Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pasta

Yesterday I made lasagna, it came out most wonderful. Three basic ingredients: pasta, cheese, and a sauce. One may use a slow cooker and let the sauce cook overnight.
The most important thing is to only use fresh, wild local ingredients and to avoid GMO's and processed ingredients. Try to make your own pasta, your own sauce, pick your own herbs, get your cheese directly from the cheesemaker who does not use enzymes, GMO's and other shortcuts to cheese-making. It's easy to make your own soft cheese but one must start with raw milk, cheese cannot be made from the processed, homogenized, pasteurized store milk which is like buying your eggs already fried.
The sauce can be made of any fresh pureed vegetable cooked in water. People usually use tomatoes, but one may use any vegetable. Add any herbs, good ones are oregano, parsley, thyme. Very good to add minced fennel, onion and especially garlic. One may add flesh as desired, and it can be any flesh: beef, lamb, fowl, or fish. While the sauce cooks a long time, add more water or buttermilk or any juice or any other liquid.
When ready to assemble, select a pan that will hold the lasagna pasta layered with sauce and cheese. Set the oven to medium high, 300 degrees maybe. Boil water, add a pinch of salt and a spoon of good oil (olive, walnut, avocado, sesame, coconut) and add the lasagna pasta and cook it at least halfway.
Grate some hard cheese (without GMO's which are how most are made nowadays, European cheeses seem best).
Have ready some soft cheese such as cottage cheese, ricotta, or any soft cheese.
Now for the assembly: Oil the pan, add a layer of pasta, add soft cheese, cover with sauce, add a layer of hard cheese. Repeat: pasta, soft cheese, sauce, hard cheese. Keep repeating until your pan is full. Bake. When you smell it, it will be ready to eat.