Therapeutic and Delicious :)

Well, homemade lasagne, including pasta, I thought was really challanging. I'd made quick 'cheats' semolina gnochi before, but I'd been fantisising about making pasta for a while, but was not too keen without a pasta roller. I think I like the idea of making things like breads and pastas from scratch because of the drawn out process, there's a lovely piece and quiet that comes from kneeding, and rolling, and resting the dough, lovely routine, and then the visual and textural change of the dough beneath the work of your hands. Such a wonderful experience.

So, I though it would be a bit of a challange to roll out, but a great kick in the bum for me to get on and make it. I encountered a problem in the dough, as I used 2.5 50g eggs. I thought this would give me as much as the 2x60g eggs mentioned in the recipie, but I neede another egg on top of that to get the dough to bind, otherwise there would have been tones of flour left over. I am sure I had the right amount in spinach, although it was still semi frozen, so I don't know if that made the difference in consistency?

Kneeding and rolling went well. I rolled it in a few different pieces, and got it lovely and thin and even just with the rolling pin. But when the pasta was dried, it cracked horribly. Maybe I rolled it too thin, or the extra egg made it crack? Whichever reason, when it came time to cook the dried pasta for lasagne assembly, it all fell into small pieces, meaning it was more a pasta bake than a lasagna with whole sheets. But I poured out the pasta pieces in layers with the other components anyway, and the finished product looked and tasted lovely. I'm not a big meat eater, but I wanted to go by the recipies stated, which my family liked, but my mum and I think making the dish with our usual vege layers would be nice. The layering of the bechemel on every layer, and parmesan I thought made a difference in the taste, so I'd use the layering technique again. I'll also be making the pasta again, rolling by hand sadly, on an errand free weekend soon I hope. This time I'll try making ravioli, or just straight pieces of pasta and cooking them fresh just with a sauce on top. I know it will taste so fresh and lovely.

Thank you so much everyone for the challenge :)

- Monique