Pasta Night!!

You know how sometimes you just get the craving to do things? Well, that's definitely how I've felt recently. I love get-togethers and I love to eat. I wanted to see family and friends have a good time so I decided to have Pasta Night at my place. One of my friends referred to me as the Black Martha Stewart lol. Although I'm not making hand carved bread bowls out of sourdough bread with home made soup in it, I'll take that title! And I'll hopefully improve on my craft as I go along.Hosting things are fun. I think right now in my life this is the happiest that I have been. I've moved to a location which is closer to my family and it really makes me even happier to cook, host and see everyone full and enjoying themselves. With no further due, I bring you Pasta Night! 

Some of my ingredients from the Reading Market Terminal

My initial Set up

Decoration

Hot sausages, Lasagna Rolls in progress (& my cell phone for some reason)

The picture above is a shot of me the beginning stages of my Lasagna Rolls. I decided on making these because I never have tried my hand at making a full lasagna and I figured that this would probably not be the best time to try and experiment with making one because I did not want to disappoint my friends and family with a crappy lasagna. While online looking for alternative items for my pasta night I came across a delightful little recipe for something called "Lasagna Rolls" from a website, myrecipes.com.
For a first timer, I must say that making the Lasagna Rolls is pretty simple. The shortened version of the process is shown below.

1.) Fully cook the lasagna noodles and lay them on a flat surface.

(I put foil under them so I wouldn't make a complete mess)

2.)Lightly spread Ricotta Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Sauce onto the Lasagna

(and any other ingredient of your choice such as spinach, peppers or mushrooms)

3.) Slowly roll the lasagna noodle forward and make sure the seams are facing down.

(Don't forget to oil the bottom before placing them into the baking pan. Will help them not to stick)

The table in the midst of the craziness

Dig in everyone!

I got a little excited and cut it before the pic was taken

Thinking of having your own pasta night? Don't think about it. Do it! It will be so much fun and your guest will have a blast sampling all the various pasta dishes you will prepare. Try to include dishes that have different sauces like Alfredo sauces, tomato sauces, meat, vegetable sauces and various cheeses like Parmesan, asiago and mozzarella Also, try to use various types of pasta such as penne, angel hair, bow tie, fettuccine and linguine. (I am getting hungry just thinking about it) When it comes to incorporating meats into your pasta night, aim for things like sausages with peppers, grilled chicken, meatballs, veal, mussels and shrimp. These meats always turns up the meal a notch. Side dishes are also essentials for any pasta night always should include some type of garlic bread, and perhaps a salad. At my pasta night my aunt made a delicious crab salad (I will post the recipe soon)

For pasta night decor you can go as mild or wild as you'd like depending on the nature of the gathering. Because my gathering was just for a good time and not a special event, I kept it simple with the traditional red and white checkered table cloth for that "restaurant" feel. The key is, have fun with your event and you can be sure that others will too.