h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've decided that once a week or so I will challenge myself by attempting to cook something a bit more complicated than my usual.

Today's challenge is lasagne, from scratch. Well, I'm going going to make the pasta sheets or kill and grind up the cow... alright, I'm not going to make the cheese or grow the tomatoes either, but you get my point.

Wish me luck!

My last attempt at Lasagne was not very successful. I haven't tried since. Of course unlike you I didn't make the pasta sheets or kill and grind up the cow!! I think there was a NOT missing there somehow

Depending how you get on I might have another go, not that my other half is enamoured of such new fangled fare so only I will suffer indigestion if it fails. Of course there are always the foxes ...............

Websailor

Good choice, E! Not *too* tricky, and one of my favourites.

For today, I've two duck breasts. Cooking them seems to be easy enough (brown them in the pan, then a little while in the oven...) but I'm not sure what to have with them.

Red cabbage and potato dumplings. And a nice gravy.

Elentari, it's been ages since I last made pasta, but I think it's a lot of fun making it yourself.

Yep, definitely a 'not' missing there!

It's simmering away at the moment. I'm extremely puzzled by the Bechamel sauce part of the recipe though as the quantities of cheese, flour and milk seem wildly inflated. We're just going to do it by eye and trust to hope!

Elentari,<> that is my preferred method of cooking and you develop an instinct as to what works. However, if a tiny part of your mind says this isn't going to work right, take notice, that instinct is usually right Whenever I have ignored it and gone ahead I have failed.

My son makes, rolls and cuts his own pasta as he has a nifty little gadget from that nice shop in Touchwood

Websailor

Hmm. Compare and contrast:

'I've decided that once a week or so I will challenge myself by attempting to cook something a bit more complicated than my usual'

And:

'We're just going to do it by eye and trust to hope!'

So the 'I' has turned into a 'We' eh? As in 'I will challenge my friends to cook something a bit more lovely than I usually do for myself'?

Fair play to you, in that case

I did all the cooking except for deferring to my Dad on the Bechamel sauce, because I've never made it before. Given that he was going to be eating it, he had a vested interest in getting it right!

It turned out very nicely in the end.

No cooking challenge this week but there should be next week - stay tuned!