Vegetable Lasagna

Vegetable Lasagne

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

It has been a pretty gloomy and cool weekend so I decided to warm the house with a freshly prepared lasagna. You can’t go wrong with lasagna and in general you simply layer the noodles, sauce and cheese and bake and it will be good. I wanted to something a bit beyond that – it took a little more time, but the end result was well worth it.

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees

half and seed a red pepper – sprinkle with olive oil
cut the top off a head of garlic – place in olive oil and wrap in foil

Put both of these in the oven – remove peppers when the skin is blistered – place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and set aside until cool – when cool – remove skin and then slice peppers into bite size pieces – you can add to sauce or just add when you layer the cheese and sauce

Remove garlic when it is soft – let cool a bit and then extract the cloves and set aside.

In a cast iron skillet I put about 15 grape tomatoes and about a tablespoon of olive oil…I turned the burner on high – when the tomatoes soften and break – reduce heat. I then added marinara sauce, and random veggies I had left over – some broccoli, a few shredded carrots and I think a few pieces of cauliflower. Add about a cup of red wine and a dash of ground red pepper and let simmer for as long as you want – I think I let mine simmer about 45 minutes. Add roasted garlic cloves to the sauce then start the water to boil for the pasta. (don’t forget to salt and oil the water)

Prepare lasagna dish with some non stick spray. When the noodles are soft – drain and rinse with cold water – put a layer of noodles in the pan – top with some sauce, and fresh spinach, ricotta, feta and a layer of mozzarella cheese…repeat process for three layers – add fourth layer of noodles – top with sauce – cover with cheeses and bake in 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes until bubbling and cheese is slightly browned.

Pasta Puttanesca

Pasta Puttanesca

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

A nice spicy pasta dish for a cold Sunday evening…
Ingredients:
5 tbs of olive oil
1 yellow onion (diced)
1 tbs. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tbs. anchovy paste
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tbs. tomato paste
2 cans of diced tomatoes (oops I think I only used one)
1 tbs. of capers
1/2 cup pitted olives (I left these out)
Fresh basil
flat leaf parsley
black pepper to taste

Saute’ one onion in olive oil; stirring occasionally, lightly caramelize the onion….add garlic, anchovy paste, red pepper flakes – saute’ for about 1 minute; add tomato paste and saute’ for about 1 minute. Add chopped tomatoes and 1 tbs of capers. Cook until sauce is thickened – put over cooked pasta and enjoy….traditional puttanesca calls for black olives, but I don’t care that much for olives so I left them out. Yum, yum, yum.

Baked Pumpkin Risotto

Baked Pumpkin Risotto

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

I was watching “Ask Aida” today and she was having a vegetarian show – she made baked pumpkin risotto – despite the fact that she used chicken broth rendering it non-vegetarian – I gave this a try with veggie broth – I put my changes in parenthesis

* 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
* 2 cups arborio rice
* 2 cups pumpkin or butternut squash, small dice (I used butternut squash)
* 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
* 1/2 medium yellow onion, minced
* 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil (my basil froze so I left it out)
* 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
* 2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (I used yogurt)
* 2 tablespoons olive oil (I forgot to do this part)

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F and arrange a rack in the middle.

Combine broth, rice, squash, puree, and onion in a 3-quart baking dish, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and stir to evenly combine. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake, stirring occasionally, until most the water has been absorbed and rice granules are puffed, about 35 to 30 minutes.

Remove from oven, stir in remaining ingredients, season to taste and serve.

Mine took about 45 minutes – I don’t know if the oven just wasn’t hot enough or what, but I definitely needed more time than the allotted. It was, however, very tasty and something I will definitely do again. I just served this with some hot bread – no sides, it was plenty…next time I will pick up some basil and try to remember the olive oil, though it didn’t seem to need it.

Hot Spiced Pork and Rice

This is really more like a pork and rice stew. It was really simple to put together and tasted awesome when it was done. The leftovers taste even better today.

I got the recipe out of “Ultimate Casseroles”- which is a supplemental magazine published by Better Homes and Gardens. I am such a sucker for the glossy magazines at the grocery store…with their photos of heartachingly-rich dishes on the cover…promising warmth and gooiness.

Anyhoo- I bought it and have now made 3 things out of it, with a 4th on the docket for this afternoon (Black Bean Lasagne to take to a New Year’s gathering).

Here’s the recipe:

2 to 2 1/4 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast (I used already cubed pork stew meat)
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow sweet pepper, cut into thin strips
1 8 ounce can water chestnuts (I didn’t have any so I left them out)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 14 ounce can chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons white corn syrup
1 to 2 teaspoons red chili paste (I had curry paste and it was fine)
1 teaspoon five spice powder
1/3 cup sliced green onions for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut meat into 3/4 inch pieces. In an extra large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium high heat. Cook meat, half at a time, in hot oil til brown. Transfer meat to an ungreased 3 quart rectangular baking dish and stir in carrots, sweet pepper and water chestnuts. I didn’t have a 3 qt. dish so I used my dutch oven and it worked fine.
Add the remaining oil to the skillet and cook onions til tender. Add rice, cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in broth, water, soy sauce, molasses, corn syrup, chili paste and five spice powder. Cook and stir until it all comes to a boil. Add to meat mixture and stir to combine.
Bake, uncovered, about 1 hour or until meat and rice are tender. Let stand, covered, for 10 more minutes before serving. Garnish with green onions and serve.

This was so good! It was sweet and spicy and very warm. Next time I’ll add more veggies. I think mushrooms and cauliflower would be great additions. You could really use any combination of meat and/or veggies you wanted.

Potato and Leek Gratin

Potato and Leek Gratin

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

I saw an ad, which I promptly lost, with a recipe for potato and leek gratin. I went with what I could remember of the recipe and this is what I came up with.

2 leeks – washed and chopped (just use the tender white portion of the leek – I soaked them in water while I prepared the rest of the dish so they would be clean)
3lbs of potatoes, peeled (I used red potatoes – I am sure russets would work equally well)
6 oz of Jarlsberg grated cheese (the recipe calls for Gruyere, but that is too pricey for me)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Saute the leeks in about 2 tablespoons of butter until tender
Slice peeled potatoes into 1/4 inch slices
butter the sides and bottom of a casserole dish
Put one layer of sliced potatoes on the bottom of the casserole dish.
sprinkle with leeks and grated cheese
add another layer of potatoes – and top with leeks and cheese – repeat process until all ingredients are used – make sure you have enough cheese to cover the top layer of potatoes.

Bake covered for 20 minutes; after 20 minutes remove the cover and bake for another 25-30 minutes until potatoes are tender and the cheese is golden brown.

This is super delicious! I will definitely add this into the rotation.

Cranberry Sauce

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Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

This is the cranberry sauce I made for the potluck Christmas party Friday afternoon. It is Tyler Florence’s recipe. I liked the fact that it was made from whole berries. I didn’t like the tartness that much. I ended up increasing the sugar, and it still tasted too tart for me. Other people seemed to like it, so I guess it was ok. You can go here for the recipe.

Corn Casserole

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Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

Here’s another awful picture. I could have taken it out of the tin foil, huh?

This is another of the potluck dishes I’ve had to make over the course of the week. This particular dish is Paula Deen’s Corn Casserole. It turned out pretty well. If I do it again, though, I’ll add a can of spicy green chile to it, to cut the richness and sweetness. You can go to here if you want to see the recipe- it was very easy.

Pasta Salad

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Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

Is this not the worst picture of pasta salad you’ve ever seen? I’m not proud of it, but I’ve had so little time to cook since September, taking professional looking pictures isn’t even in my top 50 things to do.

Anyhoo- I needed a salad to take to a Christmas party, so I decided to throw this one together. There was no recipe. I bought some refrigerated cheese tortellini, chopped up some pepperoni, diced a block of part skim mozzarella cheese and threw in some marinated artichoke hearts. I tossed it with a little homemade balsamic vinaigrette and that’s the end of the story. Except for next time, I’ll add olives. It needed the zing.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinner

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Smoked Chicken and Zucchini/Carrot cakes!
I bought the smoked chicken from the grocery store less than 1/2 mile from home. They do smoked chicken (not rotisserie) and it is super tender and yummy and the whole chicken is 4.99 which is cheaper than a raw whole chicken so why would I bother? The zucchini and carrot cakes are delicious. I have made them before with just zucchini and that is delicious, but I had some shredded carrot I need to use so I threw that in as well and it added a nice texture and flavor to this already tasty dish.

Grate 2 cups of zucchini add about a tablespoon of salt and let sit for about 10 minutes. Squeeze dry in a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Add about 1/2 cup of shredded carrots. To this mixture add:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup of Parmesan
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 tsp of garlic
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of red pepper

Heat 2 tbls of olive oil in a pan – drop zucchini mixture by the 1/4 cup full, flatten and fry about 2 minutes per side.

Its easy and tasty and would probably also work really nicely with eggplant or other winter veggies.

Champagne Risotto with shrimp and asparagus

 

November09 022

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

This is a great meal!
Boil 3 cups of vegetable broth add about 16 stalks of asparagus chopped into 2 inch pieces and let boil for 2 minutes. Remove the asparagus and set aside. Reduce heat on broth to low. I prepared the risotto by chopping two shallots and cooking in olive oil and butter (about a tsp each) until tender. Add 1 cup of risotto and another tsp of olive oil. Cook for about 2 minutes over medium high heat. Add cup of champagne and let simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Add 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and let the liquid absorb, continue adding broth a 1/2 cup at a time until all the liquid is absorbed. When you add the last 1/2 cup of broth also add the asparagus, and about a pound of peeled shrimp. Let the liquid absorb and simmer until the shrimp is done (this should be about the same amount of time). Add 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and stir until creamy – salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately. I garnished with a bit more shredded cheese as I believe there is no such thing as too much cheese. This was totally delicious!