Lasagne (NOT Lasagna)

First of all, wow! This turned out to be one of my top three! It also turned out to be an insane amount of work. So, to save you work and wasted time, I'm going to start this recipe with

WHAT NOT TO DO: 

1) Don't start this recipe at 7:00 pm after a t-ball game. Just don't.  (Be completely aware that if you do start this at 7:00 pm after a t-ball game, you are not going to eat until 11:00 pm. You will be in the kitchen at 8:30 eating Cheetos from the bag and drinking beer while you put together a gourmet meal from scratch...and it WILL feel ironic.)

2) Don't stack the fresh noodles (which, incidentally took an hour of work to make) into a pile and wrap them in plastic wrap while you wait for the water to boil. They will become a stack-o-noodle (yes, that IS singular stack-o-noodle.) As it turns out, they stick....to each other.

3) Don't forget to add the egg to the fresh ricotta before layering the lasagne (we'll get to that later, yes I did make ricotta cheese and felt like a rock-star doing it- like a Martha Stewart in leather pants, Hall and Oates cover band kind of rock-star maybe, but dammit I made cheese!) because no matter how good it turns out, you will wonder how much better it would've been if you had just remembered the egg.

4) Finally, and as usual...don't forget to look thoroughly at your recipe first and decide what ingredients you need.  Prep them and have them ready to go.  The French call this mise en place.  I call it not making a hundred trips to the grocery store for one more onion.

THINGS TO DEFINITELY DO:

1) Do make your pasta from scratch.  It makes all the difference in the world.  And boil the pasta sheets before you use them (just drop them in boiling, well salted water for 1-2 minutes.) Don't worry if they are a little small or misshapen from the stack-o-noodle incident...everybody knows its not the size of the pasta that matters, it's how you use it (and these were used well...this recipe turned out incredibly.)

2) Do make your own ricotta cheese. It's super easy to make, and has a flavor much more wonderful and intense than what you will find at the store. It's even cheaper to make it at home!  I made a double batch, since it can be refrigerated up to 3 days. 

3) Do purchase a decent bottle of red wine to add dimension to the ragu.  I used a moderately priced Australian Cabernet, and it worked wonderfully.  Rule of thumb, if you wont drink it, don't put it in the food.  DO serve the rest of the bottle with the meal.

4) Do prepare your ingredients separately, over the period of a day or so.  Below is the process for making this in 3 hours, but it can be quite spread out.  Most of these components refrigerate well, especially the ragu, bechamel sauce, the meat mixture and the ricotta. 

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This recipe is my own creation, with the exceptions of the ricotta cheese recipe from Simply Recipes  and the pasta recipe from Food Network (also used in my mushroom ravioli recipe.) 

THE INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe lasagna noodles (click HERE for recipe)

1 recipe bechamel (click HERE for recipe)

1 recipe ragu (click HERE for recipe)

1 recipe ricotta cheese (click HERE for recipe)

2 eggs, beaten

16 oz fresh mozzarella cheese

16 oz. frozen, drained spinach

1 lb spicy Italian sausage, removed from the casings

1 lb ground beef

1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano

Good Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

THE TIMING:  

1) T-3 hours.  Mix the pasta dough and let it sit at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap for at least an hour.

2) T-2 hours  Prepare the ragu. While it cooks...snarf some Cheetos and Blue Moon.

3) T-2 hours. Prepare the ricotta cheese. Use a bigger pot than you think you will need.

4) T-2 hours. Cook the meat mixture and set aside.

4) T-1 hour  Start boiling water for pasta.

6) T-1 hour Make the bechamel sauce.

7) T-1 hour Preheat oven to 350. MIX eggs and ricotta (I forgot this step.) Set aside.

8) T-1 hour Begin rolling your pasta sheets.

9) T-45 minutes Build your lasagna.

10) T-35 minutes Put lasagna in the oven.

THE PROCESS:

In the bottom of a 9*13 pan swirl about 2-3 Tbsp bechamel.  Top with 1/2 cup of ragu.  Layer fresh pasta one next to the other and top with more bechamel and ragu.  Then add all of the spinach and 1/2 of the ricotta egg mixture.  Add another layer of pasta.  Add more bechamel, then all of the meat mixture and the rest of the ricotta.  Top with ragu. Add another layer of pasta, top with the remaining bechamel and ragu. Add sliced fresh mozzarella and grated parmigiano reggiano to completely cover the top of the dish. Put the baking dish onto a sheet pan to prevent drips on the oven floor. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes until bubbly and brown and wonderful.  Enjoy!

THE RECIPES:

Pasta:

(from Food Network Magazine)

1 pound all-purpose flour (about 33/4 cups), plus more for dusting

5 large eggs

3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Semolina or polenta, for the baking sheet

Make the dough. Mound the flour on a large cutting board and make a wide well in the middle. Add the eggs and olive oil and season with salt. Beat the eggs with a fork, then use the fork to break the wall of the well and incorporate the flour into the eggs. Gather the dough into a ball; don't worry if there are lumps.

Knead the dough. Using the heels of your hands, push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself and push again (put your whole body into it!). Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and supple, 10 to 15 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest at least 1 hour at room temperature.

Roll out the dough. Cut the dough into four pieces. Flatten one piece slightly, then run it through the widest setting on a pasta roller twice, dusting with flour in between if it feels sticky. Fold the length of dough into thirds and run it through the roller two to three more times. Continue running the dough through the roller, reducing the width setting between each run, until you reach the second-to-last setting and the dough is about 1/16 inch thick. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. With a fluted edge pastry cutter (or a pizza cutter will do) slice the dough into lasagna shaped noodles.  Lay SEPARATELY covered with a tea towel until ready to drop into a large pot of boiling, salted water for a minute or two. Rinse and drain on a bakers rack.

Ricotta: 

2 quarts whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half

2 cups whole milk yogurt

4 tsp white vinegar

pinch of salt

Bring all ingredients to a boil over med. high heat in a very large saucepan. It is not necessary to stir. GENTLY boil for 2-3 minutes until the milk curdles.  Line a colander with a tea towel and set over a large, deep bowl.  Pour the milk into the colander to drain the whey from the curds. Let drain another 15 minutes.  Set aside to use later.  Can be refrigerated, covered for up to 3 days.

Bechamel:

2 tbs butter

2 tbs flour

nutmeg

1 cup of whole milk
In a ceramic mug in the microwave, heat the milk until hot to the touch (about 1 1/2 minutes.) Set aside.  In another mug, heat the butter until melted.  Using a fork, whisk together the butter and the flour until smooth. Add milk slowly, whisking at the same time until smooth and thickened. Add a pinch of nutmeg.  Return the mixture to the microwave and cook ALMOST to boiling (just another minute) whisk again.  Set aside for use in the lasagna.

Ragu: 

1 carrot diced

1 stick of celery diced

1 onion diced

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped 

1 clove 

4 bay leaves

2 32 ounce cans of tomato

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/2 Tbsp dried oregeno

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

1 Tbsp butter.

Add olive oil to a large, deep, heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Heat almost until smoking.  Add onions and garlic, cover and cook until translucent 6 or so minutes.  Add celery and carrots cook another 10 minutes or until tender.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  De-glaze the pan with red wine.  Add tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano and clove.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour.  Add 1 tbsp of butter to cut the acidity down. Set aside for use in the lasagna.

 

Shortcut Bruschetta

Alright.  It's probably on the Blogroll ten deadly sins to repeat a recipe, especially directly after itself; but I wanted to let you all in on the shortcut recipe for bruschetta I worked up tonight.  Hubby is working a 48 hour marathon shift, so it's just the kids and I, but I had a mean craving for bruschetta.  Usually (as noted in the previous post) bruschetta is a lot of work.  Chopping, mixing, blanching, seeding, mixing, chilling...more work than I'm going to do just for myself, and the kids certainly aren't going to touch this with a ten foot pole.  I checked out the canned versions at the grocery store but couldn't bring myself to do it. Sooo...here it is SHORTCUT BRUSCHETTA. 


PS.  It turned out pretty good.  The texture wasn't as great as the diced version, but the flavor was amazing.

1) Start with a fresh baguette.  Instead of slicing it on the diagonal at home, have the baker slice it into 3/8 inch slices for you (or whatever thickness you like, 3/8 works really well for me.)

2) Instead of blanching, seeding, and dicing fresh tomatoes, pick up GOOD canned tomatoes.  I use imported San Marzano tomatoes if I have to use canned.  THIS IS THE MAIN INGREDIENT in your dish so splurge a little.

3) Pick up basil, or pick some from the garden. I used 15-20 good sized leaves.

4) Throw it all in the food processor with some pre-minced garlic, sea salt and GOOD olive oil (again, it all comes down to good ingredients.  The better food you start with the better food you end with!)

5) Feed the kids Chinese take out. Open a bottle of white zinfendel grudgingly because you forgot it was Sunday and all the liquor stores close at 6, therefore having to raid the wine rack at home when you really wanted Pinot Noir.

6) While the kids are eating take out, heat the oven to 450.  Drizzle the sliced bread with olive oil, and bake for 10-12 minutes until they are golden brown and yummy looking.

7) PUT THE KIDS TO BED. 

8) Snarf it. Die over the fact that this is crazy good.  Pat yourself on the back and remind yourself that it is SOOO worth cooking for one sometimes, especially when its this easy.

Handmade Ravioli and Bruschetta

Yum! A few weeks ago I found a recipe in Food Network Magazine for a Ricotta-Tallegio Ravioli with Wild Mushroom Sauce.  We're talking handmade pasta here (as opposed to foot-made pasta, which evidently is how pasta was made until around the late 18th century...as per the owners manual to my new pasta machine...MY NEW PASTA MACHINE! Which I love.  It's a hand crank thingy, not so much a Kitchen-Aid Stand-Mixer-Attachment-Thingy and I feel quite novel hand cranking my own pasta.)

After searching extensively throughout Wichita for Tallegio cheese and finding none and no good substitutions (evidently it is Italy's answer to Brie -- and being aged for only 40 days the FDA will not allow it imported into the US) I decided to scrap the recipe and give portabello ravioli a try.  Mushroom ravioli is one of my all time fav's when dining out and I have tried it at a lot of different restaurants so I winged a recipe. 
I topped it with an asiago cheese alfredo sauce, which I loved...but I felt like it was just too much and the ravioli would have been better showcased with a much lighter, more simple finish...after some research I've found that a butter/sage sauce is quite popular with mushroom ravioli.  I'll post the asiago cheese sauce recipe another time this week with a fresh fettuchini and blackened chicken meal.  I didn't do a lot of measuring while preparing the ravioli filling so these measurements are approximate.  As always, use what you have and adjust to your taste.

I did however, keep exactly to the basic pasta recipe from Food Network Magazine (it follows below)  because I have never made pasta at home before.  It was amazing.  I will forever make fresh pasta from scratch instead of buying dried pasta at the store (when I have time, and energy...and time...because it takes a lot of time.)

I also made bruschetta as something yummy to snack on while I cooked up everything in the kitchen.  It's a favorite when I cook Italian food so I've included that recipe as well.

FINAL NOTE:  Please try this recipe.  It is amazing!  If you try it, let us know what you thought. I love comments, recommendations and especially subscriptions as this blog takes off!  Thanks for reading!


BRUSCHETTA

1 baguette
5 or 6 plum or roma tomatoes
10-12 large basil leaves
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp (or so) of GOOD olive oil
1 tsp of GOOD balsamic vinegar
Finely grated parmigiano reggiano
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Move your oven rack to the top slot.  Preheat to 450.  Then, bring a large pot of water to boiling. Once it reaches boiling, remove from the heat and drop in the tomatoes for 1 minute.  Remove the tomatoes and peel the skin from the them.  Cut them in half and remove the seeds, dice them into small pieces. Finely chop the garlic, chop the basil and mix all the ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate.

Slice the baguette on the diagonal.  Arrange the slices onto a baking sheet and brush each slice with olive oil.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.

Serve the baguette with the bowl of bruschetta and grated cheese on the side or top the slices last minute, so they don't become soggy.

RAVIOLI

Pasta (from Food Network Magazine):

1 pound all-purpose flour (about 33/4 cups), plus more for dusting
5 large eggs
3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Semolina or polenta, for the baking sheet

Filling:

8 oz. of ricotta cheese
8 oz of baby portabella mushrooms
1/2 small white onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of chicken stock
2 or 3 tbsp of butter
Fresh thyme
Salt and Freshly ground pepper


For the pasta:

Make the dough. Mound the flour on a large cutting board and make a wide well in the middle. Add the eggs and olive oil and season with salt. Beat the eggs with a fork, then use the fork to break the wall of the well and incorporate the flour into the eggs. Gather the dough into a ball; don't worry if there are lumps.

Knead the dough. Using the heels of your hands, push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself and push again (put your whole body into it!). Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and supple, 10 to 15 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest at least 1 hour at room temperature.

While the dough rests make the filling.   Melt 2-3 tbsp of butter on medium heat.  Add onions and garlic.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until onions are transparent.  Add sliced baby portabellos. Cook for 5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to sweat.  Add chicken stock.  Cook for another 10-15 minutes until the liquid evaporates.  Add the mushrooms and ricotta to the bowl of a food processor and blend together.  Add thyme and salt and pepper. Pulse until well incorporated.

Roll out the dough. Cut the dough into four pieces. Flatten one piece slightly, then run it through the widest setting on a pasta roller twice, dusting with flour in between if it feels sticky. Fold the length of dough into thirds and run it through the roller two to three more times. Continue running the dough through the roller, reducing the width setting between each run, until you reach the second-to-last setting and the dough is about 1/16 inch thick. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Layer half of the dough sheets between parchment paper, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month (you'll only need half of the dough for the ravioli recipe).

Assemble the ravioli. Place the lengths of dough on a floured surface. Lightly brush the lower half of each strip (the part closest to you) with water. Snip the corner off the pastry bag; pipe 1-inch balls of filling, 2 inches apart, onto the lower half of each strip. Fold the dough over the filling to meet the bottom edge. Press around each ball of filling with your index fingers, making sure there are no air bubbles. Cut out the ravioli using a 2-to-3-inch round fluted cutter. Transfer to a baking sheet dusted with semolina.

Cook the ravioli. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil; add the ravioli and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer with a skimmer or slotted spoon to the pan with the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, shaking the pan.

Heuvos Rancheros

I'm a bad mother. I should be punished by a horrible, untimely death, a lifetime of gastronomic disasters, meringue that won't hold peaks... or perhaps I'll just send myself to bed early. Why? Tonight, my kids ate TV dinners. In front of the TV. It was glorious.

In my defense, it was just the kids and I for dinner as hubby is working again, and i really wanted huevos rancheros ...really, really. My kiddies won't touch eggs with a ten foot fork unless they are baked into something with a half a pound of butter or sugar; and I'm sick of macaroni and cheese and pizza. Eating out wasn't so much of an option because the last time I went searching for an authentic Mexican taqueria I made the mistake of googling after I visited (and ate.)  I stumbled upon the failed health report for my fleetingly new fav place.  So tonight, as I love to do, I'm testing my culinary skills with homemade huevos rancheros.  At least I won't have to worry about the failure to remove dead pests from the workspace. Yep, really on the health department report.

I'm not really working off a recipe here, huevos rancheros is a pretty straight forward dish, and much of what I love about Mexican food is that you can really use what you have on hand, so feel free to substitute, add and experiment.  The ingredients I used are listed below:

2 Eggs
2 Yellow Corn Tortillas
Canned Refried Beans
Fire Roasted Salsa
Avocado
Queso Fresco (a crumbly Mexican specialty cheese -- you can usually find it in the cheese aisle at large supermarkets)
Cilantro

First, warm the tortillas in a lightly oiled skillet while you fry the eggs. Remember to preheat your skillet first, until a drop of water sizzles then add a bit of oil, preheat for another few seconds and add the tortillas. NEVER put cold food in a hot skillet -- it will stick like crazy! I think the best way to eat huevos rancheros is a lightly set yolk -- maybe an over-medium, but cook them to your preference.  Stack your tortillas, spread them with a few spoonfuls of refried beans, top with the fried eggs, salsa, crumbled Queso Fresco a couple slices of avocado, a few sprigs of cilantro and fiesta! (Maybe just a teeny tiny fiesta for one person, and a bottle of Mexican beer.) 

Note: This was crazy good.  Crazy, crazy good.  I may even force feed it to my picky-eating children soon.  A few variations I would like to try in this recipe includes homemade tortillas, easy but time consuming, homemade refried beans (for which I have an amazing recipe thanks to my mothers cousin Suzie Morales) or black beans as well as substituting pico de gallo or salsa verde for the the salsa.


Thanks for reading!  Happy Fiesta-ing :)

Middle Eastern Beef Kebabs and Dolmades

Alright. It was bound to happen. Not a good experiment.  Crazy tons of work.  One of those meals that you don't quite realize what you're in for until you've started...and not terribly good.  Ok, pretty bad, actually.

It started with a startlingly expensive cut of meat at the supermarket -- beef tenderloin (which, as it turns out boys and girls, is just fillet mignon.)  Then a homemade marinade...onions, a million fresh herbs and spices...and a date with a food processor.  Then, while my retirement fund marinated in the refrigerator I made the dolmades. 
Dolmades are cigar shaped rolls made of grape leaves and a savory stuffing.  The recipe I used included carrot, garlic, lots of dill, lemon and lemon zest, chicken stock and rice. They were incredibly time consuming and irritating to make! Unrolling the pickled grape leaves was a meal prep in itself!  Upon removing the smooshed wad of leaves from the jar, I had to peel them apart, unroll them, sort through them..Ugh!  I don't mind this kind of work for something fantastic, but as it turns out...these do not fit the bill!
Then spooning the rice filling and rolling them into baby Mediterranean burritos, followed by steaming them for another 1/2 hour.

The kebabs turned out to be lacking also.  The gas tank for the grill was empty after a long winter, so I broiled the kebabs instead, which turned out fine, though there was not much of a sear on the meat. I had high hopes for the homemade marinade, but it turned out to be weird tasting.  I think it was too many combinations of unfamiliar spices; specifically Dill, mint, cumin, cayenne, thyme, tons of onion, lemon juice and lemon zest and olive oil.  I may be forgetting something.

The entire family agrees that the best part of dinner was the veggie and hummus tray I served as an appetizer. Oh, well.  As it turns out, I'm a bit more all-American when it comes to cuisine than I may have once thought.  And so is my family. The final word: save your time...save your money, and if you must buy an un-godly expensive cut of meat throw it on the grill, serve it with a salad, a baked potato some A-1 bold and spicy and a good beer.

Chicken Quesadillas and Corn Relish

On days when my husband isn't home and I'm cooking for just the kids and myself, I like to keep it simpler.  Less prep, less mess...that way, when the complaints from my picky-eating kids come rolling in I'm less frustrated being the only one enjoying dinner -- because it took less work to prepare.

Tonight being one of those nights it's chicken quesadillas with corn relish and a pre-made bagged green salad on the side.

The quesadillas were great, and proved as easy as I hoped they would be.  I couldn't believe that I didn't even miss the cheese! The corn relish was a cinch and super fresh tasting.  Word to the wise.  Don't cook a 10 inch flour tortilla filled with goodness in a 10 inch skillet.  You run into issues.  Use a bigger one.

Recipe:

Corn Relish
1 cup of frozen corn - thawed
1/2 green bell pepper diced
1 medium tomato seeded and dice
2 tsp of balsalmic vinegar (do yourself a favor and buy the good stuff, you will use it in everything)
dash of salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and let rest while you make the quesadillas.

Quesadillas
6 10" flour tortillas
1/3 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
3/4 cup chunky salsa
1 1/2 cup diced cooked chicken

Dice the chicken from frozen (about 2 medium breasts.) Cook until heated through, only a few minutes.  Combine chicken and other ingredients in a medium bowl and divide between 3 tortillas.  Top with the remaining tortillas and heat in a very large skillet for 2-3 minutes per side.   Serve with corn relish.

Changes in the Digital Wind

Dear Blog Fans (all 2 of you),

Last June I spiral fractured 2 bones in my right leg while rollerblading.  I was in the hospital for days, have undergone 2 surgeries so far, with more scheduled this year to remove screws and rods and who knows what else.  It stopped my workouts immediately and i am profoundly less active than I was last summer. How does this relate to cooking? Well, if you scroll through my old posts and recipes you will find a few common ingredients: cream, sour cream, processed flours, breads and pastas, cheeses galore, and lots of fatty meat cuts.  Now that I am much less active these recipes are not so great for my "bottom line."

What you can expect to see in the near-future at least are some healthy alternatives to those fatty, heavy meals.  In perfect time for spring and summer, the cream based sauces are out and the fresh herbs and vegetables are in, as well as healthier meat selections, and some new twists on some ethnic favorites. 

I would love to hear your comments, or suggestions on this new path the blog is taking, and I hope for your continued readership and support!

Cassie