Melissa and Denise LaCaille
Claim to Foodie Fame: Food Bloggers, Twin Tables
What is the first taste you remember?
Melissa: Corn; grandpa had two acres in the backyard we would pick it fresh and eat it raw.
Denise: Strawberries dipped in sugar; Grandpa had a garden full of fresh berries and Grandma had a drawer full of sugar at my height. It was a match made in toddler heaven.
What is your earliest memory of cooking?
Denise: Making Kraft macaroni and cheese with Dad, with boiled hotdogs.
Melissa: Making eggs by myself…and writing down the recipe of course. First one I ever wrote.
What is your idea of comfort food?
Pasta, specifically lasagna.
If you were a dish, which one would you be?
Melissa: Lasagna. I want to be buried in its layers and I have many layers.
Denise: A turkey sandwich. It seems so plain on the outside, but can be dressed so many different ways and is always delicious.
Food or meal you would happily die eating, or, what is your last meal and testament?
Melissa: Warm brie and guacamole appetizers, a medium rare steak with balsamic reduction and caramelized onions with a side of Mom’s lasagna and more bread, and Grandma’s banana cake for dessert with real whipped cream.
Denise: First course of bread and cheese, halibut over lemon risotto with green beans and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies for dessert with vanilla ice cream.
If you had to eat only one food for the rest of our life, what would it be?
Bread, cheese, and wine. The staples of life.
What do you consider to be the ultimate flavor?
Melissa: Mustard in all its varieties…especially on bread, a close second place.
Denise: Lemon, because it works in every kind of dish.
How did your family honor food traditions in your household?
Every holiday has a certain staple of food that cannot be removed. We may add on or improve, but we cannot remove. Examples: sweet potato casserole on Thanksgiving, potato salad at Easter, sandwiches on Christmas Eve.
Who first taught you how to cook?
Mom and grandmas taught us the basics, Dad taught us how to grill. It has always been a family affair.
Who do you credit with inspiring in you a love of food and cooking?
Each other. We hadn’t cooked for years, and grew up eating super-simple food. Once we tried cooking outside of the box, we found that we were good at it, and that food had mind-blowing possibilities. We are each other’s guinea pigs and we make each other love to eat!
Share an example of one of your family food traditions:
We make the traditional Hardanger Lefse, passed down by generations from our Norwegian ancestors. We have no idea how our 5ft. 2” grandmother did this by herself, as it takes three of us and a full day. But we love it and the time we spend with our mother.
What is your favorite dish or meal to cook?
Melissa: Risotto; something so soothing about stirring it, and it tastes so good in the end no matter the ingredients.
Denise: Soup; the process of building layers of flavors in a soup is so satisfying.
If you could invite anyone to your holiday dinner — living, dead, or imaginary — who would it be?
Julia Child, for her zest of cooking and eating.
Melissa and Denise's Mom’s Oven Baked Lasagna
From the kitchen of Twin Tables
Good food doesn’t have to be difficult. For example, our beloved lasagna is an edible summation of three words: Noodles, Sauce, Cheese. This is one of the first recipes our mother taught us to make. At her side we tried desperately not to eat all the cheese slices dipped in the boiling sauce, but savored building each layer. The careful break of the noodles to fit the pan, the tempting way the noodles bowed when covered in hot sauce, the soothing smear of ricotta that became hidden under layers of mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses, each layer its own thrill. Thirty-plus years later, and with much more mature palettes, this simple recipe is still our favorite. It is probably because we can taste love in every bite.
Yield: 12 to 16 Servings
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) box hard lasagna noodles
1 lb. lean ground beef
26 oz. homemade marinara sauce or 1-1 lb. 10 oz. jar pasta sauce (recommend traditional or original flavors)
1 pasta sauce jar full of water
8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1/8-inch slices
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/8-inch slices
1 (16 oz.) tub fat free, low fat, or regular ricotta cheese
Parmesan cheese
Method:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Brown ground beef in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat. Once browned, drain any excess fat and add pasta sauce. Stir to combine. Fill emptied sauce jar with water, replace lid and shake to release any sauce stuck to the sides of the jar. Pour into the skillet with the meat mixture. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer.
In a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking dish, arrange uncooked lasagna noodles in a single layer to completely cover the bottom (usually 4 vertical and 1 horizontal to fill the pan,) breaking as necessary to fit. Add enough sauce to cover noodles in a generous layer, about one third of the sauce. Top with one layer of Monterrey Jack cheese, completely covering the sauce. Next spread half of the ricotta cheese over the top of the sliced cheese and sprinkle with parmesan. Place a second layer of noodles in the pan. Pour another third of the sauce over the noodles. Top with a layer of mozzarella cheese, the rest of the ricotta and another sprinkle of parmesan. Lay a third layer of noodles on top of the cheese and pour remaining sauce over the top. If you feel you will need more sauce to generously cover the top of the lasagna, just add more water. Top with one more sprinkle of parmesan.
Cover pan with foil and press foil on sides to make a tight seal on the pan. This is very important to keep the lasagna moist. Bake for one hour. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes.
