Spinach Lasagna

I've decided that The New Best Recipe cookbook (it's from the editors of Cook's Illustrated so you know it's fancy) does Italian just right. I made this over the weekend for some family and I've been eating leftovers for lunch since then.

I don't think this recipe could get better (although I do have notes throughout it without slight changes I made that made it faster and cheaper). So even though this is going to take me an hour to type up, I feel I owe it to this noble recipe.

Spinach Lasagna

The New Best Recipe 2004

Serves 6 to 8

SPINACH

1 tablespoon salt

2 (10-ounce) bags curly-spinach, stemmed and rinsed

BECHAMEL

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 large shallots; minced (about 1 cup)

4 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (generous 1 tablespoon)

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

3-1/2 cups whole milk

2 bay leaves

3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (1/2 cup)

CHEESES AND PASTA

8 ounces whole-milk cottage cheese

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 no-boil lasagna noodles from 1 box

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (1 cup)

8 ounces Italian fontina cheese, shredded (2 cups) (*Heading of recipe says that you can substitute whole-milk mozzarella cheese for fontina which I did and the flavor was still amazing.)

1. FOR THE SPINACH: Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring 4 quarts water to a rolling boil in a large Dutch oven or stock pot over high heat; add the salt and spinach, stirring until the spinach is just wilted, about 5 seconds. Using a skimmer or fine-mesh strainer, transfer the spinach to the ice water and let stand until completely cool, about 1 minute, then drain the spinach and transfer to a clean kitchen towel. Wrap the towel rightly around the spinach to form a ball and wring until dry. Chop the spinach medium and set aside. (*I just used two bags frozen chopped spinach and boiled on stove and wrung dry.)

2. FOR THE BECHAMEL: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming; add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots are translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1-1/2 minutes; do not brown. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the bay leaves, nutmeg, salt, and pepper; reduce the heat to low and simmer 10 minutes, whisking occasionally. Whisk in the Parmesan and discard the bay leaves. Transfer the sauce to a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly against the surface, and set aside. (*I didn't have shallots on hand or bay leaves, and I only used a dash of nutmeg as this book seems to be a little nutmeg-happy at times.)

3. FOR THE CHEESE, PASTA, AND ASSEMBLY: Blend the cottage cheese, egg, and salt in a food processor or blender until very smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Adjust an oven rack tot he middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the noodles in a 13 by 9-inch broiler-safe baking dish and cover with hot water; let soak 5 minutes, agitating the noodles occasionally to prevent sticking. Remove the noodles form the water and place in a single layer on a clean kitchen towel. (*I used regular lasagna noodles and boiled as directed on the package.) Wipe the baking dish dry and coat with the butter.

Use a rubber spatula to spread 1/2 cup of the becahmel over the bottom of the baking dish; position 3 noodles on the top of the sauce. Stir the spinach into the remaining bechamel in the bowl, mixing well to break up the clumps of spinach (you should have about 4 cups spinach-bechamel mixture). Spread 1 cup of the spinach mixture evenly over the noodles, sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan, and top with 3 more noodles. Spread 1 cup spinach mixture evenly over the noodles, sprinkle evenly with 1 cup of the fontina (or mozzarella) and top with 3 more noodles. Spread 1 cup spinach mixture evenly over the noodles, followed by the cottage cheese mixture. Finish with the remaining 3 noodles, the remaining 1 cup spinach mixture, and the remaining 1 cup fontina.

Lightly spray a large sheet of foil with nonstick cooking spray and cover the lasagna. Bake until bubbling, about 20 minutes, then remove the foil. Remove the lasagna and adjust the oven rack to the uppermost position (about 6 inches from the heating element) and heat the broiler. Broil the lasagna until the cheese is spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, then cut into pieces and serve.

Soup!

Anyone see 30 Rock the other night? Barefoot Contessa had her moment, and I basked in it. I love that woman.

I don't have a picture of this, but I'll get one next time I make it and add it to this post.

I have a sketchy recipe to share that I think tastes good but I change the quantities everytime so it almost tastes different every time. Sometimes I skip an ingredient and add something else. Once I added red-pepper flakes. Once I didn't. Basically what I'm saying is that if it's a bust for you, it's your fault. Haha! That said:

7 cups chicken broth (or 7 cups water with maybe 2-3 chicken wings/thighs boiled into it)
5 sticks of celery, chopped way thin
1 large onion cut into thin slivers
1 level teaspoon of parsley
About 8 shaker twists of salt
About 5 of pepper
1 level tablespoon of super finely diced garlic
1 green pepper diced into itty bitties
1 28oz tin of plum tomatoes (whole, chopped, doesn't matter)
4 carrots, but julienne the heck out of those bad boys

I bring the lot to the boil, skim off the foamy stuff, and then when I turn it down to simmer, I throw about 4 uncooked chicken breasts in there and leave the whole thing to simmer for about 70 minutes.

At the end of the 70 minutes I do something really unprofessional. I take my clean kitchen scissors and basically stick them in my pan and snip snip snip to get the chicken into smaller pieces and make sure there are no huge vegetables in there because Andy hates huge vegetables in soup. It occurred to me the other day that I could use a potato masher, or just cut the chicken before I pop it into the pan to cook but who wants to make life easier for themselves, eh?

In a separate pan I cook an entire box of those dittalini pasta shapes

Right before I'm ready to serve the soup, I dump some pasta thingies into the soup, add a tablespoon of Romano cheese on top of the vegetable soup and that's about it.

I'd tell you how many people this serves but in all honesty, I am unsure because I eat such 'healthy' serving sizes. I get about 6 bowls out of this, but I have a feeling that if you're not a pig, it's more like 9.

It's really good Winter Soup. I think.

I've started making my pasta from scratch lately (linguine, spaghetti, lasagne) so if anyone has any good ideas for ravioli filling, let me know. I kind of want to try that next.

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches

**Finally harvested some beautiful English Baby Cucumbers in my garden and wondered what I should do with them. These tea sandwiches are delightful for an afternoon tea or garden party (we have those all of the time...right??). Best part about them is that I can use mint from my garden as well. Sorry that my photo is not of the actual sandwich, I forgot to take a photo until after I ate them. That's how good they are.

Gourmet | July 1992

yield: Makes 12 tea sandwiches

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

ingredients

• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed, spun dry, and chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 6 slices of whole-wheat bread
• a 3-inch length of seedless cucumber, cut into thin slices

preparation

In a small bowl combine the mint, the butter, and the cream cheese and stir the mixture until it is combined well. Spread the bread slices with the butter mixture, top 3 of them with the cucumber, distributing the cucumber evenly and seasoning it with salt, and top the cucumber with the remaining bread slices. Cut off and discard the crusts and cut each sandwich diagonally into quarters.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cucumber-Mint-Tea-Sandwiches-12337#ixzz0utO7Rao4

the BEST chocolate cake you will EVER eat!

This is by far my most favorite chocolate cake.

I'm not a huge cake eater, but this is pure delight.

If you like dense, chocolate cake. you HAVE to try this.

It's so easy!

Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 pkg chocolate cake mix

1 (5 oz) pkg of instant pudding mix

1 C sour cream

1/2 C oil

1/2 C warm water

4 eggs

1 (6oz) pkg chocolate chips

powdered sugar or hot fudge

Preheat oven to 350. Mix first 6 ingredients together until blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter in greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle hot fudge over the top.

(also great for cupcakes and frost with whip cream)

LAVENDER LEMONADE

• 3 cups sugar
• 7 sprigs lavender (stems and buds), plus additional for garnish*
• 2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 12 lemons)
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 5 limes)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring one gallon of water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat; add 7 lavender sprigs and lemon and lime juices. Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill. Serve on ice, with additional lavender for garnish.

Risotto-Style Orzo with Spring Vegetables

Hopefully this post isn't too late since it is now feeling like summer instead of spring, but I found this recipe on the Whole Foods app on my phone and it was delightful. I added a little bit of chicken because Jared could've "eaten a horse" that night.

Risotto-Style Orzo with Spring Vegetables

Serves 4 to 6

Try this quick and easy risotto-style dish made with orzo pasta. No constant stirring necessary! Ingredients with an asterisk (*) are available in the Whole Foods Market Family of Brands.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter*
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta*
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas*
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth*
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add onions and mushrooms and cook until tender but not browned. Add orzo and stir to coat. Add carrots, peas and broth. Bring to boil and cook until orzo is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in Parmesan and cover. Let rest 5 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and season with salt and pepper.

(Go here to see the recipe. The recipe and photo are from wholefoodsmarket.com.)

Creamy Chicken and Garden Soup

DE-LISH. Easy.

makes 4 servings: cook time: HIGH 3-4 hours

1/2 Package (16 oz) frozen pepper stir fry veggie mix ( or just a couple of chopped bell peppers)

1 cup frozen corn

1 medium zucchini sliced

2 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 can (14 oz) fat free chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 oz uncooked egg noodles

1 cup half and half

1/2 cup frozen green peas

2 TBS chopped parsley

2 TBS butter

salt and pepper to taste

Place stir fry veggies, corn and zucchini in crock pot on bottom. Add chicken, garlic, broth and thyme. Cover; cook on high 3-4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove chicken and set aside to cool slightly.

Add noodles to crock pot. Cover; cook 20 min longer, or until noodles are done.

(meanwhile,debone and chop chicken, return to crock pot. Stir in remaining ingredients. Let stand 5 min before serving.)