Mangiamo!

I made spinach lasagne last night for some of my Norwegian friends. No big deal, right? Oh, but it is a big deal--I haven't made lasagne or anything else Italian for years. You see, we lived in Chicago, and then in central New York for the past 6 years. These are areas of the country with large pockets of Italian Americans and some of the best Italian food ever! I would never have dared to make any kind of pasta dish for guests in Chicago or New York. I think that using sauce from a jar is a capital offense in those parts of the country--I even know people who make their own gnocchi and fettucine!
But now I'm here in Norway, and the only Italian restaurants in town are owned by people from the Middle East. I'm not knocking pizza drizzled in kebab sauce, or calimari fritti served on a bed of rice with pineapple sauce, I'm just saying I now live among people who don't have preconceived notions of what authentic Italian food tastes like. So I went grocery shopping and bought lasagne noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, tomato sauce, spinach and garlic. And yes, the sauce was in a jar (store brand, no less!), the Parmesan was in a can, and because I couldn't find ricotta, I ended up substituting cottage cheese. Anyone with a drop of Italian blood running through their veins reading this post is probably recoiling in horror right now! Luckily, I was cooking for Norwegians, and they loved it! I had to laugh when they marvelled at how long it must have taken me to prepare the dish. (These are people who spend 3 months making rakfisk!) I think my lasagne took about 10 minutes to slap together, and then an hour in the oven. So obscenely easy for such high praise! From now on, just call me Chef Boyardee!