Aeagle.227 net.cooks utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!cbosg!ihnss!eagle!cw Thu Feb 18 23:07:49 1982 Fresh Tomato Sauce and Lasagna Fresh Italian Tomato Sauce Ingredients 2 doz fresh tomatoes 2-3 chopped onions 2-3 Tbl olive oil or butter 2-3 cup red wine 1-2 tsp black pepper 1 tsp salt 1-2 tsp oregano 1/2-1 tsp sage (optional) 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 2 crumbled bay leaves 1 tsp cinnamon 6 cloves crushed garlic Method Clean the tomatoes. They may be skinned by being dipped in boiling water; certainly you must cut out stems and bad spots and you must squeeze out the jelly and seeds. Saute the onions in the oil in a large pot. When the onions are lightly browned, add the tomatoes, wine, spices, and garlic. If you like, you can also add similar quantities of marjoram, rosemary, or basil. Bring the sauce to a mild boil and simmer for several hours until reduced by perhaps one fourth. Remove the sauce from the heat and cool until you can handle it safely. Pass the sauce through a blender or food processor several cups at a time and through a coarse sieve. You must do this if you did not skin the tomatoes; this step will pill the skins in the strainer. Return the sauce to the pot for further cooking. Simmer the sauce again until reduced to about 2/3 of the original volume. Check the acid/sugar balance and add either (or both) 1-2 tsp of sugar or up to 1 Tbl of red wine or cider vinegar. Recheck the spices. If you use canned tomatoes, the sugar and vinegar will very likely be necessary. Cool sauce and use as desired. Notes All the quantities in this recipe are approximate. Use good sense and taste often. The red wine should be a reasonable quality jug or table wine; wines with a fair quantity of sugar will do no harm. Lasagna Ingredients 2-3 quarts tomato sauce 2 lbs mozzarella 2 lbs riccotta 1/4-1/2 lb grated Parmesan (fresh!) 1 lb spicy Italian sausage 1 large onion 15 oz lasagna noodles 2 Tbl olive oil or melted butter Method Put the riccotta cheese out to come to room temperature. Slice the mozzarella into thin slices. Take the casings off the sausage, crumble it, and saute it. When sausage is cooked, remove meat, drain grease, and saute the onion (sliced into thin half rings) in the meat drippings until the onion is transparent. Boil one 15 oz package lasagna noodles, wash in cold water, drain, and cool as directed on noodle package. Lightly brush an 11" by 17" baking pan with the olive oil or butter. Layer twice these ingredients in order: noodles, meat, onions, riccotta, mozzarella, and sauce. Top with a final layer of noodles, mozzarella, sauce, and Parmesan. You may use Parmesan inside if you desire. The riccotta will probably not spread easily; spoon-sized dollops are all right. Cover the pan with foil and bake for about one hour at 350 degrees until heated through (better too long than too short a baking time). Top may be browned by removing foil near end. If liquid appears around edges, spoon off. Notes Recently I have discovered that fresh sheet pasta makes lasagna much easier. The sheets can be used whole as they are and need not be boiled and drained. Also, the use of foil is to keep the top from burning; you have to judge the balance between browning the top and generating too much liquid by leaving the foil on too long. With red wine and green salad, serves the Italian army generously. Charles Wetherell eagle!cw ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.