re: SUBMISSION Thread for Pasta Challenge, Tuesday, November 15, 2022

BARBECUE LASAGNA

I decide to try something new and combine my love of smoked meats with pasta. I had a vision of using pork belly burnt ends and pulled pork, but I ran short on time. So I used smoked country style ribs (sliced butt) and smoked sausage.


Homemade smoked sausage. I ground pork, mixed the seasonings with nitrite, and stuffed. I used a skinless casing (inedible casing that you remove after smoking). I didn't want a natural casing for how I was using the sausage in the lasagna. I used pork trim and my breakfast sausage seasoning blend.


The sausage goes in the smoker. I seasoned the pork steaks and placed them in the smoker as well.


The finished sausage, casing removed.


On the left is the smoked pork. After it was cooked, I let it cool overnight and then ran it through the meat grinder on a coarse plate. On the right is the ground smoked pork.


I made a sauce using tomato sauce, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, worcestershire, a little honey, salt and black pepper. It had a barbecue sauce taste but more sweet than bold.


Browned the ground smoked pork in a skillet. Once it was browned, I mixed the pork with some of the sauce to make a meat sauce.


Time to make the lasagna. I began with a little meat sauce in the bottom of the pan and added the first layer of pasta. I made a ricotta cheese mix by mixing cheese, egg, parmesan, and parsley. The ricotta cheese was spread on the pasta. Then meat sauce was added with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.


A pic of the meat sauce.


The second layer of pasta went on, followed by ricotta and sliced smoked sausage. Then sauce was added on top with a little more parmesan.


A view of the smoked sausage.


A third layer of pasta, ricotta, and sauce. Topped with mozzarella and baked.


A view of the finished baked lasagna.