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.
Showing posts with label slow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slow. Show all posts
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Roast your bird for shredded sandwiches - easy cooking, good eating
Ok, so this week I was hankering for a roast chicken. Lots of Yetis like roast chickens, with some nice new potatoes, and some roasted asparagus... A nice plump chicken with a slightly golden brown herbed skin, with maybe a sliced lemon put inside for some nice tartness and additional taste. Mmm, that would be good. The snowdogs always drool and ask for some when I make a roast chicken. Snowdogs don't get any though.
However, since I have not made roast chicken in a while, but I have made barbecue duck sandwiches, I think I would share a technique for making pulled poultry that can then be mixed with your favorite barbecue sauce for amazing sandwiches. Or for anything else (tamales, enchiladas, quiche, tossed with pasta, confit, etc.) that you can think of. Also I think this recipe is easier to post tonight anyways. Yetis can be lazy.
Generic pulled poultry (duck, chicken, hens, etc.)
1 bird of your choice, not frozen. I am assuming a 5-6 lb bird for this preparation, you may need to increase your time with a larger piece of meat.
1 deep roasting pan
1 roasting rack that will hold your bird of choice
salt
pepper
1 onion
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
Preheat your oven for 200F. Not any hotter than 220F. Check this with a thermometer as if your oven is too hot it will make the bird very dry.
Cut up your onion into large chunks, about 1 inch or so. You don't have to peel the onion. Also cut up the carrot and celery into similarly sized pieces. Place the vegetables in the bottom of the roasting pan. Clean your bird and pat it dry. Season the inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper. You can be pretty liberal with the pepper, but just use a little salt. You don't want the bird to really dry out. Truss your bird if you want, but since you won't be serving it whole and you'll be cooking it for a long time trussing really doesn't do too much. I usually don't bother trussing for this preparation.
Put your bird on the roasting rack, put the roasting rack in the pan, and put your bird in the oven. You'll be roasting the bird at 200 to 220 F for about 6 hours, or for those of you who are totally addicted to internal temperature, until the internal temperature of the bird has been 180F or higher for at least 2 hours. It may reach 200F.
When the time is up, take the roasting pan out of the oven and allow the bird to cool. If you want, you can reserve the drippings for a nice sauce or stock or broth later.
Once the bird of your choice has cooled, carefully remove the bird from the roasting rack. The bird may fall apart a bit. This is OK since you'll be shredding the meat anyways.
Remove and discard the skin. Remove the meat from the carcass (save this for some nice broth if you want) and place in a bowl. Shred the meat by hand or with two forks. You can then heat the meat with some barbecue sauce, or do whatever you want with it. Chicken salad is always good with some nice diced fresh celery, or in a pot pie, or all those other suggestions I put at the beginning of this post.
Enjoy!
This serves about 1 Yeti to 1 bird, or 4 people per bird if served as pulled poultry barbecue sandwiches, etc. You can figure the usual proportions of people per bird yourself.
Maybe I'll post my barbecue sauce sometime. That has a lot of ingredients though.
However, since I have not made roast chicken in a while, but I have made barbecue duck sandwiches, I think I would share a technique for making pulled poultry that can then be mixed with your favorite barbecue sauce for amazing sandwiches. Or for anything else (tamales, enchiladas, quiche, tossed with pasta, confit, etc.) that you can think of. Also I think this recipe is easier to post tonight anyways. Yetis can be lazy.
Generic pulled poultry (duck, chicken, hens, etc.)
1 bird of your choice, not frozen. I am assuming a 5-6 lb bird for this preparation, you may need to increase your time with a larger piece of meat.
1 deep roasting pan
1 roasting rack that will hold your bird of choice
salt
pepper
1 onion
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
Preheat your oven for 200F. Not any hotter than 220F. Check this with a thermometer as if your oven is too hot it will make the bird very dry.
Cut up your onion into large chunks, about 1 inch or so. You don't have to peel the onion. Also cut up the carrot and celery into similarly sized pieces. Place the vegetables in the bottom of the roasting pan. Clean your bird and pat it dry. Season the inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper. You can be pretty liberal with the pepper, but just use a little salt. You don't want the bird to really dry out. Truss your bird if you want, but since you won't be serving it whole and you'll be cooking it for a long time trussing really doesn't do too much. I usually don't bother trussing for this preparation.
Put your bird on the roasting rack, put the roasting rack in the pan, and put your bird in the oven. You'll be roasting the bird at 200 to 220 F for about 6 hours, or for those of you who are totally addicted to internal temperature, until the internal temperature of the bird has been 180F or higher for at least 2 hours. It may reach 200F.
When the time is up, take the roasting pan out of the oven and allow the bird to cool. If you want, you can reserve the drippings for a nice sauce or stock or broth later.
Once the bird of your choice has cooled, carefully remove the bird from the roasting rack. The bird may fall apart a bit. This is OK since you'll be shredding the meat anyways.
Remove and discard the skin. Remove the meat from the carcass (save this for some nice broth if you want) and place in a bowl. Shred the meat by hand or with two forks. You can then heat the meat with some barbecue sauce, or do whatever you want with it. Chicken salad is always good with some nice diced fresh celery, or in a pot pie, or all those other suggestions I put at the beginning of this post.
Enjoy!
This serves about 1 Yeti to 1 bird, or 4 people per bird if served as pulled poultry barbecue sandwiches, etc. You can figure the usual proportions of people per bird yourself.
Maybe I'll post my barbecue sauce sometime. That has a lot of ingredients though.
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