Lasagna Fest 2013

Dessert lasagna with dark chocolate pasta, mascarpone cream, espresso spongecake, white chocoalte

my favorite: yellow lasagna with roasted chicken, peppers, corn, ricotta, mozzarella 

            A few weeks ago Bologna hosted its annual festival of Bolognese specialties, a celebration that focuses on a single, traditional dish from the region and invites the best local chefs to showcase their individual take on the plate. This year the city paid homage to lasagna: La Festivale di Lasagna Bolonga 2013. A friend of mine found the advertisement pasted onto the wall of a portico—thank you thank you thank you Stephanie—and when the day came we suited up in our stretchy pants and walked a mile from the walls of the main city to find our lasagna goldmine.

            As a dish that originated in Bologna, Italy, the Bolognese locals take their lasagna seriously. The pasta is handmade (as it is everywhere in Bologna, and I’m fully aware of how spoiled I am) and kept warm over low flame, served beside tables stacked with bottles of Pignoletto prosecco and deep red Sangiovesse (two wines typical of the region). Each hungry taste-tester gets a token worth six plates of lasagna. Consider, however, the phrases a friend relayed to me a few weeks after my arrival in the city: in Emilia-Romagna, “si mangia bene” e “se si vuole un bicchiere, si riceve un bicchiere di vino.” In other words, in Bologna’s region of Italy—the “breadbasket” Emilia-Romagna—one not only “eats well,” but “when one asks for a glass of water they receive a glass of wine instead.” It is a region bursting with as much hospitality as it is food and wine. So, as my friend and I walked with our tokens into the blooming courtyard that hosted the event, we were prepared to eat six pieces of lasagna. Yes, that is a lot of lasagna. But in a region as traditionally hospitable as Emilia-Romagna, everyone would like to feed you, to have you try a particular sauce, to let you eat a heaping portion of lasagna to share. Eleven pieces of lasagna later, we staggered back into the main walls of Bologna to heal our lasagna and wine-stuffed bodies and fall asleep by 6 pm.

When You Have Bread and Cheese

          My week has been full of bread and cheese, and that’s nothing new for my Bolognese lifestyle. But with warmer weather and a surprise visitor, the past seven days in Bologna were—like bread and cheese—amazing in the most simple and satisfying ways. I could get even more metaphoric and talk about how sometimes bread goes stale, sometimes there are too many cheeses to choose from, but because I’m comparing my life to bread and cheese at the moment (not ashamed not ashamed), I’ll leave it at that. Some things just make you happy.

            I’m a firm believer that when you have bread and cheese, you’ve got yourself a winning meal no matter the variation. And when you have almost-stale Toscana bread and almost-expired ricotta cheese, you have two days worth of lunchtime experimentation so your food doesn’t end up in the trashcan. Here are two recipes: best enjoyed by the open window in your tiny kitchen, so you can hang your clothes on the stendibiancheria between bites and listen to your Italian neighbor sing in the shower.

Toast Two Ways:

Toast with Ricotta, Pears, and Chestnuts

INGREDIENTS:

2 slices bread

ricotta cheese

a few roasted chestnuts (I used 4)

1 pear

a bit of olive oil (for greasing pan)

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp honey

INSTRUCTIONS: 

            Toast bread. While bread is toasting, core and cut half of the pear (I like Bosc pears because they’re not too watery) into half-inch slices. Roughly chop the rest of the roasted chestnuts that you got from the street vendor selling mulled wine at the end of your street. If you’re not in a country where that’s normal, roasted chestnuts can be made by toasting chestnuts in the oven, with a bit of olive oil and salt, until the outer skin splits slightly and the chestnut inside looks golden brown. Meanwhile, eat the other half of the pear—you don’t need it for the rest of the sandwich.

            Grease a small frying pan with olive oil and add the sliced pear and chopped chestnuts. Caramelize in the pan with cinnamon and honey until tender. Spread a generous amount of ricotta onto the toast and top with the pear/chestnut mixture.

Toast with Ricotta, Blueberries, and Almonds

INGREDIENTS:

2 slices bread

ricotta

blueberries

almonds

1 tbsp honey

INSTRUCTIONS:

            Toast bread. Top toasted bread with lots of ricotta, blueberries, whole almonds, and a drizzle of honey. If you also add cinnamon, I think we could be great friends.  

Pickles and Brie Grilled Cheese

       Bread, brie, and pickles. Best when paired with your favorite grandpa sweater and a glass of orange juice. Take my word for it…

Brie and Pickles Grilled Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

2 slices of bread

few slices of brie cheese 

1-2 pickles, sliced into thin circles

bit of butter for grilling

INSTRUCTIONS:

Layer one slice of bread with brie and sliced pickles. Put other piece of bread on top. Spread some butter on top of the bread and place the sandwich butter side down in an oiled skillet on medium heat. While bottom of bread is frying, spread some butter on top of the upward-facing slice of bread. Grill both sides until bread is crispy and cheese is melted. Eat and enjoy! And I’m serious about the orange juice… 

Homemade English Muffins

            When you’re in Bologna--the “breadbasket of Italy" and the food capital of Europe--you can’t complain about the city’s lack of English muffins. But if one day you wake up craving a breakfast sandwich with eggs and cheese instead of pane e marmellata, it’s hard not to notice the lack of English muffins in your vicinity.

            When my English muffin craving couldn’t be quelled by tigelle, piadine, focaccia, or crescente, I decided to make my own from scratch. I let the dough rise overnight, and in the morning baked them in the oven topped with a bit of butter and a scattering of cornmeal (realizing just in time that the stove in my Italian apartment is set in degrees Celsius, and I had accidentally preheated the oven to about 600 degrees Fahrenheit). When they were done, I cut a warm English muffin in half and fried an egg to put in the middle, with parmeggiano reggiano and some hot sauce that I found at the Malaysian vendor on la Via Pescherie Vecchie. I brewed coffee with the tiny metal espresso maker that my Italian roommate taught me to use, and with all of Saturday ahead of me I sat down for an American breakfast in my Bolognese apartment.

Homemade English Muffins:

INGREDIENTS

            1½ cup milk

            ¼ cup cold butter, cubed

            1 egg, beaten

            ¼ cup plain yogurt

            4 cups all purpose flour

            2 tbsp honey

            2 ¼ tsp instant or rapid rise yeast

            1 ½ tsp salt

            Cornmeal, for dusting on top

INSTRUCTIONS

1)   In small saucepan, heat milk on until starting to simmer at edges, about 2 ½ minutes. Stir in cold butter until melted. Take the saucepan off the burner. When mixture has cooled to warm, stir in beaten egg and yogurt.

2)   Combine flour, yeast and salt in a bowl and whisk together. Slowly add milk mixture. Beat until thoroughly combined, and then stir in the honey. Dough will be very wet. Cover with saran wrap and place in a warm spot to rise for two hours (or leave it overnight).

3)   Scrape dough from bowl onto a floured work surface. Don’t be afraid if the dough still seems a little wet and formless. Flour the top and sides of dough until the dough is shapeable and keeps from sticking (although it should still be less solid then bread dough). Form into a circle and pat down until the circle is about ½ inch thick. Use a floured 3” biscuit cutter (or a upside-down drinking glass) to make rounds. Gather up scraps of dough and repeat. Use a floured spatula to pick up the English muffins as you go, and set them aside to rise for 20 minutes. While you wait for the English muffins to rise, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

4)   After 20 minutes, brush the tops of the English muffins with bit of melted butter and a sprinkling of cornmeal. Bake in centre of oven for 15-20 minutes, until they sound hollow when you tap their tops.