Weekly Dish

If you like your lasagna cut into perfect squares, standing up straight and regal because the filling holds it in place, this is not the recipe for you. This lasagna is messy, the filling spilling out of the noodle layers as soon as it hits the plate, more an amorphous blob than a straight-edged quadrilateral. On the other hand, if you’re more concerned about flavor than geometric preciseness, the earthy portabello mushrooms and rich tomato sauce dance together under fluffy ricotta, stringy mozzarella, and tangy Parmesan to completely make up for their unwillingness to stay in place between the noodles.

Plus, after a few quick prep steps, it’s just a matter of getting everything into the casserole in the right order. I stopped cooking my lasagna noodles before assembly a long time ago; I’ve found that if you place a layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish, lay the noodles squarely in it, and then make sure every other noodle layer is covered with either sauce or cheese, they will come out of the oven cooked every time. The other trick is to make sure you cook the lasagna tightly covered with foil for most of the baking time.

Roasting the vegetables ahead of time punches up their flavor before they go into the lasagna, and makes them work nicely with the Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce that I use for the base. This recipe is very versatile; I’m sure many combinations of vegetables and cheeses would work, but this is my old standby. If you’re looking for lasagna ideas, my friend Rorie recently made a zucchini one with tomato-orange sauce that sounds delicious too.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

6 portabello mushroom caps, sliced
1 small eggplant, sliced
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Lasagna noodles, about 9
1 recipe Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
6 ounces ricotta cheese
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan, grated to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the eggplant slices flat inside a mesh strainer; sprinkle with salt and let the moisture drain out, about 20 minutes or so. Wipe off any excess salt and pat dry. Toss the slices with olive oil, lay in a single layer on a baking sheet, and roast for about 35 minutes. Toss the mushroom slices with oil as well; sprinkle with salt, and slide them into the oven when the eggplant has about 20 minutes to go (the mushrooms will roast in about 15 minutes.) Remove vegetables from the oven and turn the temp down to 350.
In a square baking dish, cover the bottom with one layer of tomato sauce. Lay a single layer of lasagna noodes in the sauce. Top the noodles with dollops of ricotta cheese and shred a light layer of Parmesan over. On top of the ricotta, place a layer of mushroom and eggplant slices. Repeat layers. Cover the whole dish with shredded mozzarella; grate extra Parmesan on top too. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until the sides are bubbly and the cheese is completely melted. You can also remove the foil with 10 minutes of cooking time left; this added step gives the melted cheese a golden brown top.

This recipe is my contribution to ARF/5-a-day Tuesdays over at Sweetnicks.

With seasonal tomatoes still a few months away, I find myself longing for that sweet, fresh taste of summer that you really can’t get from anything else. Here in Louisiana, down in Plaquemines parish, the Creole tomatoes are the ones that get top ratings. A vendor at the local farmer’s market offers fall and spring Creole tomatoes–grown in a hothouse I think–and to tell the truth, they aren’t half bad. They certainly beat the heck out of those watery, mealy ones at the grocery.

But they still aren’t summer tomatoes.

This recipe is one of the ways I tide myself over until the summer ones arrive. Tomato sauce has been a staple in my weekly cooking since I’ve had a kitchen of my own, and this recipe has been tweaked and tweaked until I could make it in my sleep. The sauce is super-easy and so versatile, but the basic premise of roasting the tomatoes for a long time and using plenty of Kosher salt to draw out their juices is really the crux of the preparation.

And believe me, when summer tomatoes arrive, this sauce will taste even sweeter.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce

3-4 large tomatoes, chopped

Olive oil to coat

Kosher salt–probably about a tablespoon

Cracked black pepper

1 large yellow onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, or chopped if you want the texture

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange the tomatoes on foil-lined baking sheets in a single layer. Drizzle olive oil onto the sheets, and then toss with your hands to make sure all the pieces are coated with oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for about 45 minutes, until they shrivel and begin to blacken around the edges.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan (this will hold all of the sauce, so use a big one). Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until very soft, but not brown–about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. If they soften before the tomatoes are done, turn the heat off. When the tomatoes are done, us a spatula to scrape them, with their juices and the black bits crusted on the baking sheet, into the pan with the onion and garlic. Turn the heat back up to medium, and stir, pressing the tomatoes with the back of your spoon to crush them. Add the canned tomatoes, and simmer this mixture for about 20 minutes.

Varations:

• For a richer, silkier sauce, you can swirl in a couple of tablespoons of butter at the end.
• Red wine adds another layer of depth too: turn the heat up on the onions and garlic and dump in about a half a glass to deglaze the pan before adding the tomatoes.
• You can use chopped tomatoes to keep the chunky texture, or crushed tomatoes for a smoother sauce. You can also put the whole thing through the food processor or blender if a smooth texture is what you’re after.
• Portabello mushrooms add an earthy flavor and substance I like if you’re serving the sauce over pasta–you can either add them to the onion-garlic saute, or roast them with the tomatoes. They won’t take as long to cook, about 15-20 minutes.

Ways to use the sauce to follow!

This recipe is my contribution to ARF/5-a-day Tuesday over at Sweetnicks.

Couscous is an unusual food. It is often referred to as a grain, but in the U.S., it is usually made from semolina, which makes it more akin to pasta. From my understanding, couscous originated in northern and western Africa and appears often in Moroccan cuisine.

I first learned about it through circumstantial necessity and the Barefoot Contessa. I needed a side dish salad to bring to a function at church, and I had less than an hour; as I was frantically flipping through cookbooks, I happened upon this recipe and ran to the grocery. Thanks to the quick-cooking nature of couscous and having most of the other ingredients on hand, I arrived in time and the couscous was a big hit. I’ve made it a number of times since then, and unlike many other recipes that tend to evolve as I make them more often, I tend to stick with the basic preparation for this one. I have slightly adjusted the seasonings and substituted pine nuts and dried cranberries for the almonds and currants called for in the original recipe.

The colors are lovely, the green onions and carrots provide a nice, fresh crunch, and the dressing is light and flavorful without overpowering the tiny granules. This is a great dish to take to events because it can be served at room temperature; plus, it’s even better after sitting for a few hours. At home, I serve it as the main course for a light lunch or as a nice bed for grilled or curried chicken for dinner. It would also make a wonderful dish to take on a picnic.

Curried Couscous
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

1 1/2 cups couscous
1 T. butter
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 t. cider vinegar
1 1/2 t. curry powder (I use hot madras curry powder)
1/4 t. turmeric
1/4 t. allspice
1 t. Kosher salt
cracked black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/4 cup pine nuts

In a saucepan, toast the pine nuts over medium heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden. Remove to a large bowl. In the same pan, pour in the couscous, butter, and water; bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes and turn off the heat. The water should be absorbed; cover and set aside. In the large bowl, pour the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, and spices over the pine nuts. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Add the carrot, cranberries, green and red onions, and toss to coat with the dressing. Dump in the couscous and toss again. Serves about 4 in main dish portions, 6-8 as a side.

(the last of the Oscar-night series, I promise)

For the main course of our Oscar-night dinner, David and I chose ribs, purely for the appropriateness of the name. I’d never cooked babyback ribs before, and to be honest, I’m usually not a huge barbecue fan. Sure, I like to eat it every now and then (and of course whenever I’m in Memphis), but it just isn’t something I crave.

So I wanted more than just a plain barbecue sauce for these. Traditionally, ribs are either dry or wet, meaning the flavor comes from a dry spice rub or from a sauce. I decided to combine these methods, cooking the ribs at a high temperature for a brief period of time after they’d been coated with the spices, and then covering with sauce to cook at the lower temperature. Most rib preparations take hours and hours; the cooking time for these was reduced to about an hour and a half.

The sauce is by far the best part about this recipe–I love the smoky flavor of the chipotle combined with the marmalade, garlic, and molasses; the spice rub added an extra layer of depth that was nice too. The salad is a simple early spring-time one I make a lot with strawberries and goat cheese; the ingredients follow the rib recipe.

Brokeback Ribs

2 1/2 pound slab of babyback ribs

Spice rub:
1 t. Kosher salt
1 t. brown sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. allspice
1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Sauce:
2 T. butter
4 cloves garlic
Zest and juice of one orange
2 T. cider vinegar
2 T. cane syrup or molasses
1/4 c. oyster sauce (hoisin sauce would work too)
1/4 c. chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/2 c. orange marmalade

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut the ribs into sections of 4, cutting close to the bone to separate. Mix the spice rub ingredients together. Rub the mixture evenly over the ribs on both sides. Arrange the ribs on a broiler pan or rimmed baking sheet, and slide into the oven. Bake for 8 minutes; turn them, and bake for 10 minutes more. Reduce the oven tempreature to 300 degrees.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium. Add the garlic and orange zest; cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the vinegar and the orange juice. Let it reduce for a few minutes, until some of the liquid has evaporated. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the remaining ingredients, and let them cook until the mixture is thick and syrupy.

Pour the sauce evenly over the ribs and cover tightly with foil. Cook at 300 for about an hour (ours were done at this point, but you’ll need to check; you want to make sure that the meat is falling off the bone and that no pink remains). Because our sweet potatoes needed to cook at a high temperature for another few minutes, I uncovered the ribs and slid them into the oven too at 450 degrees. This step is probably not necessary, but it helps to seal the glaze, making the sauce into a dense, sticky coating, which we liked. Let the ribs rest for a few minutes after they’ve finished cooking.

I spent those minutes throwing together our Constant Garden Salad, which consisted of greens, strawberries, green onions, and goat cheese drizzled with basalmic vinegar, olive oil, honey, and salt.

Thanks to everyone who has patiently endured my Oscar dorkiness; it has been fun, but now it’s time to retire the tiara until next year. Until then, Good Night and Good Luck. (how could I resist?!)

(Oscar Night Dish #2: more cheesy humor)

When I planned our Oscar-night menu, little did I know that each of my dishes would end up representing a category winner! The Crash martini, of course, is a nod to the best picture. David and I both thought the film was really excellent, but we were surprised that it beat out the other nominees. How I love an underdog.
These sweet potatoes are named for the other big suprise of the evening: Three-6-Mafia’s “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” which won best original song. (Maybe it wasn’t such a surprise to other people? We just had a hard time visualizing the Academy members voting for gansta rappers. I guess we were wrong!)

Actually, the other thing I was thinking about when I named these was that MTV show, Pimp My Ride. I’ve never seen a whole episode, but some of my students are big fans, so I hear about it. The metaphor is apt, anyway: for this dish, you take plain-jane roasted potatoes, dress them in a glistening, garlic-tinged orange-scented glaze, and they go from tuber-next-door to ghetto fabulous side dish in no time flat. (And now is the time that I refrain from using the phrase bling-bling because I fear that I am getting way too into this whole thing. If only you could see me in my tiara.)

Here’s the recipe:

Pimp’d Out Sweet Potatoes
(or Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes, if you prefer. Can you imagine ordering these at a restaurant? Ha!)

4 small or 2 large sweet potatoes, diced
Olive oil to coat
Kosher salt
1 clove garlic
1 T. butter
Zest of half an orange
1 T. orange marmalade
1 T. cider vinegar
1 1/2 T. cane syrup or molasses
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the potatoes with enough olive oil to coat, and lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt. Roast for about 30-35 minutes, stirring once about halfway through. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small skillet. Fry the garlic and orange zest until very fragrant and golden brown. Add the marmalade, vinegar, and syrup; cook over medium-low until very thick and syrupy. Take the potatoes out of the oven and pour the glaze over them, turning to coat as many as you can. Put them back into the oven and cook for another 5 minutes. This last step can be done at the last minute, when everything else you’re making is ready.

These potatoes are my contribution to this weeks ARF/5-a-Day Tuesdays over at Sweetnicks.

WARNING: VERY CHEESY HUMOR TO FOLLOW.

Blame it on the Mardi Gras vacation we’ve enjoyed this week, or the silly star-struck-ness that I feel towards the Academy Awards (or perhaps on the drink you see above…), but David and I decided on a whim yesterday to throw ourselves an Oscar party. This is sort of a tradition for us–last year, I even dressed up in an old bridesmaid’s dress (because my close friends sometimes read this blog, I won’t disclose which one!) and a plastic tiara to cook our party food and enjoy our evening with the stars.

I’m a total sucker for the Hollywood glam, and David and I are both movie fanatics, so I guess it’s no surprise that we watch the Oscars every year. This year, though, we’re taking our celebrating to a whole new corny level. And for some reason, I felt inclined to share our corniness with you. So, without further ado, I present the evening’s menu, and the recipe for the dessert cocktail pictured above.

To kick off the evening, we shall be having Constant Garden Salad, for which no illegally obtained pharmaceuticals will be used. We promise. For the main course, Brokeback Ribs glazed with a Chipotle-Marmalade sauce will be accompanied by Pimp’d Out Sweet Potatoes (the kind that someone like Terrence Howard might sing about). For our dessert cocktail, a Chocolate Mint Crash Martini demonstrates that liquor of all shades can reside in harmony.

And, the recipe for the martini represents my first-ever contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging over at Kalyn’s Kitchen. Please give a big round of applause for…

Chocolate Mint!

To make the Crash Martini, you will need:

1 ounce of heavy cream
1 ounce of caramel or chocolate flavored cream liqueur, like Cask and Cream or Godiva
1 ounce of vanilla vodka
2 or 3 sprigs of chocolate mint

Smash the mint leaves and vodka together with the handle of a wooden spoon or other blunt instrument (I’m sure there’s a proper bar tool for this). This process, of infusing the mint into the vodka, is called muddling, I’m told. Let the minty vodka sit while you prepare the rest. In a martini glass, pour in the cream first and then the cream liqueur, carefully so that the colors mingle but don’t mix entirely (this requires a bit of a steady hand). Remove the mint leaves from the vodka and top off the martini with the vodka. Enjoy and try to concentrate on how well those flavors get along. Hopeful, isn’t it?

This is really more like dessert than a cocktail, but I bet it would make a fabulous addition to ice cream or coffee too.

The rest of tonight’s recipes are to follow next week…stay tuned!

When I got married, one of the most thoughtful gifts I received was from a family friend with whom I happened to be working at the time. During our time as co-workers, Beth apparently noticed my insatiable passion for muffins, and for my office shower, she brought me a very cute basket, packed with a muffin tin, brightly colored dish cloths, and a little cookbook called Muffins, A to Z. Today, the cloths are faded and worn, and I’ve made almost every muffin recipe in the book. Every time I mix up a new batch of batter, I can’t help but think about sweet Beth who paid such careful attention to my love of these small breakfast wonders.

I really love all kinds of muffins–sweet, savory, fruit, chocolate, light, dense–you name it, and I’ve tried it. I have some old favorites that I return to, of course, but I’m always on the lookout for new ideas. When my sweet friend Rorie of Milk & Honey posted a scone recipe using Meyer lemons and cranberries several weeks ago, I knew I wanted to hi-jack that flavor combination for muffins.

The lemon flavor is clean and light, not too overpowering, and the cranberries add a nice zip to every other bite. The texture is cake-like and moist, as I prefer my muffins, due to the combination of butter and buttermilk for the fat and liquid content.

Perfect for an end-of-winter Saturday morning. In fact, I think I’ll make them again tomorrow.

Lemon-Cranberry Muffins

NOTE: I tried these again with orange zest and juice substituted for the lemon and grated nutmeg for the almond extract with good results!

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
Zest of 2 Meyer lemons, about 1 T.
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 T. butter
2 large eggs
1/4 t. almond extract
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon, about 1/4 cup
1 cup dried, fresh, or frozen cranberries (I used dried)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and grease your muffin pan. Combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Melt the butter and whisk together quickly with the buttermilk (it helps if the buttermilk is not ice cold); whisk in the eggs. Add the almond extract and lemon juice and stir to blend. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry by adding all at once, folding together until just blended (overmixing will make a tough muffin.) Fold in the cranberries. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake for 18-22 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.