You’ve reminded me of another of my Home Ec creations. We were all supposed to somehow turn out an A-line skirt, sewing the thing on an actual sewing machine. Never in my life had I even seen a sewing machine, except maybe in the American History museum. But it wasn’t going too badly until I needed to sew on the waistband. I somehow sewed the waist of the skirt shut, like a big bag. Such a scene broke out. Miss Home Ec was actually motioning to strike me, but thankfully never did. One of the industrious nerds in the class suggested I stuff it with a fluffy insert and then sew up the bottom, the hem, to make a pillow. This I did. It was actually kind of nice. A big purple floral pillow. One of my cats slept on it for several years.

Onward and upward, I suppose.

Erica

So the home ec lady wanted us to make Chicken à la King. Ok, no problem. I whipped up a perfectly smooth béchamel. To my horror, the class bell rang and she asked us to wrap up our sauces and finish the dish the next day. Of course that next day, we unveiled our now clotted sauces. Then further defiled them with the addition of precooked chicken and a frozen peas and carrot combo.

Next she taught us how to make toast ! in a toaster !! upon which to serve the horridly lumpy concoction.

The next year my school started letting the girls take shop instead. Tough luck for me.

Oh yeah, my mom (you know from the same neck of the italian woods as some of your family – Avellino) used to use the “shit on a shingle” metaphore as one of her most scathing insults for all manners of things she disliked. Thankfully, she had the elegance and taste to never serve us the dish.

Thanks for evoking the memory !

Parsley is growing strong outside, I’ll add that to the mix.

Thanks again for a lovely recipe – or should I say for lovely recipes. I enjoy your posts and your combination of flavors a lot.

Sylvie

I’ve actually got pots of all sorts of herbs growing inside on my windowsill, with the aid of a grow light. The do pretty well in winter. Some, such as wild fennel, are just starting to pop up. Being a city girl I don’t have a proper garden, but my little cluster of green pots keeps me pretty happy. I’ve also got mini Genoa basil, marjoram (which I also used in the lasagna), savory, mentuccia, a Southern Italian wild mint, thyme and rosemary. I tried tarragon this year but so far so bad, but I’ll give it some more time.YOu never know. I get seeds from growitalian.com (I believe that’s the address, it’s on my links page), so if you’re ever interested in real Italian vegetable varieties, stuff like Calabrian eggplants or Sicilian zucca or San Marzano cherry tomatoes, give them a try.

The lasagna should work well with spinach and a little frozen basil as long as the basil doesn’t darken too much.

Happy Holiday cooking to you.

Erica

Thank you, Erica.