Lasagna

I love lasagna. It's one of those meals that I make and then think "Why don't I make this more often?" There's something about lasagna that seems inherently complicated, something about the multiple bowls used to make the different layers. Whatever it is, it keeps me from making lasagna more often.

However, last weekend we had family in town for Sam's baptism, and I decided to make lasagna for a couple reasons. One was that it's something many (if not most) people like, so I wouldn't have to worry about grossing someone out with fish or pork or spiciness. The other reason, one that I will write about more sometime over the next couple of weeks, is that I've started making my own cheese. My first two (fortunately successful) attempts were fresh mozzarella and whole-milk ricotta, which, of course, are two key ingredients in lasagna.

This recipe would work just as easily with store-bought mozzarella and ricotta, of course. But I have to say that the fresh mozz was so amazing in this lasagna. It was creamy and light and melty and fabulous. So consider using fresh mozz (the little balls packed in water) in this recipe sometime instead of the bagged shredded kind.

Basic Lasagna

Meat Sauce:
1 T. olive oil
1/2 - 1 onion, chopped (I used half, not wanting to overwhelm anyone, but I think a whole onion would be good, too).
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 pound pork sausage
1/2 pound ground beef
1 t. salt
pepper to taste
1-2 jars basic spaghetti sauce (seriously, the cheap stuff is fine here, and any flavor/style is good, too).

Saute the onion in olive oil on medium-high heat for a few minutes. Turn the flame down to medium and add the garlic. Saute a few minutes more. Add the meat and break up with a potato masher or spoon, stirring. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Add salt and pepper, then spaghetti sauce, and stir. Turn heat to low and simmer while you mix the cheese layer.

Cheese mixture:
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
Chopped fresh basil and parsley OR dried basil and parsley (I find fresh herbs make all the difference)
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Now, people differ on what to do with your lasagna noodles. Do you cook them thoroughly in a pot of boiling water? Do you not cook them at all, and add moisture to your sauce? I think I struck on the perfect compromise. Lay 12 lasagna noodles in your casserole dish. Boil a kettle of water and dump on top of the noodles. Let them sit for about 5-10 minutes. The noodles will be softened but not completely cooked. They'll finish cooking in the oven.

After you've softened your noodles (heh), begin layering your lasagna. You'll also need your sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese (12-16 ounces) and shredded parmesan (8 ounces) at this time.

First, ladle some of your meat sauce into the bottom of your dish. Layer lasagna noodles on top, slightly overlapping the noodles (like shingles). Then spread on a layer of the ricotta mixture, topped with sliced/shredded mozz. Ladle half the remaining meat sauce on top. Then repeat: noodles, ricotta, mozz, meat sauce. Sprinkle the parm on the very top.

At this point, you can bake the lasagna at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or you can refrigerate until you are ready to bake. If you bake the lasagna right out of the fridge, you might need to add some extra time.

Enjoy!

Orange Broccoli

I have a hard time knowing what to do with vegetables. As in, how to prepare them. Beyond the basics (steaming, roasting) I have no idea. I've spent a lot of time over the years searching for good veggie recipes that don't involve slathering the veggies in cream or cheese or mushroom soup and thus dislodging any health benefits of said veg. And I've collected maybe two recipes. Total, that is...not two per vegetable. That's pathetic.

Last night, in despair, I made up my own recipe for broccoli. I had a bag of prewashed florets in the fridge and I wasn't about to let them go bad (that happens more often than I'd like to admit). It ended up being very easy and quick and most importantly, delicious. I could tell I was eating broccoli, but the flavors of the recipe augmented the veg nicely.

Essentially, I dumped half the bag into a bowl and microwave-steamed the broccoli for a minute. Then I melted a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, added some orange zest, dumped the broccoli in the pan, and squeezed half the orange over top. Another minute or two in the pan (not too much, nothing worse than soggy broccoli) and it was ready.

The results:
Jana: This is the easiest recipe ever and it tastes good. Hallelujah.
Jeff: He actually ATE BROCCOLI THAT WAS COOKED. This is a miracle.
Charlotte: Ate about half of what I gave her, which seems pretty good to me.

The verdict: Make it again!

Salmon Chowder

This chowder is one of those happy accidents that came together entirely without planning or even a recipe. It was cold, I felt like soup, I looked in the freezer and found this package of frozen salmon fillets that I'd been meaning to use...et voila!

When I cook like this, I'm terrible about measuring (meaning I don't measure). I just throw stuff together. But here's my best approximation of what went into this dish:

1 T each olive oil and butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1/2 t. salt (possibly more)
1/4 t. black pepper
1 t. dill weed
1 bay leaf
1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 - 2 cups chicken broth
A couple good-sized salmon fillets
1 cup corn
1-2 cups whole milk or half-and-half

Put the olive oil and butter in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add celery and carrots and cook for a few minutes. Add salt, pepper, bay leaf and dill and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Sprinkle flour over everything and stir for a minute. Then add broth and stir to mix. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer for about ten minutes.

At this point, I dumped everything from the pan into the crock pot, added the salmon fillets(uncooked, but defrosted) and the corn, and turned it on high for a couple hours. When that time was up, I broke up the salmon with a spoon into chunks, added the milk, and turned the heat off. And that's it!

This was really yummy, very easy, and didn't taste as "fishy" as I was worried it would. I didn't have potatoes, but I think a couple potatoes diced would be good in this, too.

The results:
Jana: Delish!
Jeff: Ditto!
Charlotte: Took a bite of Jeff's, then asked for her own bowl.

Verdict:
Make it again!

Chicken Rice Casserole

There are a thousand manifestations and variations of this recipe out there, but I've been looking for one for awhile that seems to match the one I remember from my childhood. When I was a kid, this is the dish I would request my Grandma Deur make every year for my birthday dinner. The chicken part is good, but it's the flavor of the rice that I remember particularly. I love the bits around the edge of the dish that get a little bit more done. Mmm.

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups minute rice
1 package onion soup mix
1 cup water or chicken broth
Four chicken breasts (split) or eight chicken thighs or mixture (boneless skinless is okay, but bone-in skin-on is more flavorful)
1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
1 additional cup water or chicken broth

Place uncooked rice in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Sprinkle soup mix over top, then pour 1 cup of water or broth on top of that. Place chicken on top of rice. In a bowl, mix the soup and the water/broth, then pour over everything.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1-1 1/2 hours (check chicken for doneness at 1 hour; add additional time if necessary).

One of my friends on facebook described this recipe as "Dutch yummy," which I think is particularly apt. Another term might be "midwestern comfort food." These days I tend to shy away from most casseroles, and particularly those that include cream of whatever soup, velveeta cheese, and/or a topping of those fried onions that come in a can. However, many of my favorite recipes from my childhood could be described as "Dutch yummy," featuring one or all of those ingredients. Green bean casserole? Stove top stuffing? I mean, who can begrudge me my memories?

Results:
Jana: Tasted just like I remembered, and that was good.
Jeff: I didn't think he'd like this one, but he went back for seconds.
Charlotte: Ate all of the chicken I gave her, avoiding the rice. I encouraged her to try the rice, and when she did she said "Mmmmm!" loudly, and finished most of that.

The verdict:
Make it again!

My Favorite Salad

I have a couple of other recipes I want to review on here soon, but I'm putting this one up first because it really deserves a place of honor on this site. I am obsessed with this salad. I never tire of it, and I eat it frequently--sometimes more than once a week. It's really simple and is, ultimately, just a boring salad but something about the mingling of flavors is perfect in my book. It's composed of: romaine lettuce, shredded swiss cheese, dried cherries, mandarin oranges, chopped pecans (although I sometimes use those roasted flavored almond slices in the bag instead), and poppyseed dressing. That's it. To make it an entree salad, I add sliced chicken breast.

I'm eating this salad right now.

My favorite dressing for this salad is the Maple Grove Farms of Vermont Fat Free Poppyseed. It has nothing to do with the fact that it's fat-free; that's just a happy coincidence. It's the perfect balance of tangy and sweet and doesn't overpower the rest of the ingredients.

I am such an evangelist for this salad that I encourage each and every one of you (all four of you who read this blog) to make this salad this very week and report back to me how much you love it. DO IT!

Thai Chicken Pizza

Well, some things have changed around here since the last post. My bout with dairy-free has ended, but not before I was also everything else-free for a while. Oh, what horrible memories that brings back. But we've determined that Sam's fussiness is not dietary, so I'm back in the saddle again.

Last night I made Thai Chicken Pizza, which is so embarrassingly easy I feel ridiculous posting a recipes. It's mostly prepackaged ingredients, hardly any prep or cooking involved. But we're all about convenience around here these days, so I'll post it anyway.

All it takes is one prepackaged pizza crust (like Boboli); 1/2 c. Thai peanut sauce; 1 c. broccoli, finely chopped; 1/2 red pepper, finely chopped; 1 6-oz package grilled chicken breast strips, chopped; 1 c. shredded Italian or pizza blend cheese. Bake according to the crust package's directions.

The Thai peanut sauce is a little too fiery for Charlotte, so I just fixed her a plate of broccoli and chicken, which she rejected in favor of yogurt. Jeff and I, however, demolished the pizza without her help.

The results:
Jana: I like it, especially considering how easy it is to make. I think this would also be good with other veggies, like mushrooms or onions, and possibly with shrimp instead of chicken. Ooh, or beef.
Jeff: Thai? Anything Thai and peanut sauce is alright in Jeff's book.

The verdict: Make it again!

Cowboy Caviar

So, I'm swearing off dairy for a few weeks in hopes of solving Sam's gas issues. As a result, I've had to scramble to find things to make that don't include dairy. This has proved more of an issue than I anticipated, but I'm rising to the challenge. The first entry is something I've been craving anyway: Cowboy Caviar!

There are a number of variations of this recipe (as you'll discover if you Google it), but mine is a can of black beans, a bag of frozen corn kernels defrosted (I like to spring for the white and yellow sweet corn mix as the corn tends to be less chewy), a thing of fresh salsa (in the summer I use diced fresh tomatoes and onions), a whole bunch of chopped cilantro, a couple diced avocadoes, and salt. Stir and eat with tortilla chips, on tacos, over huevos rancheros.

The only thing that would make this better is cheese. Sigh.