If This Is 'Simplified', My Name Is Betty Crocker...

June 27, 2012

If This Is 'Simplified', My Name Is Betty Crocker...

Lasagna Bolognese 'Simplified'

I received a free copy of of Cook's Illustrated due to my loyalty to their Cook's Country Magazine. I flipped through it and one of the recipes stuck out to me...Lasagna Bolognese, Simplified. Well, hello...What have we here? And before I even get started, let me subscribe to this magazine. (because I am impetuous like that...) I have, personally, never made a lasagna from scratch. I do have an idea that it must be difficult and time consuming due to the $12-$16 Stouffer's charges for their frozen version. That's steep for the frozen entree aisle.

The Ingredients

Let me say this...either these cooks at Cook's Illustrated are in some sort of crazy time warp or they are smoking bolognese sauce. It's one of those two options. There can't be another explanation. They said (and I quote), "I had made a perfectly respectable Lasagna Bolognese in about 2 hours." Hmph. Had I bothered to really read the recipe before I started and added up the amount of time they said everything would take, I would have realized that it came to around 3-ish hours. And that's without taking the time to chop, measure, transfer, assemble and all those things that you do when you cook... Add taking pictures and general uncertainty, and you are staring down the barrel of a six hour lasagna. I started at 4 pm, thinking I could get it ready and pop it into the oven about an hour before I wanted it done. Let me tell you...that did not happen.

Holy Moly, this was so good!

The natives became restless about halfway through the process. It was about 7 pm, the house smelled amazing and it was dinner time...yet, there was nothing to eat. Not even close. No one seemed to understand this, as they were circling me like sharks, asking for the 800th time "how much longer?!" and "can I make a sandwich, just as a snack?" The answers to their questions were a simple "I have no idea and no, I am working very hard on dinner. No snacks." At least in my head, that's what I said. I'm pretty sure the kids would have a different story. But they aren't writing this blog, now are they?

To be fair, this recipe wasn't technically difficult...it was more, hurry up and wait. I had decided not to use the ground veal. First, it is pricey and second, I just can't bring myself to eat baby cows. So, going in, I was just going to do half ground pork, and half ground beef. As you can see from the picture, I couldn't find ground pork, so I had to grind my own.... It must be said. This was probably the best lasagna I have ever eaten. (My great Aunt Carrie just rolled over in her grave) It made a lot. I think next time I make it, I'll split it half. One for the freezer and one for dinner. And I will start at 8 am...