Text 6167, 167 rader
Skriven 2008-04-26 16:03:50 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 6042 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: picnic                                                   [2]
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Hi Janis,

>> CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS MESSAGE <<

>> haha .. but we loved those big meatballs :)

 JK> > My mom never made meat balls; she claimed it was because we kids
 JK> would > fight over who's was the biggest. We never had any fights like
 JK> that; I > suspect her real reason was that she didn't have a good
 JK> recipe and it > was easier to just brown the ground beef. Her sauce
 JK> was more like beef a > roni sauce.

 JK> That's what Ron's mom used to do :) :)

Did she ever change?  I don't know if my mom did or not, except whenever
I was there to make meat balls.

>> The frying will take maybe 5-10 minutes to just brown them.... the

 JK> > I usually bake them when doing a large quantity; I used to fry them
 JK> but > that was when I made up about a pound of meat at a time.

 JK> You can do it either way, but frying is nice because you can see just
 JK> how brown they are getting.. you don't need to brown them too long..
 JK> just a few minutes in Olive oil.. then drain them on paper towels..
 JK> then put them in the sauce to simmer over very low heat.

I'll probably fry this time.  When I bake them, I'll let them cool, then
cover the cookie shets with plastic wrap & pop them into the freezer for
a bit.  When they're frozen, I'll bag them so I can just pull out as
many as I want. With my hands the waythey are, it saves a bit of "abuse"
on them.


>> sauce you can simmer to your hearts content before you come... but if
>> I were you, I'd do it all Saturday morning... I can help.. it's not a

 JK> > Saturday morning sounds like a great time to do it all.  That way
 JK> Carol > will get a good lesson in Italian cooking. (G)

 JK> Hehe... sure :)

And others who may want to pick up a few ideas.

>> like (grin). The bracciole will take 20 minutes in the sauce to cook..
>> :(  But you HAVE to make sure you get the right cut of meat for it...
>> I've bought it in Binghamton before but around the holidays.. It won't

 JK> > OK, then we'll look for the meat around here and pop it in the
 JK> freezer

 JK> Sounds good.. Hope you can find it :)  Ask your butcher at the grocery
 JK> store if you don't see it on the shelves, that may help.

The Fresh Market would probably be our best bet then. They have a huge
meat counter area with butchers on hand to help. Very little (if any,
actually) is pre wrapped.

 JK> > to bring with the lasagne. The various recipies we found say to cook
 JK> it > from 2-3 hours.

 JK> That seems kind of long.. We can watch it and see how it does as it's

That's for the bracciole.

 JK> cooking. I would guess maybe 1 or 1 and 1/2 hours at about 350..
 JK> Otherwise it would just be about 45 minutes to an hour.. depending on
 JK> how many layers, how many lbs., etc..  Are you using regular lasagne
 JK> noodles (not no-cook noodles)? I've never used those no-cook guys

I'll be using whole wheat, "regular" noodles". I've never used the no
cook but cook mine slightly under the full time.  Then I'll drain them,
lay them out onto wax paper and assemble the lasagne.

 JK> Hmm... lemme think about this...When I make Lasagne fresh (not frozen,
 JK> lasagne to sit for 15 minutes to let the cheeses set  before cutting.
 JK> So it's in the oven for about 50 minutes total, and sits for about

I do it 30-45 minutes.  Thanks for reminding me about the "sit" time;
it's another thing I want to try.


 JK> Are you cooking it before you freeze it, or are you freezing it
 JK> uncooked? that could make a difference in the cooking time... and
 JK> could make a difference in the texture as well.. If I was going to
 JK> freeze it, I'd probably freeze it before I cooked it (so it's only
 JK> getting cooked once?)... then bake it at 350 for an 1 hour - 1hour and
 JK> 1/2.. keeping my eye on it.. So maybe preheat it to 400F, put the

I usually bake mine once, then freeze.  When I want to serve it, I'll
thaw it, then bake again. I do it at 350F.  It seems to firm up the
cheese a bit if I double bake it.

>> killer for them :( Once the sauce is done you can just shut the stove
>> off and refrigerate it and not worry about it.. :)

 JK> > I think Saturday would be a much better time to do it; I wasn't
 JK> looking > forward to doing it before we left here.  Besides, I'll have
 JK> more sous > chefs to help in Windsor. (G)

 JK> Hehe.. this is true :)  We should have a plethora (grin)

Very true, but have to consider that some of them will be cooking their
own things as well.

 JK> Steve > said that they probably won't want to be even in the same
 JK> county as a > durian; he isn't sure if he wants to be. (G)

 JK> Yes, same as my Mom I'm afraid.. I'm still hoping she'll come for the
 JK> summer.. that was her plan this year, but we're not sure she'll be up
 JK> to it.. my daughter and her boys were really hoping she'd make it..
 JK> We'll see.

I know, it's hard.  This country doens't have as good a national
transportation system as most of those in Europe do.  It would make
getting around a lot easier if there were one.


>> garlic bread.. Ron says I make deadly garlic bread (grin). The problem

 JK> contribution > also.  I just suggested it because the typical Italian
 JK> meal in the
 JK> > States seems to be pasta, salad, garlic bread and dessert.

 JK> It's funny, we rarely had garlic bread with our dinners.. lots of
 JK> fresh Italian bread and antipasto though..which is why I suggested the
 JK> antipasto (smile)... I may do both. We do love garlic bread. :)

The antipasto sounds good to me. (G)

>> with cannoli is the time of year..  I guess I could do it at night

 JK> > The cake would be a lot easier, I'm sure.  Your main job for this
 JK> event > is have as much fun as everybody else, not knock yourself out
 JK> cooking.

 JK> It really depends on the weather.. cannolis can be tempermental, at
 JK> least around here it seems.. but they're fun to make and aren't really
 JK> hard to do :) They aren't of the 'knock you out' type foods really..

Not to you but to those who've never or rarely had them...........

 JK> If I can find good Ricotta or can find the time to make my own, that
 JK> will make a big difference..
 JK> :) That's what I'd like to do for them.

I'll probably get my ricotta in western NY; there's an Italian store in
the Rochester area we went to last year. Hmmmmmmm, wonder how many other
goodies I can pick up there. (G) Last year we got some torrone and
brought some to the picnic.


>> may make some home made ravioli and sauce as well, haven't decided


>> CONTINUED IN NEXT MESSAGE <<

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly@earthlink.net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Matthew 6:11 | Give us this day our daily bread.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)