There's a sandwich place in Bloomington that makes sandwiches that make you forget everything going on outside that tiny shop. It only seats about 20 people and they've been full to the brim every time I've been there. They make this sausage pepper hogie sandwich that is one of the single greatest food items I've ever eaten. Chris loves their muffaletta. It's an $7 sandwich but I would totally pay twice that much because everything I've eaten there is way better than any other sandwich I've ever had, excluding, of course, Chris' grilled cheese sandwiches. I can't convey the joy that these sandwiches impart as they slowly disappear down your gullet. There's another sandwich place in town with a muffaletta on their menu. It's cheaper, and the shop is a chain, but it's open at dinner time (the amazing sandwich place is strictly lunch, sadly). We only went one time. Chris got the muffaletta (what I got was unimportant and clearly forgettable because I can't remember what it was) but the whole time he was eating it, he had this look of "meh" on his face because what he was hoping for was amazing deliciousness and what he got was merely passable. It was a good sandwich, but it wasn't joyful.
That's sort of how I felt about the spinach lasagna I made from the Alice Waters book. It was a good lasagna, but I didn't feel like breaking out into song. I had made it for Brad, Suz, and Chris, and they thought it was good, but I think it needed *something*. So, rather than posting the entire long, tortuous recipe, I thought I'd merely ask for lasagna tips. What do you put in your lasagna that makes it amazing? One thing I think I did wrong was not believe Alice Waters when she kept telling me to add more and more salt; however, more salt would not have been the silver bullet in this case. The recipe called for no meat, so I was thinking would some sort of pancetta or prosciutto spice it up? Can you bake those meats or do they get leathery? I'm not a huge sausage-in-my-lasagna person... I was also contemplating sun-dried tomatoes. Chris thought some of the smoked paprika that Kathy and Dave had brought back from Spain might do the trick, but he loves that stuff so much that's his solution to many a cooking mishap. Any ideas?
3 comments:
When I lived in NY, I cooked lasagna a lot (veggie). Fresh quality ricotta, fresh mozzarella, good parmesan (always did 3-cheese), fresh herbs, and either the best pre-made sauce ever, or your own.
I don't make lasagna here -- none of the above are available :), so take my advice as suspect.
I actually rarely added spinach and did a straight-up veggie with mushrooms....Just watch out for too much moisture.
Ooo, mushrooms, good call Emily. I'll have to try that. Do you cook them before putting them in the lasagna, or put them in raw?
I would saute the mushrooms slightly before hand to remove some of the liquid, otherwise it will make the lasagna runny. I have used pepperoni, turkey pepperoni, ground beef, and ground turkey successfully as meats. Raw sausage would work, the pre-cooked stuff might get too tough. Your cheese(s) of choice are definitely a factor as well as sauce when considering taste. I never precook my lasagna noodles(and I don't use special ones either). did you saute the spinach beforehand? If you do, you could add garlic and other spices to it, spinach on its own can be bland. If you made it with a white sauce, adding nutmeg to the sauce punches the flavor up too.
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