the cook at home in Rome with her prize dish
and the closeup
Back in the USA, a bumper basilico crop is harvested at the in-laws.
requiring a team effort to pick all the leaves off the stems.
Now at the dr bob cooking team headquarters: the recipe recreation attempt begins. Whole wheat pasta noodles are rolled thinner and boiled.
Last minute frozen pesto sauce thawing and finishing off leaves its mark.
The 4 cups we got ready turned out to be a lethal dose. We only used 1.5 cups.
Béchamel sauce ready, some pasta noodles ready for immersion.
a few ice cubes left in the cooling pan.
the assembly starts.
Boiled noodles resting.
The sauce layer laying down.
and mixed together.
and parmigiano sprinkling.
ready for baking.
and ready for serving.
one serving.
pan closeup. 10 layers. not so easy to count.
and much later thanks to ani's sister nora and her friend Colette (vegetarian), we got the idea for kicking this up a notch by scattering small pieces of jarred artichokes and roasted red peppers over each layer sparingly, holding back a bit on the pesto which can be overpowering.
Here is a peak inside for what each layer looks like.
Count the layers, looks like 9. Number 6 notch on the pasta roller, delicately thin, melt in your mouth noodles.
