As I said before, my mother calls it “an adventure in eating.” There’s another saying: third time’s the charm. That’s valid in this case. Due to my son being sick on the day of the Scout event we were making this for, I skipped making it altogether the “first time.” The second time was the awful accident with the glass baking dish. But I was determined we would make and eat this dish.
The third time came at the end of February – there’s been so much going on that writing about it has gotten shoved down the list. I got a new pan, more like the one all the recipes tell you to use, and I set out to make it one last time. I still had all of the ingredients, and I was determined to use them successfully, serve this dish, and be able to actually eat what I made.
Due to the time it takes to prepare, this won’t be a regular rotation meal by any means. The number of ingredients, the number of steps, and the sheer time it takes is not something a home chef with a busy schedule otherwise can easily take on each week.
The accomplishment in my book though is that I did it. Having made the dish once before, I changed things up a bit. I made the topping sauce first, then the meat sauce. I cooked the pasta while I made the topping sauce, meaning I used my larger skillet for the sauce that was overflowing out of one of my smaller pans the first time. The timing was better for everything, but most importantly, I made sure all the stove top burners were off, just to be safe.
Everything worked out! From beginning to end, things went much more smoothly than before. Plus, I had a husband and son who were asking for seconds and thirds! Bonus: it tastes just as good as a leftover as it does fresh from the over. As with any dish, I learned a couple more tricks, and with feedback from my guys, know what I’ll do next time to make it even better.
When will next time be? That’s still up for debate.
Have you ever made a dish that didn’t turn out and decided to try again? How did it turn out the next time? Is it part of your regular menu? Tell me about it on Facebook!