Grace (16) has been staying with us while her parents travel to visit a daughter going to college in another state. It’s been wonderful having her and actually fun getting up to take her to school in the morning….since those schooldays are over for me, it’s been great to deja vu for a week.
So, after church, we had a couple of friends come by for lunch. It’s still warm and beautiful here in Las Vegas, perfect for a long leisurely lunch on the back patio.
A few days ago, I had some extra ground beef that I wanted to use up and thought of lasagna. Perfect for making and leaving in the refrigerator for days, or freezing for weeks. And easy. I also had frozen some Marinara sauce from a few weeks ago. All I had to buy was oven ready lasagna pasta sheets and prosciutto.
I usually make lasagna with a béchamel sauce & a Marinara, alternating the sauces between the sheets of pasta and grated cheeses and browned meat and prosciutto.
Lasagna
Since it’s fall, I went with a Huguenot Torte, rich and moist from pecans and apples. Haven’t made this dessert in years and no telling what cookbook I originally copied this from, but it’s a winner.
The cake layers are made and cooled. Heavy cream is sweetened and whipped and then used to frost the cake layers which are decorated with whole pecan halves. So moist and good!
Huguenot Torte
That morning, before church, I took about a pound of dough that was in the refrigerator (Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day) , shaped it, let it rise and baked it.
Couronne
The green salad and dressing , a Spanish salad dressing with anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic were easy to make the day before. Just toss the salad before you eat it.
Spanish Salad
I baked the lasagna covered with foil for 30 minutes then baked it 15 minutes more uncovered. I put the foil back over it and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes before cutting it.
A chunk of soft butter in a ramekin sat in the middle of the French style Couronne .
I really loved this wine. A French wine with the Italian Lasagna. Called The Frenchhouse Pinot Noir 2008 Vin de Pays De L’Aude. Sorry, don’t have a picture of this wine. Guess we were enjoying it too much!
Beautiful color in the glass, berry flavors, not an intense wine but just perfect with the food.
Tim portions out the Lasagna.
Tim dishes the Lasagna
Lazy Sunday afternoon—-good friends, good wine, good food.
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