1 box lasagna noodles
48 oz tomato sauce
1lb italian sausage
1 anise bulb
1 large zucchini
1 bunch kale
5 cloves garlic
1 lb mozzarella
1 can parmesean cheese
olive oil
water
parsley
rosemary
oregano
salt and pepper
Start with the tomato sauce, by mixing the canned tomatoes with equal parts water, the garlic, parsley rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and use an immersion blender to smooth out. Reduce to simmer and let it reduce by nearly a half.
Brown the italian sausage while heating a large pot of water. Grease a large baking sheet. When the water is hot, dip the noodles in a few at a time until they are just pliable and place the first layer into the baking sheet.
Slice the anise bulb and the zucchini as thin as you can. Layer on the noodles with a little sauce. Layer some more noodles and add the mozzarella in large chunks. Add more parmesean cheese and italian sausage, and the kale chopped up small.
Layer things together however you want and top with sauce and parmesean. Some tricks: the noodles don't have to be fully cooked first as they will absorb some moisture while baking. The thinner the veggies the easier they will be to bake. Big chunks of mozz are fun to find when you are eating. Don't skimp on the parmesean.
Cover in tinfoil and place in fridge overnight. Cook in oven at 325 for 60 minutes, with an additional 10 mins under the broiler without the tinfoil to get a good crisp on top.
I've made this tzizki sauce before, but this time I added fresh peppermint and greek oregano. So very tasty.
The rest of the salad had kale, red leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onions black olives and feta, and Israeli couscous.
The other plate was simply sliced apples, grapes, and sharp cheddar. Perfect.
So first, Make this cocoa syrup. It is amazing and easy.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa
1 orange zested
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
In a small pot, bring water and sugar to a boil and whisk in cocoa, orange zest, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until all of the solids have dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thickened. Cool to room temperature. Put it on everything.
Next the crepes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted (but not over heated
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.
Toppings
Fresh Strawberries from the garden
1 Lemon for juice
Sprigs of chocolate mint, sliced
Orange Cocoa Sauce
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
10 sprigs thyme, tied together
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
1–2 teaspoons sugar, divided
1/4 cup (or more) heavy cream
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
Melt butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add thyme, onion, and garlic. Cook until onion is completely soft and translucent, 10–12 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; add tomato paste. Continue cooking, stirring often, until paste has begun to caramelize in spots, 5–6 minutes.
Add tomatoes with juices, 1 tsp. sugar, and 8 cups water to pot. Increase heat to high; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer until flavors meld and soup reduces to about 2 quarts (8 cups), 45–55 minutes. Remove soup from heat; let cool slightly. Discard thyme sprigs. Working in small batches, purée soup in a blender until smooth. Return to pot. DO AHEAD Soup can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool slightly, cover, and chill. Rewarm before continuing.
Stir in 1/4 cup cream. Simmer soup until flavors meld, 10–15 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and remaining 1 tsp. sugar. Add more cream, if desired.
For the sandwich, I used some sourdough, buttered on the outsides, a very thin layer of miso paste on the inside, with some basil, ham and thick tillamook cheddar. I put this on the pan before turning on the heat to medium and kept it covered while it toasting.
A solid breakfast right here.
English Muffins
2 eggs,
1 juiced and zested lemon
1/2 tspn cardamom
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
chopped hazelnuts.
I made the english muffin french toast, by splitting the muffin the night before and letting them sit out to get stale. This extra bite helps them absorb the egg and stay crispy and full of nooks and cranies when they are cooked.
For the glaze, I zested the lemon, then juiced it all out. I add the cardamom, and started mixing in the powdered sugar at about a large Tablespoon at a time, stirring until it was dissolved before adding more. I kept this up until it was thick, which took longer than I had expected.
Finally I just topped it all off with some hazelnuts to be fancy. Quite perfect.
Muahhahaha! Successful Chinese meal made by me!
Though I did follow this recipe for the Drunken Noodles: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/052grex.html
I did make some variations:
I used about 1.5x the amount of sauce that the recipe calls for.
Their recipe must have used a different type of noodle, because cooking for that long was over kill. I got some Wide Rice Noodles from Fubonn whose instruction read; cook in boiling water for 3 minutes, and then drain. You do need to keep this in some extra water to avoid them getting too sticky, or drain them and put them directly in the saute.
I used twice as many jalapenos, but could have done even more. It wasn't too spicy at all.
I didn't pick up any cilantro, though it would have been good. Instead I had thai basil, some other asian leafy herb, and some awesome mint leaves. Mint leaves are essential.
Finally, this recipe makes more than would fit in my large wok, so I cooked in batches. It is also good to add the noodles to the wok first, then the sauce, and let them cook until a couple parts start to brown on the bottom.
And again, I added extra sambal, so it definitely could have been spicier.
For the spring rolls:
1 package rice paper
Thai basil
Mint
3 carrots
1 cucumber
1 package scallions
rice vinegar
peanut sauce
The rice paper took a little practice. One recipe I read had you soak the rice paper for 5 minutes in boiling water. The package said to dip it in warm water for 5 seconds. I started with boiling water which made extracting the paper tricky. It would just come out of the water and stick together in a large clump. Eventually I learned the best method was to have warm water, dip the rice paper in for a literal second, just enough to get water to touch all parts, then lay it on a plate, add the shredded carrots, julienned cucumber and scallion, a touch of rice vinegar, the herbs and then wrap. After sitting for a minute while you composed, the rice paper became pliable and sticky. It was very easy to wrap up.
I purchased some peanut sauce to dip these in. Maybe not the best peanut sauce, but it was good enough, and easier than making it from scratch. I had too many other things going on in this recipe to worry about it.
So you know it is getting nice here in Portland when my pictures of dinner are taken when the sun is still up and out.
I am lazy here so I am just going to link the two recipes I used for these dishes.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orecchiette-with-roasted-fennel-and-sausage-recipe/index.html
Mom, you will be happy to note this has sundried tomatoes. Also, I used left over feta from the other recipe instead of Parmesan. I would also like to try this recipe with clams or mussels, or some combination of roasted fennel, tomatoes and mussels. And no one should be put off by fennel for a fear of black licorices flavor. Fennel, especially roasted is way mild.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-swiss-chard-with-feta/
This is the other recipe. It takes a bit of time to roast everything, but with plenty of feta and some lemon juice on top at the end, it is remarkably good. See, I just remarked on how good it was. I might have crowded the baking sheet, since I doubled the recipe, but I found it difficult to get the chard to crisp up instead of wilting and sticking to the sheet.
