Rain, Lasagna and the impending MS150!

I'm a crazy person. I think if you know me, you know that! But now I know that crazy minus bike, leads to more crazy!
So if you've been following my trials you know that my physical therapist (Chris, otherwise a great guy) ordered me off the bike for a couple of weeks to do intensive PT to see if we can revive my muscle. So the compromise was that I won't ride during the week, but weekend, come on. . . . Of course, the universe was not on my side and for the second week, Sunday's have been extremely rainy!

Now, that particularly sucks because the MS150 ride is coming up very soon (April 18-19). I will be riding to support research to cure MS from Houston to Austin, TX, in two days. Total of 170-ish miles. This is my page:

http://biketxh.nationalmssociety.org/goto/leena

Now, the longest I've gone this far has been 100 miles in one day (the great Montauk Century with my beloved 5BBC). And the days after were so much pain. Now imagine doing a 100 miles, sleeping a tent, and getting back on the bike to do another 70 miles! And to be able to do that, you really need to train. And back to back training is probably a good idea to get your body used to being on the bike for two days.

So rain, please, give us a break!

No, so it's not all complains, I'll admit I had a great ride Saturday. I joined the awesome Team 713 to their Waffles - That's Why! Ride. You guessed correctly, a group of cyclist riding 53 miles to go get waffles! :)

Now, in our defense, I will say, they are amazing waffles and totally would do it again!

Next time though, I will acknowledge my limitations and not run with the A group (the very fast people!)! (I have to give the 713 people credit though, they were amazing at keeping people together and helping and encouraging. Thanks for the pull guys!)
And re the waffles: Seabrook Waffle Co is great, special waffles. This time I had the chicken and waffle, liked it less. Next time, I'll get the black gold again. Yum!

So Sunday morning, I wake up to go to a ride, and it's raining monkeys out, rides are cancelled! So remember crazy, I decide it's time for a second massive cooking project this weekend. (and remember, I live alone here!)

But it was decided, and lasagna from scratch again! word to the wise: don't do it, it's SOOO much work. But then again, it's so delicious, so knowing me, I'll do it again! If you don't believe me, ask Esmat and Nate who came for both times!

So if you've been following my blog, you know I can't follow a recipe even if my life depended on it. What I ended up doing is a combination of several recipes, and I will combine them here with suggestions from what worked best.
Special thanks to Elora for introducing me to Marcella Hazan's Bolognese sauce which was the base. And for letting me copy the relevant pages from Marcella Hazan's fresh pasta recipe.
I also partially used Jamie Oliver's lasagna recipe. And some online resources,

Here goes:

Lasagna

Ingredients

For the Pasta

2 cups flour

4 eggs

Salt

(Olive Oil)

For the Bolognese Sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoons butter

½ cup chopped onion

⅔ cup chopped celery

⅔ cup chopped carrot

¾ lb ground beef chuck

Salt

Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill

1 cup whole milk

Whole nutmeg

1 cup dry white wine

1 ½ cups canned tomatoes, cut up, with their juice

(I double those to have leftovers)

For the Lasagna

¾ lb Mozzarella

16 oz crème fraiche

¾ cup Parmesan, freshly grated

Pepper

Butter

Preparation

So Now starts a really long complicated process! Start with preparing the sauce since it will take a lot of simmering!

For the Bolognese Sauce

As I mentioned, I use Marcella Hazan’s recipe. More or less!

1. Heat the oil and butter and add the chopped onion in a large pot and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent.

2. Add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat them well.

· Now, I chopped all my vegetables in the food processor. I think it works fine! J

3. Add ground beef, salt and a fresh-ground pepper. Crumble the meat, stir well and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.

4. Add milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it is absorbed.

5. Grind some nutmeg in, and stir. I like nutmeg so I put a good amount.

6. Add the wine, let it simmer until evaporates.

7. Add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well.

8. One of the great things I discovered is the San Marzano tomatoes, which really taste great. Price, not so great! I buy whole and chop in the food processor!

9. When the tomatoes start bubbling, turn the heat down and let it simmer gently for at least 3 hours, uncovered. Stir from time to time.

· If it begins to dry add a little water.

Making the Fresh Pasta

While the sauce simmers, move on to make the pasta.

Now, to be clear, you can easily skip this step and but store dried pasta or indulge and find a place that sells fresh pasta. But hey, if you’re going crazy, why not take it all the way?

So, the first time I made this I started with the Marcella Hazan recipe, and then moved on to a much easier way.

Both are presented here in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV7_-_D26vY

The ingredients here are Hazan’s. You’ll notice he adds olive oil, which I did.

This time, I just followed the food processor method. He’s right, it’s easier and works just as well.

Thanks Elora for lending me the pasta maker. This is a video that shows you how to use it:

It is a simple principle: you start with the widest setting, and keep going up to the level you want. I ended up going to 8, which is pretty then. When it’s ready, you need to place it on a kitchen towels. I used a bed sheet so I’d have a large space. You could see shapes were giving me a hard time. But that still worked out! J

For the Lasagna

Finally, You get to put the lasagna together.

1. Boil the pasta in batches so they cook evenly and don’t stick together. Let the water return to a boil after each batch

· Remember, if it’s fresh, it takes very little cooking. And the pasta will cook more when you bake it.

2. Rinse the cooked pasta under cold running water/or put in a ball of cold water. Place it on towels to dry.

3. Butter the lasagna tray

4. Prepare the white sauce: I was inspired by Jamie Oliver and used Crème fraiche, rather than make béchamel sauce. He has anchovies, which I didn’t use, but added salt and pepper to the crème.

· The second time, I didn’t buy enough crème fraiche, so I combined with the American method and added some ricotta to the mix!