Thursday, August 27, 2009

I Say La-ZAH-gna

I've become so lazy in the kitchen.
This entire lasagna was concocted and baked in about an hour. That sounds like a long time, but 15 minutes of it was getting the damn rice-based noodles* to cook. The rest was unsupervised oven time. Oh, a little assembling; make it an hour and 10 minutes.
Really damn yummy. See the little shriveled pale green things on the top row? Those are slices of pattypan squash from the garden. The red things are tomahtoes, of course, from the garden as well. There was no tomahto sauce. None needed. We just sliced tomahtoes and distributed them over layers of pasta, sloshed here and there with fresh sheep ricotta and grated goat cheddar.
Seasoning was done by sauteeing spinach leaves with chopped garlic, which we layered here and there, and we sneaked some minced basil leaves into the grated cheese so it would distribute evenly. I forgot about oregano; that would have been nice.
The rice noodles never did get completely soft in the cooking water, so we covered the lasagna with foil for most of the time it was in the oven. That worked. Then we removed the foil to get a little browning on top. That worked, too.
It was just a mouthful of summer. So fresh and spontaneous.
It wasn't a huge dish, but one serving (pretty petite, about three by four inches) was filling enough. We portioned the leftovers into individual freezer containers, for... leftovers. I can't wait.

*Tinkyada brand brown-rice lasagna noodles, to be specific. I can't understand the cult-like following Tinkyada pasta has garnered among people who must avoid gluten. To be fair, it was the only alternative pasta brand we found in the shape of lasagna; that's why we bought it. It was OK. (The white rice spaghetti of this label is intolerably gummy and we won't eat it again.)

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

We tried rice flour pasta once, my boyfriend loved it, I found it to be gummy just like you did.

I was just thinking about the brand called DeBoles. Unfortunately, the jeruselum artichoke pasta has semolina in it but I went to their site and they make gluten free rice and corn pastas. I'm thinking corn pasta might be good in lasagna.

Greg said...

Sneaking a peek while at work and my coworker peeks over my shoulder and says "that looks good!". I concur.

J-in-Wales said...

Don't you mean oregahno? :}

cookiecrumb said...

Mimi: The brown rice has a better texture, but no flavor. Bleah!
I like Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta, which has corn in it. Tastes good. I will look for DeBoles; grazie.

Greg: Wow! How nice.

J-in-Wales: Whoops. I'm a total Yank, I guess. I put the accent on the second syllable -- uhREGano. But I'm a good learner. Oregahno. Yes, sounds nice.

Julie said...

Haha! Try some DeBoles rice pasta, and you'll understand the Tinkyada love.

Quinoa pastas are great, but their flavor doesn't complement every pasta dish. And I always think corn pastas taste like taco shells.

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

Looks excellent--right up my alley.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Mmmm cheese, made from milk, squeezed from goats, mmmmm.
(la-saarhn-ya)

Zoomie said...

However you pronounce it, that looks mahvelous! So fresh and perfect!

EB of SpiceDish said...

I'm sure the leftovers will be even better than the firstovers...

cookiecrumb said...

Julie: Another vote for deBoles, which I'd never even heard of before I wrote this post. Didn't find any at Trader Joe's today, but there are more places to look.
Taco shells! OK, you've ruined me on corn pasta. :D

Denise: If your alley is Easy Alley with Good Flavors. And why not?! (I can't wait to get into the leftovers. If only I would stop cooking in the kitchen...)

Mouse: Goat's milk. I made a goat's milk rice pudding today! La-sahrn-ya! (Enjoy your SLEEP.)

Zoomie: I have no doubt Ms. Juliet, if she's still fecund, would handily supply a dish like this.

EB: Ha, "firstovers." My new word, thank you. Yeah, all this waiting, and they'll be BETTER.

Sweet Bird said...

I'm envious of your goat cheddar. I'm not sure what I would have to do to locate some goat cheddar in NC. However, if you're interested in some chicken-fried bacon, there's plenty of that.

I kind of hate it here.

cookiecrumb said...

Birdie: There's always the Internet. But what I would do is to embrace the local cuisine. The good stuff, not the Frito Pies and SweetTarts in a Co'Cola. Find out what's native and original. Brunswick stew? Crabs? Some kind of biscuits n gravy? (Eee! Yum.) Grits? Mm. Greens, stew up a big mess of greens. Good luck; I'll bet there's lots to find out about.

Anonymous said...

Thai Kitchen rice noodles - linguine style - are awesome. For best results for pasta-like noodles, boil water WITH SALT, add noodles, remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.

cookiecrumb said...

ClosetoHome: Wow, another recommendation! This one would have been off my radar, so it's much appreciated -- and the cooking directions too. I can hardly wait. I'm hungry. (It's so nice to be hungry again.)

Claire Mercado-Obias said...

This is a gorgeous lasagna!

cookiecrumb said...

Claire: Aw, thanks! I've decided it's because there's no sloppy sauce to obscure the true beauty. (Ahem!)