Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Michele's Winter Vegetable Lasagna – Looked So Good, Looks So Bad

I knew it was too dark to film, but I did it anyway. That's how great the vegetable lasagna my wife, Michele, was making looked when I got home a few evenings ago. It's hard to believe something that looked so appetizing in person, could look so dark and depressing on film.

I strictly film during the day, because I think food looks so much better in natural light, and I really don't want to give in to having floodlights set up in my kitchen at night. Our home is already one big food video studio as it is, which is why I stubbornly cling to my diurnal modus operandi (just got a sweet new thesaurus app).

So, the results were predictably poor, and instead of wasting valuable time voicing over such a dreary looking video, we decided we would make it again during the day. Which works out for another reason, as we thought of a few additions/improvements after tasting. Stay tuned for the "real" Michele's Winter Vegetable Lasagna recipe coming soon. Enjoy!




12 cooked lasagna noodles
8 oz mozzarella
3 or 4 cups cheese sauce (you can use this recipe here and use whatever cheese you like)
3 cups cubed roasted butternut squash
1 bunch cooked broccoli rabe
parmesan as needed
pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
*Note: the next version will included lemon zest and goat cheese

30 comments:

Unknown said...

While I agree with you that food does tend to look better under natural light, it looks to me like your biggest problem with filming at night was that your camera was improperly white balanced. It looks like your camera was white balanced for daylight instead of artificial light which is why everything had that weird yellowish hue. Although, it seems you remedied your problem in the final shot of the casserole dish.

Chef John said...

yes, the shoot at the end was the next day. i can adjust wb on photos but not sure about the video mode. its not a camcorder, just an SLR. thanks!

Meg said...

even in the dark, that looks delicious! can't wait for the "real deal!"

Rita said...

looks like crap? i hope you're not talking about her cooking. AHAHAHA!

that lasagna still looks good to me!

Steve said...

Chef:

Hey, it wasn't as bad as all that.

Still looks delicious.

Joyce said...

[This comment deals with nothing about the post] Just got the e-mail, congrats on getting nominated for Best Home Chef in a Series!

Asian Malaysian said...

Meh, it aint that bad. Ive watch M. Night's Last Airbender. Immune!

Sarah @ Daily Nibbles said...

Oooh...I LOVE lasagna. I want to try out this recipe soon.

On another note, I went to your video session at the Foodbuzz festival. You were so funny and gave great tips! I don't normally do video, but you inspired me to give it a whirl. My first attempt: http://dailynibbles.com/2010/11/10/foodbuzz-festival-recapping-the-weekend-festivities/

However, the videos are so small on my blog. I can't figure out how to make them larger. And they don't show up at all in Google Reader.

Thanks again!! Love your site.

~Sarah @ Daily Nibbles

blogagog said...

Nothing tastes quite as good as noddles.

Chef John said...

Thanks! Did you upload to YouTube? If so you can change the video size there before you copy the code.

Sarah @ Daily Nibbles said...

I uploaded to vimeo and couldn't find out to change the size and embed into wordpress.com.

Anonymous said...

Mmm... noddles! ;-)

Chef John said...

I only use YouTube these days, but if you type "change size" in the help box on Vimeo, it will show you the settings for changing that. You basically just type in the numbers and it changes the code. Good luck!

C said...

hey chef john!
i love ur videos!!! and well i'm a student. and i'm not gonna roast butternut squash or find broccoli rabe... any other good alternatives to those? i'm thinking eggplant cuz i cant find it easily and zucchini and spinach.

any words of advice?
please
UR AWESOME!

C said...

hey chef john!
i love your videos!!
i'm a student and i really want to make this lasagna but i'm not going to roast butternut squash... or know where to begin to find broccoli rabe... any alternatives? i'm thinking eggplant, zucchini and spinach...

any words of advice?

Chef John said...

Any cooked vegetable will work! Whatever you like add it. Good luck!

lunitare said...

Just made this for dinner tonight. I waited for a Sunday so I had plenty of time. I used Chard instead of Broccoli Rabe (b/c I had it on hand) and walnuts instead of hazelnuts (b/c I forgot to get them!).

Regardless, of your video quality etc. it was DELICIOUS!!! Took a good 4 hours in total, but well worth all the prep work!!!

lunitare said...

So I don't suppose you have a written version of this recipe I can steal? I'm putting together a cookbook for christmas gifts and I'd like to include this. But, it's hard for me to translate a video recipe to written form..

Chef John said...

no, sorry, i dont, but if you do one i'd love a copy!

lunitare said...

Written recipe coming your way! I emailed you a link to my Tastebook where I wrote out the full recipe. Hopefully it doesn't go to your junk mail.

Chef John said...

I will find it! Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

how did you roast your butternut squash?

cdcphoenix said...

It looks fine, but I'm eager to see the new post.
I love the intro to this video, with the ominous music against the black. You have a great sense of humour.
Thanks for sharing.

philogaia said...

This recipe was a hit! I tossed the squash cubes with coriander, red pepper, and white pepper before roasting with olive oil. I'm not a huge fan of broccoli rabe and regular broccoli didn't seem quite right so I steamed some Swiss chard and added garlic to the water. I put feta cheese in the chard layer along with the mozzarella and used almond milk in the cheese sauce (pathetic attempt to limit the dairy in this dish.)Finally, I used brown rice lasagna noodles instead of wheat. Wow. The house smelled amazing while this cooked and folks loved it. Several asked for the recipe. I'll send them this link. ;)

Badzil said...

Hi Chef John!

I've been staying tuned for a while now and I've not seen the new improved version of this video. Is this still something you're planning to do?

Cheers.

Almisael1 said...

hey chef john, you never did this recipe for real.

winter is coming soon, are you going to make it?

Null By Mouth said...

Still hanging in for an updated version with your "additions". Heartfelt thanks for all your inspiration, Chef John!

Unknown said...

Why??

Redcaddy said...

So......where's the update? ??????

Unknown said...

I've been staying tunes for years. Is it coming?