Stomach Pains

Last night we had Alex, Anja and one of Alex's friends over for dinner. On the menu was lasagne, using up the last of the noodles we had bought in Italy. Erik and I had made this lasagne recipe a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was fantastic, even without all the mozzarella cheese that we had forgotten to buy. This time we had the cheese, and we also made a vegetarian version using white beans in place of the beef and sausage. It was to die for!

Best Ever Lasagne

SAUCE:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled carrots
2 tablespoons minced garlic
8 ounces (225 grams) lean ground beef
6 ounces (170 grams) spicy Italian sausages, casings removed
1 28-ounce (793 gram) can crushed tomatoes with added puree
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

LASAGNE
15 lasagna noodles (about 12 ounces)--we used fresh egg noodles, each lasagne used about 7 large noodles

2 15-ounce (425 gram) containers part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
1 10-ounce (285 gram) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, squeezed dry
2 large eggs

4 3/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese (about 1 1/4 pounds)

FOR SAUCE:

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic; sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add beef and sausages to pan; sauté until cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer until flavors blend and sauce measures about 5 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Cool.

FOR LASAGNE:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water. **if using egg noodles, skip this step. Use the noodles directly out of the package.

Combine ricotta and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese in medium bowl. Mix in spinach. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs.

Drain pasta and pat dry. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over bottom of 13x9-inch glass baking dish. Place 5 noodles over sauce, overlapping to fit. Spread half of ricotta-spinach mixture evenly over noodles. Sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella cheese evenly over ricotta-spinach mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups sauce over cheese, spreading with spatula to cover (sauce will be thick). Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining ricotta-spinach mixture, 2 cups mozzarella and 1 1/2 cups sauce. Arrange remaining 5 noodles over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese evenly over lasagne. (Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.) Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake lasagna 40 minutes; uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Let lasagne stand 15 minutes before serving. **our cooking times were significantly different, only taking about 30 minutes covered, and another 10-15 uncovered. This is probably partly due to our teeny tiny oven, but the noodles also cook much faster than regular pasta.

Serves 8.

Because I'm crazy, and also because we have recenly acquired a hand held mixer (impulse buy at the Inno--it was onlyl 14 euros!), I also made dessert.

Banana Caramel Cake

For the cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 3 oz. chocolate (use the good stuff, no bakers chocolate please), broken into small pieces (size of chips)
• 3 ripe bananas, diced

For the caramel:

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. whole milk
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Butter and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan that can hold 12 cups.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda).
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, oil and sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar has been incorporated.
6. Add the vanilla extract and mix for another 30 seconds.
7. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure everything is incorporated.
8. Once the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the pecans, chocolate and bananas. Gently fold them in with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Don't over mix.
9. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes and then test the cake to see if it's done by poking a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, bake the cake for another 5 to 10 minutes. In my oven, this cake took 55 minutes.
10. About 5 to 10 minutes before the cake is done, make the caramel by combining all the ingredients in a small pan. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally to ensure that it doesn't burn. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
11. Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Immediately pour the caramel over the cake, stopping every now and then to let the caramel sink in. If the caramel pools in spots, poke more holes to allow it to sink in.
12. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once it's cool, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and then unmold it onto a plate.
13. Enjoy!

I ran out of time, so the caramel sauce never got made. That's not a problem though when you have a huge jar of Nutella and a resourceful friend who suggests using it as icing. The cake was fabulous, and was a nice, not too sweet end to a delicious meal.

Unfortunately, between the pasta, the cheese course and dessert, we all managed to overindulge a bit and Erik and I complained of full stomachs of the Italian variety all evening. It was completely worth it though!

Bon apetito!