Friday, March 27, 2009

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna with an Abruzzi Flair - Daring Bakers March 2009 Challenge

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna with an Abruzzi Flair - Daring Bakers

I knew this month's Daring Bakers Challenge was going to be a long and tedious one, but I was up to the task. I also figured that if I was going to put so much effort into one meal Ian and I should share it with friends. And just like that, Supper Club was born.

The idea of supper club came from my brother who holds one every 3 weeks in Oshawa. Basically one person or couple cooks, then old and new friends get together for a delicious home cooked meal. Different people host every time so that it doesn’t get too hectic and new people are always popping in.

Of course I had to make this lasagna for the first club, but I changed it up to reflect my background. The Italian side of my family comes from the region of Abruzzi. There the area makes their lasagna with hundreds of teeny tiny meatballs in the tomato sauce instead of a simple meat ragu. My brother and I have all these great memories of our aunts and cousins making this dish for big family dinners. The Abruzzi version is a very simple layering of mini meatball tomato sauce and paper thin strips of fresh pasta. There really isn’t a lot of cheese involved, nor does there need to be.

My version has the hand made fresh spinach egg pasta and the béchamel sauce of the region of Emilia-Romagna, but with a little Abruzzi flair!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

9 comments:

Hilary said...

Cool, I like how you mixed it up with your heritage. And of course your lasagna looks beautiful, as your food always does!

chriesi said...

Your lasagne looks great!

Simones Kitchen said...

O wow that looks totally delicious!! Great photo too! I just signed up for the Daring Bakers as well so my first challenge will be in April.. It's gonna be fun!
Thank you also for the lovely comment that you made on my blogpost..:) Very much appreciated and the feeling is mutual!

BC said...

What a fabulous idea to have a supper club and challenge. Your variation sounds delicious.

Welcome aboard!

Beth said...

Looking good! I love the idea of hundreds of tiny meatballs. That just makes me happy.

L*Joy said...

small mini size anything is completely attractive to me. Great job!

Coco Bean said...

Thanks everyone, this challenge has been so fun!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

Who could resist little meatballs in a lasagna. I want some now.

silverrock said...

Great job on this month's challenge! Your lasagna looks divine. All that cheesy-spinachy goodness, I may just have to steal a slice :P Keep up the great bakes!