Tag: recipe

Lasagna in un altro modo

Scott and I spent a month in Italy this year. We rented a cozy place in our favorite town, Lucca, which is within the Tuscany region. He made this amazing lasagna. Even the pasta was made from scratch.

The secret to this dish is the Lucchese Spice. He found it in Lucca, and the ingredients are mysterious but we are guessing it has nutmeg, cumin, and cinnamon in it.

Ragu-

Ingredients-

½ cup Celery, Onion, Carrot Diced      

½ lb. Ground Pork or Sausage

 ½ lb. Ground Beef

28 oz. Tomato Sauce (Puree, Whole, or Crushed) I recommend Cento

28 0z. Water

½ cup Red or White Wine

Salt & Pepper

Lucchese Spice

Oregano

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVO)

You’ll need a Dutch oven or pot big enough to hold 60 oz.

Directions–      

  1. Add Celery, Onion, Carrot to pot on medium heat in about 2 TBS. EVO with some salt to help the veggies sweat. Cook until soft.
  2. Add Pork and continuously break up pork until fine and cooked through. Don’t skip this process, patience is key. I usually do it on medium low and keep breaking it up until I like the consistency of the meat. You have to add some EVO if it looks like its drying out.
  3. Repeat the same as #2 with the Beef.
  4. Once the meat is finely broken up add ½ Cup Red (bolder flavor) or White wine, I prefer white. Cook until the alcohol smell is gone. 
  5. Add 28 oz. tomato sauce, fill can with water to extract the leftover sauce and add to pot.
  6. Add Spices to your desired taste, but, about ½ teaspoon Lucchese should be enough, you can always add more of anything if you need as the sauce simmers.
  7. Simmer Sauce for at least FOUR HOURS, I find the best sauce simmers for at least six hours. Add water if sauce looks to thick.

Besciamella-

Ingredients-

The simple equation to besciamella is 1 part flour to 1 part butter to 10 parts milk, and can be adjusted as you need.

5 tablespoons butter, (70g)

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour, (70g)

4 and 1/4 cups whole milk, (1 litre)

1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Parmigiano Cheese

Salt (optional) and pepper, to taste

Directions-

 I like to do this about 30 minutes before I am ready to assemble the Lasagna.

  1. Melt butter in saucepan.
  2. In a separate pan, warm the milk, do not boil.
  3. Once melted add flour and stir until mixed (no chunks). It should have the viscosity of Elmers glue.
  4. On medium high heat add in the milk and stir vigorously with a whisk until it begins to thicken like pudding.
  5. Add the nutmeg and pepper and mix well.
  6. Grate some parmigiano into sauce, amount depends on you.

Noodles-

Buy a box, cook them. Or I can teach you how to make the homemade version.

Layering-

Directions–

  1. Place a light layer of sauce or besciamella on bottom of casserole dish.
  2. Place a layer of noodles overlapping.
  3. Add ragu to cover noodles but not thick.
  4. Add besciamella and spread out with ragu. It ain’t gonna look pretty but will mix well.
  5.  Grate a coating layer of parmigiano over layer.
  6. Repeat until you get to the top or you run out of ingredients.
  7. The top should be a layer of besciamella, or just another mixture of the ragu and besciamella. At this point you might have a lot of one or the other left over. No need to make more. And of course you’ll be wanting to add more grated Parmigiano on the top.

Bake at 400 Degree for 25 minutes. You can always cook a few minutes longer depending on your desire. Another method is 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes.  

Pork Chili Verde

Our neighbors gave us an electric pressure cooker so this recipe was done in that cooker. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, not to worry, you can simmer it for a longer cooking time on the stovetop to get the same tenderness to the meat. It’s just going to be a longer cook time. I have directions for both below.

Picture above is my mom and my first child, Cassie, on the BCFerry to Vancouver Island in 2001.

Ingredients:

4 lbs pork butt, cut into 1 inch cubes

28 oz can tomatillo

16 oz verde salsa

Chicken broth – if being cooked on the stovetop

1 onion, diced fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

Cumin, salt and pepper to taste

1 Anaheim chili, diced and seeded

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Extra-virgin olive oil

Lime

Directions:

Pressure cooker directions:

Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and brown pork on all sides. Add water from tomatillo with meat and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Strain meat and keep the tomatillo water. In the same pot add oil and onions and cook until translucent, about 5-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.

Grab a blender or food processor and puree the tomatillos, add those to the onion mixture. Add pork, salsa verde, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomatillo water. Simmer for another 5 minutes until pork is fork tender.

Add cilantro and lime when served on tortillas.

Stove top directions:

Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and brown pork on all sides.

Remove pork from the pan and place a bit more olive oil in there. Sauté the onions for 5-10 minutes. Add the garlic for another 5 minutes.

Add the water from the tomatillos but add some chicken stock so that there is enough liquid to cover t he meat. Add the cumin, cover and let simmer for 2-4 hours.

Grab a blender or food processor and puree the tomatillos, chili and the salsa verde. Add the puree to the meat and simmer for another 30-45 minutes.

Serve with cilantro and lime garnish when served on tortillas.

Golden Bread Rolls

If you are looking for a delicious homemade bread roll to add to your dinner, here it is. I found this recipe in a book I bought titled The Great British Baking Show – Love to Bake, but I have altered it. The original recipe is titled Herby Garlic Rolls. I have omitted the garlic. You can add it in if you want to make the rolls true to the recipe.

Ingredients:

350 grams white bread flour

175 grams plain flour

7 grams fast-action dried yeast

275 ml whole milk, plus more for glazing

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg, lightly beaten, plus 1 yolk for glazing

50 grams butter, softened

1-2 TBS fresh herbs, finely chopped (parsley and dill work well)

2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Grab a baking tray and grease and line with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, gently warm the milk and add yeast, sugar, and salt. Give it a little mix and let it do its things for about 5 minutes, the yeast will be dancing around and activating.

In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (hopefully you have one, if not you will be doing this part by hand), add flours together with milk mixture, beaten egg and butter. Mix for 4-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic but slightly sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with slightly damp tea towel and let it rise for 1 hour. It should double in size.

Turn out the dough into a floured surface. Knead gently for 30 seconds then shape into disc. Cover with upturned bowl and let it rise for another 10 minutes.

Divide the dough equally into 12 portions, then shape into neat balls with seams on the undersides. Arrange the dough balls in the baking tray, they should be touching, not squashed together. Cover with tea towel again and let rise for another hour. At the end of the hour they should be light, puffy and almost doubled in size.

Heat oven to 180 C or 350 F.

Mix the egg yolk with the 1 TBS milk and carefully brush over the top of each roll. Bake on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes, until well risen and golden brown.

While the rolls are baking, mix together the chopped herbs with olive oil.

As soon as the rolls come out, brush with herb and oil mixture. Leave to cool slightly.

Arancini – Sicilian Stuffed Rice Balls

I recently bought Eva and Harper’s cookbook, The Italian Family Kitchen, and this is the first recipe I have tried. Eva and Harper are the creators behind the YouTube channel Pasta Grammar. We have been watching it for years and hope to do their tour to Dasa, Italy someday.

Here is the recipe for the delicious fried balls of rice stuffed with goodness:

Ingredients:

3 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 white onion, diced

1/2 carrot, diced

1/2 celery, diced

4 ounces ground beef

4 ounces ground pork

2 bay leaves (I only used one)

Pinch of ground cloves

5 tsp salt, plus more to taste (I used 2 tsp)

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup white wine

2 TBS tomato paste

1 cup warm water

1/3 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup grated caciocavallo or sharp provolone cheese (I used Parmigiana Reggiano from Italy)

2 cups arborio rice

1/4 tsp saffron

1/4 cup unsalted butter (I used salted butter)

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Bread crumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Heat olive oil and sauté onion, carrot and celery until tender. Add the ground meat and cook until browned while breaking it up into crumbles. Stir in the bay leaf, cloves and salt and pepper to taste.

Add the wine and bring to a simmer for 4-5 minutes or until most of the excess liquid has evaporated. In a small bowl, dissolve the tomato paste into the warm water. Stir the diluted tomato paste into the meat mixture.

Partially cover and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in frozen peas and simmer again for another 30 minutes. The ragu should be dry. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese. Let this cool to room temperature.

While you are cooking the ragu, combine the rice, saffron, butter and salt with 4 cups of water and bring to a simmer. This is where I became worried about putting in 5 tsp of salt. Because I used salted butter, I made the decision to use 2 tsp of salt instead. Cover and cook until water is absorbed and rice is done.

Spread the rice flat onto a large, rimmed baking sheet and let it cool to room temperature.

Once everything is room temperature, place the flour in a bowl and mix in just enough water to make a thin batter. Place bread crumbs on a plate.

Wet your hands and scoop a large handful of rice, then flatten the rice into your palm. Press a shallow depression into the center and place a heaping tablespoon of ragu inside. Cover the ragu with another handful of rice and press the arancini closed into a smooth, round ball. Roll the ball into the batter and then into the breadcrumbs.

Fill a large, deep pan with 4 inches of vegetable oil and heat to frying temperature. Work in batches to give the arancini space within the pan you are using. Gently turn frequently. Once all sides are golden brown place on a plate with paper towel to drain the oil. Let cool for a few minutes.

These are really good with a nice marinara.

Buon appetito!