Well, like millions of other Americans, I invited people over yesterday for a BBQ (sorry that's day of backyard grilling for all of you non-Northeasterners).  

My menu planning revolved around fresh ricotta cheese.  A local farmer/friend of mine gave me some homemade ricotta cheese earlier in the week to try.  "What a rare treat," I thought, and decided to make something special with it.

Now, growing up surrounded by Sicilian immigrants, the first thing popped into my head was Lasagna, followed shortly after by stuffed shells.  Most traditional lasagna recipes call for both a tomato-based sauce (like a bolognaise) and a cream-based sauce (like a béchamel).  However, I was taught to make Lasagna with a bolognaise and a ricotta-based cream sauce.  Specifically, I put the ricotta cheese in a bowl and add chopped fresh herbs like basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, chives, etc.

My menu planning would begin with Lasagna but I added other grill-foods too.  I added Sausages, burgers and steak to the menu as well. My cousin asked me in advance if I could cook chicken for her too, which added to our menu. Then,  I realized that I had no side dishes planned so I added grilled asparagus and macaroni salad to the list as well.  I needed drinks, so other than a few bottles of Bordeaux Rose, I make a giant pitcher of lavender-mint Iced tea.

People always rave about my grilled sausage recipe.  I poach them first in Newcastle with olive oil, bay leaves and peppercorns and cook them until they just begin to change color, then finish them on the grill by coating them in BBQ sauce so the sauce caramelizes on the outside of the meat.

>>

On Sunday morning, I began to prepare the Lasagna.  I took out the ricotta cheese and tasted it.  It was sour.  I did not take into account that homemade ricotta cheese does not have a shelf-life of more than two days.  But, I didn't have time to run to the store and buy more cheese.  I had already created my bolognaise sauce, which was happily cooking down, and I had just spend two hours rolling out pasta sheets.  So, I decided to go with the béchamel sauce instead.  I took all the pecorino Romano and Parmigianino Regianno cheese I had and ground it up in the blender to make a two-cheese sauce out of the béchamel.  Then I added the fresh chopped herbs (basil, parsley, chives) to the cheese sauce.  I layered the meat sauce (I used ground veal, pork and beef), the fresh pasta, the cheese béchamel and some fresh mozzarella cheese.  After about four layers, the pan would not go any higher.  So, I topped it off with fresh mozzarella and baked it.

>>

I once again, bought the marinated porterhouse tails, but instead of cutting them into medallions this time, I put the whole steak on the grill, cooked it to medium rare, then let it rest a ½ hour while everyone else ate the lasagna, sausages, chicken and macaroni salad.

>>

I asked everyone else to bring beer and dessert, so we had a plethora of wonderful desserts, chocolate cakes from Balthazar, cupcakes, a really good blueberry pound cake and a tray of cookies.

>>

The day lingered on, we ate, drank and when it got dark, made our way inside to play poker.  All-in-all, it was a great Memorial day BBQ and the best part is, I don't have much in the way of leftovers.