deconstructed lasagna

deconstructed lasagna. or baked pasta, you choose, either way, this was super easy, super satisfying and pretty damn good. good luck finding broccoli rabe around little rock, whole foods will order it for you or you can buy some that’s seen better days at fresh (ahem) market. a few changes i would recommend is; use chicken or turkey sausage, reduce the oven temp to 350℉, up the baking time to 20-25 minutes and cover with foil when you bake. & p.s., my liquid never bubbled, because i used 16 ounces of pasta rather than the 8 ounces  called for in the recipe ~ it worked, a tad dry just on the top, you'll want to use 8 ounces. this recipe comes from the Everyday Food series on PBS. here it is;

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 sprigs thyme
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 links spicy Italian sausage (3/4 pound total), casings removed
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes
8 ounces medium shell pasta
1 bunch broccoli rabe (about 1 pound), trimmed and coarsely chopped
6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden brown, 15 minutes (reduce heat if browning too quickly).

Add garlic and sausage. Cook, breaking meat up with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, breaking them up with spoon. Cook sauce until slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Discard thyme.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 4 minutes less than package instructions. Add broccoli rabe to pot and cook 15 seconds. Drain pasta and broccoli rabe and return to pot. Stir in sausage mixture. Transfer to a 3-quart baking dish or divide among four 16-ounce gratin dishes. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake until cheese has melted and liquid is bubbling, about 15 minutes.

panino!

panino. i felt the need for a warm sammie on a recent cold day and broke out the george foreman grill & presto; a panino at home. ok, i didn’t have to & maybe shouldn’t have made the cross hatch marks, but, nevertheless, this black forest ham & melted swiss panino was yum. inside a slather of dijonaise. i should have taken the photo after i took a bite, it was picture perfect with the melted swiss making a 10 inch string from the sandwich to my mouth, ok, maybe not. don’t buy a panino, make one!

and now a note from wikipedia: The word panino [pa'ni:no] is Italian for "small bread roll"; its plural form is panini. The word is the diminutive form of pane ("bread"). Outside Italy, panini is often incorrectly used as a singular word and is sometimes even more bastardized and pluralized into paninis.
In Italian, panino refers properly to a bread roll and a panino imbottito (literally "stuffed panino") to a sandwich. A paninoteca is a sandwich bar.

coooooookies

pfeffernüsse cookies. i found these cookies at kroger and had to have ‘em. while they are not the exact delicious treat i indulged on in europe, they are cake-like, spicy, sweet and tasty. odd, because, the ingredient list doesn’t include the spicy and sweet ingredients of ginger, pepper or molasses which are the traditional key ingredients of the cookie. whatever. try ‘em, they’re good & stocked near the deli case.

uh, ok.

LRB took a tapas cooking class from the arkansas extended learning center. while the chef seemed to not have his ducks in a row - his assistant may have been missing some ducks. still, the class was a learning experience. not all the recipes were on the class handout and if they did appear, an ingredient here or an amount there, may have been curiously m.i.a. but, we did come away with recipes for a chipotle compound butter, shrimp ceviche, maryland crab cakes, bacon stuffed mushroom caps and flank steak with a take on chimichurri sauce. most of which i have made on my own at home (except for the ceviche & crab cakes) and all turned out to be yummy. back to the arkansas extended learning center. i am painfully embarrassed to even give you a link to their site. one link is a download for the fall 2009 schedule, while the class calendar page proudly states-> 2008 class calendar coming soon! what the hell is dana doing over there?? again, i’ve been sidetracked. well, i guess there isn’t much more to write. enjoy the photos and let me know if you would like me to post any of the recipes...pictured here is the ceviche.

Dana Venhaus, Director


AR Extended Learning Center


registration@extendedlearning.org


P.O. Box 7507


Little Rock, AR  72217-7507


501.666.0759

mushroom & brown rice stuffed savoy cabbage

stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce. a savoy cabbage caught my eye. i wanted the sweet & sour tomato sauce but wasn’t feeling the grease that meat would give up. so, i decided to wing it with brown rice & mushrooms. the result was just what i wanted. delicious! i should have doubled the recipe. i made my brown rice the day before. here’s how;

filling

1 head savoy cabbage, cored & blanched for 3-5 minutes
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
10 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped to resemble ground meat
1 cup brown rice, just cooked, not mushy
1 onion, diced finely
½ teaspoon allspice
salt & white pepper

sauce

15 oz can of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons honey or sugar or agave nectar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt & white pepper

cook brown rice. i did this the day before.

boil water in a pot large enough for the cabbage head. core the cabbage and when water boils add cabbage, you may have to hold it down, mine wanted to float. you want the leaves to be tender and easy to remove. lift cabbage out of boiling water with chinese wire strainer. let drain over pot, then transfer to a colander to cool. in a skillet add olive oil. when it starts to shimmer add diced onion and stir. start chopping your mushrooms and add to skillet in batches as you chop. cook until tender. add allspice, salt & pepper. stir in cup of cooked rice. done. set aside.

preheat oven to 350℉.

in a sauce pan add tomato sauce, honey, lemon juice. heat through. add salt & pepper to taste. simmer 5 minutes.

in a shallow casserole with a lid, cover bottom with tomato sauce. remove leaves from cabbage and cut the sturdy part of the spine out of the leaf. now the leaf will lie flat. place ⅓ cup or so of mushroom & rice mixture on leaf & roll. place in casserole dish seam side down. cover rolls with sauce. put lid on dish and bake for 30 minutes & sauce is bubbling. let rolls rest, covered, for 15 minutes before serving.

How To Roll Cabbage Leaves:

1. cut sturdy part of spine out of leaf
2. open the leaf & lie flat on the counter.
3. place the mushroom/rice mixture in the center of the leaf.
4. bring the top and bottom of the leaf over the mixture.
5. roll the sides into the center to overlap each other.
6. Place seam side down in the dish to bake.

parmesan rinds

soup. save your parmesan rinds. if this soup doesn’t convince you to bend over & get a freezer bag, nothing will. make a soup using up the fridge/freezer & pantry scraps & give it an italiano flair with a parmesan rind. there is no recipe for this soup. in order for you not to waste time in wonder, here is what i did; i dumped into a crockpot:

½ onion, diced

1 small sweet potato, cubed

3 stalks celery, diced

leftover & frozen tomato paste

leftover frozen pesto

1 frozen parmesan rind

a rosemary branch

chicken stock, enough to top it off. yes, you can use veg stock

when the veggies were almost tender, i threw in

⅓ cup orzo pasta

1 can of cannellini white beans, drained & rinsed

tummy warming & molto bene. you can also use the parmesan rinds in spaghetti sauce! don't try to eat the rind, folks, it's in there for flavor. save those rinds!

black bean dip

black bean dip! this is super easy & super delicious! consider making this for your next party. get your santoku knife out. here’s how;

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
¼ cup red onion, finely diced
¼ cup cilantro, finely diced
2 jalapeños, seeds removed, finely chopped
6 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 avocados, cut into small cubes
juice of 1 lime
garlic powder, a sprinkling
½ teaspoon ground cumin
salt to taste

in a mixing bowl, add ingredients in layers. add beans & cumin, red onion, cilantro, jalapeños, tomatoes and salt, add avocados, more salt, garlic powder then lime juice. stir to combine. break out the chips & eat!