Lasagna, e Pizza, e Pasta!

This time I think I even out-did myself.  The past three days I have been preparing for a feast for 20+ at my humble abode here in Grenada.  Two of my roommates have their respective parents here and since family is involved I have to make it as close to home as I can.  

First thing I came across while shopping was this beautiful tricolor pasta that gave me the inspiration for this cold pasta salad that included artichoke hearts (featured here) halved olives, Edam cheese, Gouda as well as a poppy seed vinaigrette.  

I believe the combination of the two cheeses as well as the vinaigrette made for a tasty alternative to the other treats that were in store.

The next challenge I faced (being on a small island) was the fact that they ran out of ricotta cheese.  Sure, no problem they said, just make some béchamel they said.  So I did.  and this is what I did. 

First I put equal parts butter and flour (1/2 cup of each) in a pan.  First I melted the butter then I stirred in the flour.  For those of you who aren't familiar, this is called a roux.  For all you southerners (especially from N'Orleans) this is common place.  From here we will add about 3 cups of whole milk..  The whole trick with the roux is to make a blonde roux which means we will cook it for about 5 minutes so that it doesn't turn brown and get carmelized like most Louisiana roux's.  After you've cooked the flour taste out of the roux you add the milk and start stirring with you whisk.  This takes approximately 10 minutes from here for stirring to make sure it all gets incorporated.  For good measure and added flavor at the end, I added about a quarter cup of parmesan cheese to the mix.  

Next its lasagna time!  Lets start the layers...here were all the ingredients....

First I took 3 cups of semolina flour, and made a well.  Then I added about 5 eggs to the middle. 

Next I started stirring... this is something you have to see, which you can if you look right here!

Next I rolled out the pasta..  Now this was Not easy at first...there is definitely a learning curved involved and I invite you all to explore this side of yourself.  

Now  that you made your pasta (if you're that lucky..) start laying down the home-made pasta with some Bolognese sauce that I made the day before.  This is a meat sauce that you simply stir fry chop meat with salt and pepper and then add it to a standard sauce recipe you can catch from one of my earlier recipes.  From there you let it come to a boil then simmer, taking you about an hour and change.  

From there I started layering the lasagna. First pasta, then sauce, then my béchamel,  and some parmigiano and fresh mozzarella cheese I made the day before.  

Here is my sister and my father making Lasagna from back in the day...check out that technique!

Keep on layering (2-4 times) until you get this..

Did I mention in my spare time I whipped up a pizza...there it is!

And another one!

And in the end we had a bunch of people that were well fed...Any Italian knows its a good night when you fed a bunch of people an still have leftovers...mission accomplished!  Many thanks to all who came and enjoyed the food!