Hey to all you Yeti lovers, and the less adventurous among you. This is a similar but easier and faster veggie lasagna than the version I just posted. I really like the other one much better in terms of texture and overall presentation (it holds together better, etc.), but this one is good too. And faster. And easier. This way you can spend more time with your snowdogs.
Veggie Lasagna
1 package of lasagna noodles (12 or 16 ounces), or you can use ready-to-bake ones too.
½ cup of julienne carrots
1 medium onion, small dice
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 bell pepper, small dice
some good tomato sauce (I like Prego brand, organic, or Parmalat, but use your favorite plain marinara)
about 1 to 1 ½ lbs of shredded cheese – I prefer a blend of provolone, mozzarella, asiago, parmesan and romano)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
optional – fresh basil and oregano
even more optional – a good, quick and basic tomato sauce for this can be made from a 16 ounce can of plain chopped tomatoes, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of onion powder, some basil and oregano, a pinch of dried rosemary, a small pinch of sugar, some salt and pepper, allowed to simmer for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-low heat. Sauté together the onion, carrots, garlic and bell pepper until the carrots are softened. Add the thawed and drained spinach and about 1 cup of the tomato sauce. Bring to a low simmer and then remove from the heat and allow to cool. This is the filling for the lasagna. If you are using lasagna noodles that need pre-cooking, then start a pot of lightly salted water boiling for the pasta.
After the vegetable and tomato sauce mixture and everything else is prepared, partially cook the lasagna noodles. They should only be cooked until flexible, not until done or al dente, as they will finish in the oven. They should be drained and rinsed with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Lightly oil a deep pan (either 9 x 9 or 9 x 13 or something like that, preferably at least 2 inches deep) or spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom. This will prevent the lasagna from sticking.
Spoon a thin layer of the vegetable and sauce mixture on the bottom of the oiled pan.
Lay a single overlapping layer of lasagna noodles over the top of the mixture, and then sprinkle liberally with cheese. This is also a good time to add the optional fresh basil and oregano. Add additional tomato sauce, veggie mixture or cheese where desired. Repeat the layering until within a ¼ inch of the top of the pan and finish with a tomato sauce and cheese layer. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes. This can also be frozen before baking and placed directly from the freezer to the oven but the time needs to be increased to and hour and 15 minutes.
This feeds a couple of Yeti, or two to three couples with salad (about 6 people). This doesn't feed any snowdogs because they can't eat onions, it's bad for them.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Well, it's the best vegetable lasagna I've had.
Ok. If my formatting looks strange that's because I pasted this in from an already typed up version. This is the best veggie lasagna I've had, ever, hands down. Not vegan though. If you want lacto-ovo veggie you also need to take out the Worcestershire sauce as it has anchovies in it. I've made some different versions of this, and I have written down some versions that take less time and effort but they're not as good. But they are faster. Sometimes faster trumps better. Just ask me about that after I chow down on a fast food double cheeseburger sometime. Snowdogs also want cheeseburgers, but they can't have them. It would interfere with their delicate constitutions. I'll post the faster but not as good version later. Maybe this weekend.
Also, we made this version of the best veggie lasagna ever for a visiting wendigo this weekend. She's small but feisty. We had a good time talking about stuff. My Yeti wife needed the brain stimulation.
Best Vegetable Lasagna I've had. Even Lasagne.
8 oz Fontina or whole milk mozzarella, shredded
1 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese, preferably fresh, shredded
6 oz or so medium or sharp Provolone, shredded
4 oz good feta, crumbled
2 large carrots, grated on a box grater
2 thawed packages of frozen chopped spinach, reserve the liquid
2 ribs of celery, grated on a box grater
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced very fine
1 ½ medium onions, your favorite variety, grated on a box grater
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper, salt
teaspoon paprika
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 lb lasagna noodles
about 26oz of your favorite marinara sauce, I like the organic Prego or Parmalat for this dish
Optional: 1 ½ to 2 oz fresh basil, shredded, added to sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a deep and heavy bottomed saucepan or stock pot, add the tablespoon of olive oil. Place the saucepan over medium high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add all the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, spinach, and associated water from the shredding or thawed garlic. Also add the Worcestershire sauce, oregano, a heavy pinch of salt, and about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Make sure you add that liquid from the shredded veggies at it has a lot of good vitamins in it you don't want to lose. Sweat the vegetables and reduce the liquid. This will take probably 20-30 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. Stir it every once in a while too or the mix might burn. You'll want just a thin layer of water remaining in the bottom of the pan when you're done. The veggies should have a bit of body to them when you're done. You're not making mushy veg, unless you want it. I usually test the carrots and as long as they are sort of al dente that's fine for me. If you're not sure about how much liquid you have left, or if you have a lot more and you think your veggies are quite done, remove the vegetables and reduce the liquid down. Remove this mix from the heat and allow it to cool.
Add the paprika and optional basil to the sauce and stir it through. Add the crumbled feta to the cooled vegetable mix and stir that through. After all that stirring you're ready to assemble. Follow the diagram below. Bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to sit for 15 before cutting and serving. Enjoy.
And here is your construction diagram. Read this from the bottom up. I'd use an oven-safe pan with at least 2 inches of depth.
Layers
_________ etc. going up.
_________ pasta
_________ cheese
_________ mozz slices
_________ sauce
_________ veg
_________ pasta
Some small amount of sauce (it keeps the bottom noodles from sticking. Just ask Lidia Bastianich)
Deep sided oven-safe baking dish
Feeds about 3 Yeti with salad. Or 6 people. Or 2 very hungry snowdogs that are being very bad and standing on their hind legs and eating off your counter. My snowdogs are very well behaved and don't do that. Do yours?
Also, we made this version of the best veggie lasagna ever for a visiting wendigo this weekend. She's small but feisty. We had a good time talking about stuff. My Yeti wife needed the brain stimulation.
Best Vegetable Lasagna I've had. Even Lasagne.
8 oz Fontina or whole milk mozzarella, shredded
1 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese, preferably fresh, shredded
6 oz or so medium or sharp Provolone, shredded
4 oz good feta, crumbled
2 large carrots, grated on a box grater
2 thawed packages of frozen chopped spinach, reserve the liquid
2 ribs of celery, grated on a box grater
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced very fine
1 ½ medium onions, your favorite variety, grated on a box grater
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper, salt
teaspoon paprika
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 lb lasagna noodles
about 26oz of your favorite marinara sauce, I like the organic Prego or Parmalat for this dish
Optional: 1 ½ to 2 oz fresh basil, shredded, added to sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a deep and heavy bottomed saucepan or stock pot, add the tablespoon of olive oil. Place the saucepan over medium high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add all the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, spinach, and associated water from the shredding or thawed garlic. Also add the Worcestershire sauce, oregano, a heavy pinch of salt, and about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Make sure you add that liquid from the shredded veggies at it has a lot of good vitamins in it you don't want to lose. Sweat the vegetables and reduce the liquid. This will take probably 20-30 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. Stir it every once in a while too or the mix might burn. You'll want just a thin layer of water remaining in the bottom of the pan when you're done. The veggies should have a bit of body to them when you're done. You're not making mushy veg, unless you want it. I usually test the carrots and as long as they are sort of al dente that's fine for me. If you're not sure about how much liquid you have left, or if you have a lot more and you think your veggies are quite done, remove the vegetables and reduce the liquid down. Remove this mix from the heat and allow it to cool.
Add the paprika and optional basil to the sauce and stir it through. Add the crumbled feta to the cooled vegetable mix and stir that through. After all that stirring you're ready to assemble. Follow the diagram below. Bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to sit for 15 before cutting and serving. Enjoy.
And here is your construction diagram. Read this from the bottom up. I'd use an oven-safe pan with at least 2 inches of depth.
Layers
_________ etc. going up.
_________ pasta
_________ cheese
_________ mozz slices
_________ sauce
_________ veg
_________ pasta
Some small amount of sauce (it keeps the bottom noodles from sticking. Just ask Lidia Bastianich)
Deep sided oven-safe baking dish
Feeds about 3 Yeti with salad. Or 6 people. Or 2 very hungry snowdogs that are being very bad and standing on their hind legs and eating off your counter. My snowdogs are very well behaved and don't do that. Do yours?
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Preserved lemon chicken tagine, also with preserved lemons. Mmm, like braising with a pointy hat!
There aren't a whole lot of different cooking techniques, but there are sure a lot of ways to make cooks feel intimidated with different pots, pans, and specialty apparatuses. Take for instance the tagine. People that are not familiar with it are often confused about the wide shallow bottom and hat-like top. Well, once you know it's just a fancy and efficient braising dish, life gets a whole lot easier. My Yeti wife and I got a tagine as a wedding present and I like to use it occasionally. Here is one of my favorite dishes for the tagine. It's North African in inspiration, even if the ingredients aren't fully authentic. Enjoy! I know the snowdogs like it when they see the tagine come out, as that usually means they get to sit around with me and hang out for a few hours.
If you don't have a tagine you can also do this in any braising dish setup, including transferring things to a crock pot after browning, or using a dutch oven on your stovetop. It will still turn out just as good, but it won't be as cool looking.
You can also do this with lamb, preferably shanks. Just make sure they fit in your tagine.
Also, if you don't want to go to the trouble of making preserved lemons about 4-8 weeks ahead of time for this dish, you can substitute the rind of 2 lemons, but you'll be missing some of the interesting bitter undertones in the dish that come from the preserving process.
Chicken and Preserved Lemon Tagine (Preserved Lemon recipie below)
5-6 chicken thighs, bone in, but you can take the skin off if you want.
2 tablespoons of high-smoke point vegetable oil, like canola or peanut
1/2 large onion, yellow or red, sliced into strips (rings that have been halved)
3 cloves of garlic, either minced, crushed, or sliced thinly
1 preserved lemon, skin only, sliced into thin strips, recipe follows; if you don't have preserved lemons you can use the rind of 2 lemons plus 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
salt
pepper
3 cloves
1/2 teaspoon of tumeric
1/4 teaspoon saffron
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
heavy pinch dill
1/2 cup or so of broth, preferably chicken or vegetable, not beef though
2 teaspoons of ground sumac berries (optional, available through specialty spice houses)
Ok, if you don't have a tagine don't worry. You can easily substitute a dutch oven or other stove-top safe braising apparatus (heavy bottom saucepan with tight fitting lid, etc.) for the tagine. If you want to use a crock pot, you'll have to do this in two steps, browning and sauteeing in one pan and then transfer to the crock pot for the long time braising. The rest of my instructions will refer to the tagine only, but you should be able to figure out how to do this in another pan. If not, post a message and I'll get back to you.
First, put the two tablespoons of oil into the tagine and heat over medium high heat. Clean your chicken thighs and remove the skin if you desire. Pat the chicken dry and season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper. When the oil starts to shimmer add the chicken, skin side down. Don't move the chicken for about 5-6 minutes. Turn the chicken over and allow to brown on the other side for 5-6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside in a bowl. This chicken is not fully cooked, you were just browning it for flavor and appearance later.
Keeping the bottom of the tagine over medium-high heat, add your onion and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium and stir, trying to loosen the bits on the bottom of the pan. When the edges of the onion start to become translucent, add the thin strips of preserved lemon, cloves, and tumeric and stir. Don't use the flesh or pith of the lemon as it's really salty and bitter. The magic is in the rind. Keep stirring gently for about 5 minutes, being careful to keep the spices from burning. Increase the heat to high and add the saffron, oregano and dill and stir them in. You'll need to stir this over high heat for about 1 minute. Then carefully add the broth (it should boil pretty vigorously), stir in most of the sumac, place the chicken on top of the onion and spice mixture, and sprinkle the chicken with the rest of the sumac. DON'T STIR at this point. Reduce the heat to low and cover the bottom of the tagine with the top (the hat, as my Bigfoot friends sometime call it). If you're not using a tagine, this is the time to put your snug-fitting lid in place.
Allow this to slowly cook over low low heat for 1 hour. DON'T PEEK. Don't lift the lid off. You'll lose a lot of heat and some of the essential oils from the spices.
After one hour, take off the cover and serve. I like this with jasmine rice or, even better, couscous. This feeds 2 Yeti, or 4 people with a nice salad.
Ok, here's the Preserved Lemons recipe. You need to make these about 4-8 weeks before using. Don't blame me if you didn't read this before starting the tagine recipe above. It's your own fault, silly person.
Preserved Lemons
3-4 lemons
4 tablespoons salt
hot brine solution (2 cups hot water with 2 tablespoons of salt dissolved in it)
clean jam / preserving jars
Cut each lemon into quarters. Press 1 tablespoon of salt into each lemon, about 1/4 tablespoon per quarter of lemon. Put each piece into a clean preserving jar. When finished, pour the hot brine solution over the lemons, making sure the lemons are submerged. You can submerge the lemons if they float with a crumpled bit of clean parchment paper if you need to. Screw on the lids for the jars, allow to cool, and store them in the fridge for at least 4 weeks before using.
See, wasn't that easy? When you use the preserved lemons, you'll want to only use the rind, trimming off and discarding the flesh.
Enjoy!
If you don't have a tagine you can also do this in any braising dish setup, including transferring things to a crock pot after browning, or using a dutch oven on your stovetop. It will still turn out just as good, but it won't be as cool looking.
You can also do this with lamb, preferably shanks. Just make sure they fit in your tagine.
Also, if you don't want to go to the trouble of making preserved lemons about 4-8 weeks ahead of time for this dish, you can substitute the rind of 2 lemons, but you'll be missing some of the interesting bitter undertones in the dish that come from the preserving process.
Chicken and Preserved Lemon Tagine (Preserved Lemon recipie below)
5-6 chicken thighs, bone in, but you can take the skin off if you want.
2 tablespoons of high-smoke point vegetable oil, like canola or peanut
1/2 large onion, yellow or red, sliced into strips (rings that have been halved)
3 cloves of garlic, either minced, crushed, or sliced thinly
1 preserved lemon, skin only, sliced into thin strips, recipe follows; if you don't have preserved lemons you can use the rind of 2 lemons plus 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
salt
pepper
3 cloves
1/2 teaspoon of tumeric
1/4 teaspoon saffron
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
heavy pinch dill
1/2 cup or so of broth, preferably chicken or vegetable, not beef though
2 teaspoons of ground sumac berries (optional, available through specialty spice houses)
Ok, if you don't have a tagine don't worry. You can easily substitute a dutch oven or other stove-top safe braising apparatus (heavy bottom saucepan with tight fitting lid, etc.) for the tagine. If you want to use a crock pot, you'll have to do this in two steps, browning and sauteeing in one pan and then transfer to the crock pot for the long time braising. The rest of my instructions will refer to the tagine only, but you should be able to figure out how to do this in another pan. If not, post a message and I'll get back to you.
First, put the two tablespoons of oil into the tagine and heat over medium high heat. Clean your chicken thighs and remove the skin if you desire. Pat the chicken dry and season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper. When the oil starts to shimmer add the chicken, skin side down. Don't move the chicken for about 5-6 minutes. Turn the chicken over and allow to brown on the other side for 5-6 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside in a bowl. This chicken is not fully cooked, you were just browning it for flavor and appearance later.
Keeping the bottom of the tagine over medium-high heat, add your onion and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium and stir, trying to loosen the bits on the bottom of the pan. When the edges of the onion start to become translucent, add the thin strips of preserved lemon, cloves, and tumeric and stir. Don't use the flesh or pith of the lemon as it's really salty and bitter. The magic is in the rind. Keep stirring gently for about 5 minutes, being careful to keep the spices from burning. Increase the heat to high and add the saffron, oregano and dill and stir them in. You'll need to stir this over high heat for about 1 minute. Then carefully add the broth (it should boil pretty vigorously), stir in most of the sumac, place the chicken on top of the onion and spice mixture, and sprinkle the chicken with the rest of the sumac. DON'T STIR at this point. Reduce the heat to low and cover the bottom of the tagine with the top (the hat, as my Bigfoot friends sometime call it). If you're not using a tagine, this is the time to put your snug-fitting lid in place.
Allow this to slowly cook over low low heat for 1 hour. DON'T PEEK. Don't lift the lid off. You'll lose a lot of heat and some of the essential oils from the spices.
After one hour, take off the cover and serve. I like this with jasmine rice or, even better, couscous. This feeds 2 Yeti, or 4 people with a nice salad.
Ok, here's the Preserved Lemons recipe. You need to make these about 4-8 weeks before using. Don't blame me if you didn't read this before starting the tagine recipe above. It's your own fault, silly person.
Preserved Lemons
3-4 lemons
4 tablespoons salt
hot brine solution (2 cups hot water with 2 tablespoons of salt dissolved in it)
clean jam / preserving jars
Cut each lemon into quarters. Press 1 tablespoon of salt into each lemon, about 1/4 tablespoon per quarter of lemon. Put each piece into a clean preserving jar. When finished, pour the hot brine solution over the lemons, making sure the lemons are submerged. You can submerge the lemons if they float with a crumpled bit of clean parchment paper if you need to. Screw on the lids for the jars, allow to cool, and store them in the fridge for at least 4 weeks before using.
See, wasn't that easy? When you use the preserved lemons, you'll want to only use the rind, trimming off and discarding the flesh.
Enjoy!
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