The lasagne of anxiety

[ppfuf]

I'd volunteered to help with the food plan for Estrella this weekend. Fortunately, last Monday I wrote to the coordinator to ask about scheduling because (back in my day!) Estrella was a weekend event. I thought I'd be able to hand the lasagnas over on Sunday. Whoops! So instead of making lasagne on Saturday as planned, I did ingredient prep on Tuesday and did the stacking and baking part on Thursday. It worked pretty well, aided by my cleaning lady coming on Wednesday.
Three little lasgnes, all the same: bottom layer sauce, noodles, ricotta with goat cheese and egg, zucchini rounds, thin-sliced garlic, sprinkle of cheese (cheese mix: 2 lbs mozzarella, 1/2 lb emmentaller and 1/2 lb gruyere) and a little sauce. 2nd layer: noodles, meat (2 lbs spicy Italian sausages, 1 lb mild sausages from Dittmer's and 1/4 lb salami chopped and fried), pesto, onion mix (white onions, shallots and leeks chopped fine and cooked in the salami grease), more sauce and cheese. 3rd layer: noodles, chopped artichokes, sauce and lots of cheese!  I also made a fourth lasagne with mushrooms (reduced with shallots) instead of artichokes, but that one went into the freezer for a future dinner.
The anxiety-inducing moment was in the middle of ingredient-prep on Tuesday my dad called to say mom was getting an unexpected cat scan after her surgery. My dad never calls. He must have been very worried. She's all right now, after several drug fuck-ups that extended her hospital stay until late on Sunday. I'm not sure why anybody bothers to keep charts anymore, obviously nobody reads the damn things. Grr! 

On Saturday, GM made dinner, inclduing a savory 

Souffléed Corn and Cheddar Pudding (Gourmet, March 1983) 


In the sauce-pan:
1/2 stick (4 Tbl) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 tesp Dijon-style mustard
1 1/2 tesp salt
1/4 tesp cayenne (or to taste)
4 large egg yolks

In a large bowl:
1/4 stick (2 Tbl) unsalted butter
4 slices of white bread (crusts removed)
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
1 1/2 cups cooked corn (drained and gently squeezed)
1/2 pound Good sharp cheddar cheese, grated

In the electric beater:
4 large egg whites (room temp)
pinch cream of tartar
pinch salt

In the soufflé dish:
butter to coat
sprinkle of finely grated parmesan

Hot water for a bath.
Buttered tin foil to cover soufflé dish.

Preheat oven to 325F

In a saucepan melt 1/2 stick (4 Tbl) of butter over moderately low heat, add the 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, and cook the roux, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the 2 cups half-and-half in a stream, whisking, bring the sauce to a boil, whisking, and simmer it, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Stir in the mustard, the salt, and the cayenne, remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, 1 at a time.
Spread both sides of the bread with the remaining 2 Tbl butter and cut the bread into very small cubes.  In a large bowl, combine the bread, the 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, 1 1/2 cups cooked corn, 1/2 pound grated sharp cheddar cheese, with the sauce. 
In another large bowl beat the 4 egg whites with the cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until they hold stiff peaks.
Stir one-third of the whites into the corn mixture and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into a buttered 1 1/2 quart soufflé dish, set the dish in a deep baking pan, and add enough hot water to the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the soufflé dish. Bake the pudding, covered in buttered foil, in a preheated moderately slow oven (325F) for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for 30 minutes more, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Serves 6.



Comments

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

Those lasagnas were OMG FANTASTIC!!!! Thanks so much for sending them!!!

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, I'm glad you liked it.