Yep...yet another cookoff is looming for me. In this case, it's next Saturday, a week from now, it's a fundraiser for VNA, which I believe is the Visiting Nurses Association, a nonprofit health care association. I say "believe" because the text I got about the cookoff merely said "VNA."
In any case, the theme is lasagne. So I have had some choices to make. Do I go way out of the box and make my Mexican Lasagne, where the "noodles" are actually Spanish rice, the "sauce" is salsa, and the meat is chorizo? I have made this dish before, it is spicy, and it kicks ass, but as I said, I've made it before, and part of the fun of cookoffs for me is doing something I haven't done before.
Which is the second option: do I go traditional. I do have five pounds of Italian sausage sitting in my freezer, half spicy, half mild. I know for a fact I make a mean marinara/bolognese sauce. And I am sure I could kick this to the curb with the right cheeses. AND I have that whole day off, so I can focus just on that dish from the time I wake up until go time at 5:30 that evening.
So, which tack do I take? If I go Mexican, how spicy should I make it? Should I blow them out of the water? And if I go traditional, what tips do you guys have? How many layers should I use? How much of each ingredient (noodle, sauce, cheese, meat) should be in each layer? I ask simply because I have never actually MADE traditional lasagne.
So.....help?
In any case, the theme is lasagne. So I have had some choices to make. Do I go way out of the box and make my Mexican Lasagne, where the "noodles" are actually Spanish rice, the "sauce" is salsa, and the meat is chorizo? I have made this dish before, it is spicy, and it kicks ass, but as I said, I've made it before, and part of the fun of cookoffs for me is doing something I haven't done before.
Which is the second option: do I go traditional. I do have five pounds of Italian sausage sitting in my freezer, half spicy, half mild. I know for a fact I make a mean marinara/bolognese sauce. And I am sure I could kick this to the curb with the right cheeses. AND I have that whole day off, so I can focus just on that dish from the time I wake up until go time at 5:30 that evening.
So, which tack do I take? If I go Mexican, how spicy should I make it? Should I blow them out of the water? And if I go traditional, what tips do you guys have? How many layers should I use? How much of each ingredient (noodle, sauce, cheese, meat) should be in each layer? I ask simply because I have never actually MADE traditional lasagne.
So.....help?
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