Lasagna in a Loaf Pan

Italian Dinner: Remembering the Amalfi Coast

     Since we moved into the new apartment we have been having a bit of trouble with our cable and Internet connections.Today was the day of our appointment to finally get it all sorted out. I was given the ubiquitous window of time for their arrival so I knew I'd better not plan on an outing of any kind for today.

     I needed to make myself busy while I waited for the technicians.I decided that it was a perfect day to create lasagna in a loaf pan, lasagna because its delicious and a loaf pan because I left my big lasagna pan in Texas.

     I love this dish because I can prepare it early in the day (or even the day before) and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees till hot and bubbly. I suppose I could even freeze it but we can never wait that long.

      The cable technicians arrived shortly after I began the preparation process and I got the impression the don't often go on a service call to find the customer kneading homemade pasta. I think they were amused.

Meat Sauce

½ lb ground beef

½ lb ground pork

(Many grocers don’t grind pork to order. I bought 1 small pork chop and ground it in my food processor. Problem solved!)

½ large onion

2-3 cloves garlic

3 cans fire roasted organic Muir Glen diced tomatoes (I had no fresh on hand today)

½-cooked carrot pureed in food processor

½ Serrano pepper also spun to bits in the food processor

$4.00

Smells and tastes wonderful

 I cooked the meat first then the cooked onion and garlic

Added the tomatoes, pureed carrot and pepper

Added red pepper flake

Garlic salt

Tsp sugar

And a pinch of Italian herbs

Add your favorite spices and experiment.

Béchamel

1 tbs butter olive oil mix

1 tbs flour

½ cup milk

Hint of nutmeg

I melted the butter & oil then added the flour

I cooked it while whisking for a minute then added water and heated it to a boil

It thickened and I pulled it off heat.

$.80

smooth and creamy a little goes a long way

Pasta (home made)

1-cup flour (I used mostly AP with a bit of cake flour)

1 egg

Salt

Touch of olive oil 

$.50 for the Pasta

I made the well of flour for the egg and hand kneaded it for about 10 minutes

Then ran it through the pasta machine to make the sheets. Super easy!

Making pasta is easy and delicious

Then the fun began…

I put a ladleful of sauce on the bottom of the loaf pan

Then a cooked lasagna sheet

Spoonful of Béchamel

Layer of sauce

Lasagna sheet

Spoonful of béchamel

Layer of sauce

Lasagna sheet

Spoonful of Béchamel

Layer of sauce

,,,,etcetera etcetera etcetera,,, 

Layers of tomato goodness in progress

 Somewhere in the middle I grated a bit of Parmesan

For a surprise treat

I topped with the last bit of sauce cheese and some leftover

Mozzarella balls I had on hand.