instead of milk, which kinda defeats the point of a healthy breakfast. I'll let you know how my breakfast experiment goes.Labels: breakfast, home-cooking, Italian, pasta |
