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Yay Thanksgiving! We’re making lasagna

  1. airansun In the shuffling madness Nov 24, 2019

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    I love Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday.

    No gifts, only being grateful, having family together and great food.

    This year, my wife and I agreed to make a couple of lasagnas together rather than turkey or her famous homemade ravioli (she’s half Italian and learned from grandma). Homemade sauce being a long process, I agreed to be responsible for making the sauce and preparing the meat. (She’s making the pasta and five or six pies from scratch— 3 pumpkin, 2 apple and a strawberry rhubarb. Hmm. As good as her ravioli are, her pies are off scale incredible.)

    I love really good tomato sauce, although really good is hard to find. So, I did a practice run on Friday, having never done this before.

    Seven pounds of Roma tomatoes yields about a quart of final product. Here’s some photos of my adventure.
    1EF1A4C0-14B6-4F53-9072-E75F38A7E3E8.jpeg 7697B6E0-343B-41E4-8D7C-74FEDD4C21D7.jpeg 4AF74096-5E9B-4D44-8AC9-75AA2D1B1C0F.jpeg 1C87E29C-1383-412E-A128-EEE70EB076BC.jpeg 7ED1D1D9-490B-47D8-8B94-A2C9D64D0F25.jpeg
    First batch came out wonderful. It was not difficult. Only took about four hours, including mixing and making the meatballs. On Thanksgiving day, I’ll have to get up by 6 to start about 18 pounds of tomatoes.

    Here’s my mentor, Gina:



    She inspired me.

    Anybody else making other than turkey?
     
    Edited Nov 24, 2019
  2. BlackTalon This Space for Rent Nov 24, 2019

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    Why not start the sauce earlier? It can sit at any time in the process. If the meat is in it, park it overnight in the fridge.

    I grew up with spaghetti and tomato sauce as part of T-giving dinner. After college I helped a friend of my mom's make ravioli for T-giving for close to 15 years, and would make some for part of my family's dinner.

    These days we mainly make turkey for my dad to have, and make lamb or some other meat for me, my wife and our son. This year we are undecided what we are doing beside a sous vide turkey breast for my dad; we've eaten a ton of lamb the last 3 weeks. Maybe I'll get inspired from your post to make sauce, as we have a couple big bowls of tomatoes from the last of the garden harvest a couple weeks ago (tomatoes in November is a new one for us)
     
  3. Larry S Color Commentator for the Hyperbole. Nov 24, 2019

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    That is WAYYYYYYYYY more work than a bird. I salute you! Peeling and straining Roma’s ....

    PS: We have settled on Rao’s Marinara as our go to sauce base.
     
    Edited Nov 24, 2019
  4. airansun In the shuffling madness Nov 24, 2019

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    I’m silly, I admit. Rather than put the completed sauce through a cool off, refrigeration and warm up cycle, I want to go directly to building the lasagna when the sauce is done. I don’t want to lose a millimeter of flavor and, in my amateur experience, bringing a sauce down to 40 or 50 degrees Fahrenheit always deadens flavor a little.

    My thinking: I’m going to fairly elaborate efforts to make this an incredible dish. Why would I skimp on the details?

    Another example, I asked my wife how old the spices were that she was going to use in her pies. Some were a year old. When I suggested she might want get fresh for the pies, she commented that some of them were as much as $9. And I then asked, Why would you skimp on $9 for spice when you’re going to spend a whole day just making pies?

    Actually, I don’t think so. Apart from the pies, we’ll make salad and garlic bread. Three bottles of California Cabernet and store bought ice cream.

    Nah, look at the first photo. I’m using a machine, which makes this feasible.

    Turkey and all homemade fixing took my wife much longer (including the pies). Even the ravioli (including sauce from scratch) took longer. I could prove to be wrong, but I actually suggested this to my wife as a less laborious Thanksgiving. I guess I’ll let you know.

    Funny. My favorite jarred is Rao’s Arrabbiata.

    Two years ago, a portion of her output:
    AEF224ED-67D8-415B-82BF-93419C09D894.jpeg
     
    Edited Nov 24, 2019
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  5. MikiJ Likes songs about Purple spices Nov 24, 2019

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    Having a "little experience", a couple of decades as proprietor of a busy Seafood - Italian Restaurant, the various flavors in sauces merry best when made a day ahead of time. However it's best that you take them out of the metal pot and store them in a food service container. Refrigerate overnight and bring it back to room temperature before returning it to a metal pot to reheat it. Best to use a metal diffuser under your pot so as not to burn your sauce. Hell, we always used a metal diffuser whenever we made sauces. Nana said: "Never burna ta sauce"!

    For tomato based sauces we used sea salt instead of sugar. The salt neutralizes the acid in the tomatoes and brings out their natural flavor and sweetness. Give it a try and I'm sure you'll enjoy your great looking sauce even more, not to mention how much easier Thanksgiving Day will be, not only all the preparation and extra clean-up.
     
  6. X350 XJR Vintage Omega Aficionado Nov 24, 2019

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    We always did turkey for TG and lasagna for Christmas, one with ricotta and one without, since one of my brothers didn't like it and my mom wanted everyone to be happy. Actually still a tradition even though she's been gone a couple years now, damn I miss her. :(
     
    Edited Nov 24, 2019
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  7. bubba48 Nov 24, 2019

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    @airansun
    As an Italian, I sincerely tell you and your wife BRAVO!!!!
     
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  8. BlackTalon This Space for Rent Nov 24, 2019

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    Rao's Vodka sauce fan here. But in general the sauces are not as good as a few years ago. Anyway...

    WRT best flavor, with a lasagna it needs to sit for 24 hours after cooking. I hear you about being concerned about the sauce suffering, but it will not -- it will pull in more flavor from the other components. The one thing I can guarantee is the lasagna will test more like individual components than like thoroughly integrated dish if you assemble and cook it just a few hours before serving. I usually make a couple each December for a x-mas party we host, and I assemble/ cook them a cay or two in advance, and then thoroughly reheat them a few hours before the party (they will hold temp for an hour or two). And you can always serve with pitcher of the tomato sauce you make that morning on the table, so the guests can pour some of it on top of the lasagna. Best of all worlds!
     
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  9. CaptainWinsor Nov 24, 2019

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    that sauce looks delish. Mmmm fresh Basil
     
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  10. airansun In the shuffling madness Nov 24, 2019

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    I take your word. I’ll make the sauce base the day before. The meat for the lasagna gets cooked in the sauce base, so I’ll leave that for the day of construction.

    The recipe I’m using doesn’t call for sugar. But I am planning on using more salt the next time. :thumbsup:

    I’ve always had a fantasy about owning a restaurant, but I know better. First, it’s the number one easiest way to lose all your money, given the failure rate in the first year. Second, I had a friend who’d opened and ran a successful restaurant for ten years. He had unspeakable things to say about how destructive to a restaurant a small segment of the customers are — it changed how he felt about people.

    I did volunteer for a time in a commercial-size kitchen that fed about 50+ people at communal meals — there’s something about a room full of people being nourished by your food — I used to stand in the doorway watching sometimes.

    That is exactly our plan.

    You are right. That’s why there’s going to be two big lasagne for four people. :) Everybody takes home leftovers that are even better reheated. But the first night is fresh. :p


    So, WOW. OF is a resource for more than watch information. Thank you all, for the suggestions and encouragement.

    Some of you HAVE TO watch Gina. She’s made dozens of these videos and has over a quarter of a million subscribers. I actually think she’s quite charming. Tell me I’m wrong.
     
    Edited Nov 25, 2019
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  11. 64Wing Nov 25, 2019

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    Omg can I come over?!
     
  12. STANDY schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector Nov 25, 2019

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    Our last years Christmas dinner.

    F9ABA2B0-0F66-41D6-B3E9-969F292AEF01.jpeg
    Red Emperor and Mrs Standy,s famous Blue Vein cheese potato salad.

    636BE05B-CBD2-4921-BF52-C4ECE19A2F81.jpeg 8A4EBEBE-21C4-4A5A-A93F-759948A3D96B.jpeg CCADE0BC-B58B-412F-9A90-4791752B36AC.jpeg

    Being hot and humid as hell in Darwin this time of the year there is not many hot meals other than a piece of cooked protein.

    One of these may fall in a pot this year.
    58A37FB6-EA9B-4140-9DDB-53B57D35935D.jpeg
     
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  13. blufinz52 Hears dead people, not watch rotors. Nov 25, 2019

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    Dibs on the strawberry rhubarb pie ;)
     
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  14. MikiJ Likes songs about Purple spices Nov 25, 2019

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    Our family always and still does Linguini with Calamari Sauce for our main course. Stone Crab and Shrimp Cocktail for our appetizer. I've done business with the same fishmonger in Florida for decades for both Stones and Gulf Shrimp. Both are harvested, Stones are steamed first then shipped overnight that same day. It don't get any better.
     
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  15. MikiJ Likes songs about Purple spices Nov 25, 2019

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    I would put your meat, whatever, when you make your sauce base, that's what makes it a "base", and put your sauce with everything in the same container and let it all sit overnight. Don't start the meat, whatever, the next day as your sauce won't taste the same or you might over cook it. Please give it a try my way. Miki
     
  16. BlackTalon This Space for Rent Nov 25, 2019

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    This is great advice, and I would add to it that the meat will absorb a bit of the sauce, so take that into account when figuring how much sauce to make.
     
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  17. bernardcoghlan Oct 28, 2023

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    Thanks giving is a time for cherished traditions and new culinary explorations, and it seems like you had a memorable and delicious holiday celebration four years ago.
     
  18. gerardboelsche Oct 28, 2023

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    Even though it's been four years since your Thanksgiving lasagna adventure, the memories of such a unique and delicious celebration surely linger. Thanksgiving is all about family, gratitude, and fantastic food. Your decision to make lasagnas instead of the traditional turkey shows your culinary creativity. And those homemade pies, especially the strawberry rhubarb one, sound absolutely mouthwatering. If you ever decide to revisit your lasagna recipe, consider experimenting with ingredients like organic mushroom powder. It can add a delightful umami depth to your sauce, making it even more irresistible.
     
    Edited Nov 3, 2023