Text 59, 154 rader
Skriven 2013-06-04 16:33:19 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
     Kommentar till text 25 av NANCY BACKUS (1:261/1381)
Ärende: lasagne
===============
Hi Nancy,


 NB>  NB>> About the only "Italian" food I had growing up was spaghetti.

 RH> We had that, with my mom's not so authentic meat sauce, probably a
 RH> couple of times a month. She could make a pound of meat feed 7 people
 RH> that way.

 NB> I think that we made the half-pound of meat feed 10 with our
 NB> spaghetti... [G]  I'm sure it wasn't authentic... Boil the spaghetti,
 NB> brown the meat, add tomato sauce from a can and canned tomatoes, mix
 NB> them all together... serve.  Better than canned spaghetti, though.  ;)

Mom would brown the meat, add a cut up onion (to stretch it), a quart of
home canned tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste to somewhat thicken
it. IIRC, seasonings were onion salt and garlic salt plus pepper, don't
think any oregano, parsley or basil (my usual "green" seasonings) were
used. Topped, of course, with the either A&P or Victory Markets brand of
the green can cheese. Dad would usually pick up a loaf of Italian or
French bread on the way home from work that night, made the pasta
stretch further.

 RH> We also had Appian Way pizza from time to time, usually for
 RH> a Sunday night supper, with only a bit of cheddar cheese added beyond
 RH> what was included in the box.

 NB> I don't think we ever had pizza.  Might have had it at someone else's
 NB> house, or at some church function, but not something Daddy bought.

This was the boxed stuff you mixed up. The box came with the dry dough
stuff, a small can of sauce and a small packet of grated cheese.
Stretching the pizza dough out so it would feed 7 of us, they ended up
being thin crust; I don't think I ever had a thick crust pizza until I
went to college.


 RH> When Mom went to Geneseo, a couple of times my dad bought the big
 RH> (#10) cans of ravioli to be used for lunch. It didn't go over that
 RH> well, heating it on the stove was not ideal. Opening the can was a
 RH> pain--we had a wall mount can opener--and those cans were heavy! I
 RH> was just as glad not to see it after the first summer.

 NB> The canned pasta, I think Daddy didn't think was cost-effective... it
 NB> wasn't something we ever had, that I remember...

Not so cost effective but easy to prepare. One of those cans would feed
us for probably 3 lunches, stretched with the usual bread & butter.

 NB>  RH>> Thanks to my MIL, I got the recipe and guidance on how to build
 NB> a  RH>> proper lasagne.
 NB>  NB>> And she taught you lots of good Italian cooking... :)

 RH> The basics, but they're the building blocks. Did you have any of the
 RH> lasagne at Janis's? I remeber Charlotte really liked the brachole and
 RH> meat balls, and, IIRC, Matthew finished off the lasagne that night.

 NB> I'm sure I had at least a taste.  :)  I think you're right on Matt
 NB> finishing off the lasagne that night, too...  :)

Like all good food, it didn't last long.


 NB>  RH>> I think too many people think that anything layered with Italian
 NB>  RH>> cheeses, maybe a bit of tomato sauce, qualifies as lasagne. Same
 NB> as  RH>> pizza or chili--you get as many variations as there are
 NB> cooks.
 NB>  NB>> Some of which are nasty, some of which are merely interesting...
 NB> and  NB>> then some that are good...  :)

 RH> I think I've missed out on most of the truly nasty ones. I've had some
 RH> commercial ones that were boderline (IMO); I guess you could call them
 RH> "interesting" but nothing beats a good home made lasagne.

 NB> Hard to beat anything good home-made, actually..   :)   Except maybe
 NB> some really fancy-dancy cookery by chefs that know what they are about
 NB> and come through...  :)

I don't think I've encountered any of those in the commercial line, but
we don't buy lasagne, we make it.

 RH> Some people might call my eggplant parm a veggie lasagne because of
 RH> the way I assemble it--with lots of cheese and sauce. Decadently good!

 NB> Sounds it.... but I think calling it eggplant parm is more accurate
 NB> than veggie lasagne all the same...  :)

More accurately, eggplant mozzarella because I use a good bit of that
for the melty goo-ey-ness. I do use a good bit of parm too, and will
also put romano in as well. I buy the peccorino-romano and parm-reggiano
in chunks and grate it.

 NB>  RH>> Could be; I did see a recipe for a seafood lasagne in one of my
 NB> cook  RH>> books. I'll have to look it up and give it a try, figuring
 NB> out how to  RH>> do a low carb version.
 NB>  NB>> Find low carb noodles...?

 RH> Or just plan on my blood sugar numbers going high for a day or so. I
 RH> could make the noodles, have done so before but not for a while.

 NB> That could be fun...  and probably worth the momentary rise in
 NB> numbers...  :)

Yes, I could deal with it. The numbers seem to be drifitng downward
again and I've not used any insulin since the end of March. I still am
watching what I eat and making sure the carb numbers stay within range.

 NB>  RH>> I'll do some checking next time we go to that place. IIRC, I did
 NB>  RH>> take home a piece of chicken once when they served me 2, plus
 NB> large  RH>> helpings of the sides I'd picked. Eating one, plus the
 NB> sides was
 NB>  RH>> enough to fill me so I asked (and got) a take home box.
 NB>  NB>> So that is their policy, after all, probably...

 RH> Probably; we've not been back there since this discussion started to
 RH> know for sure. We'd have to go during the week; Sundays are buffet
 RH> style serving.

 NB> Now you'll just have to check... ;)   Are you more likely to go during
 NB> the week or on Sundays...?

Could go either way but can't say when.

 NB>  NB>> They probably planned better... and remembered that it all
 NB> counts,  NB>> not just the featured itmes...  :)

 RH> It took them a long time to open up but they've been doing well.
 RH> Before they officially opened, they were open for a few hours one night
 RH> giving away small samples of their meats, with limited choices of
 RH> sides. That brought lots of people in to try, and come back once they'd
 RH> officially opened. They had to be very limited on what they offered as
 RH> they'd not had their official final inspection by the city yet but they
 RH> had a lot of good, free PR doing what they did.

 NB> Good strategy.  :)   And then they followed through with good food and
 NB> consistency, once they officially opened.  Apparently they have good
 NB> cooks and good planners, both...  :)

And good food! They've got a huge smoker too. The farmer's market is
doing a dinner featuring products of the various vendors; the Fire Pit
is going to do the cooking. I doubt we'll go tho, tickets are $65./each,
$20. more if you want the wine pairings with the meal (we wouldn't but
can't afford that much money for the basic meal).

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Some are so educated they can bore you on almost any subject

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