A long time ago, on a very long plane ride, I saw an episode of iron chef, where he made his pasta out of a pastry squeeze bag into boiling water. I have been playing with Malaysian rice flour breads a lot lately, I wonder.
Pasta: I used brown rice, ran it through my blender dry, creating rice flour. Put it in a sauce pan, added water, olive oil and salt and started softening it under a LOW heat, stirring to prevent sticking.
Pan: I used 2 10" saute' pans.
Oven: 350 degrees, started it early.
Layer 1: spooned out some of the rice mixture, no it isn't close to done yet, it will cook as the dish progresses. Used a spatula to make it flat, about the thickness of a lasagne noodle, poured a bit of water on the stop and cooked on low on the stove top, about 5 minutes. If I do this again I will cook it for 10 and try to brown the bottom.
Layer 2: Keely gave me some ono spaghetti sauce with meat, peppers and onions, spooned and spatula'd onto the rice noodle. Added a bit of shredded cheese to the top to help define the layer. Back in the oven.
Layer 3: I am still monitoring the rice "mush" on the stove, decided to add more salt. Stir. It is brown rice so it is certainly not cooked, but it will be in the oven a while. Pulled the pans out of the oven, make another noodle layer, covered with a bit of shredded cheese, back in the oven for five minutes to set.
While it was cooking, took some dry Costco "gourmet" mushrooms, put them in the blender, turned them into dust. There were still a few spoonfuls of spaghetti sauce left, added the mushrooms and some water, stirred, spices, I have some Italian seasoning that is starting to go white, used a lot of that, salt to taste, some black pepper. Pulled the pans from the oven, added the mushroom layer, a bit of shredded cheese. Back in the oven. After five minutes, I added another layer of the rice noodle mixture, cooked for five minutes to set.
Layer 4: I don't have ricotta cheese, but I have sour cream. Added that to the leftover spaghetti sauce/mushroom mixture, spices. Spread that on top. Thought about trying to top it with rice mixture and broiling, but my broiler has a mind of its own, shredded cheese, 35 minutes in the oven at 350, let it all blend.
Mushroom Mofo Gasy
I am really enjoying breakfast breads these days, sometimes with an egg, sometimes not. Costco's gluten free bread is terrible, I can't stand it, but I can make my own. Tonight, I have a hot oven, a sauce pan with brown rice mush, leftover mushroom dust, a tiny bit of spaghetti sauce/mushroom mixture/sour cream, this is very promising. Mixed it all together with a blub of olive oil, taste, spice. Used egg white to get it to a thick pancake consistency, some baking powder so it doesn't turn into a brick. Just a touch of shredded cheese. Tossed it in the oven for 25 minutes. Turned the oven off, let both dishes sit. I am kind of excited about breakfast tomorrow.
Looking Ahead
I don't have lasagne out of my system. At Costco, I bought some uncured thin sliced turkey breast. It would form an instant layer, I could play with sauce mixtures on.The big problem is the amount of time this took. I am an in-the-kitchen, get er done, back out, kind of guy. I could try 400 degrees. I guess I could try one of those butane flame throwers they use for cooking . . . nah. 400 degrees.
Funny thing about lasagne, it is always better to cook it in large batches, GF or no. I think that is the way to go for round 2.
