Eggplant Lasagna

We decided to make an Eggplant Lasagna. Actually I wanted an Eggplant Parmesan (We had plenty of Parmesan Cheese that Guillermo had brought us as a gift from Italy. Cathy suggested (thankfully) that we make an Eggplant Lasagna instead. We had been to the market and I had bought a jar of fresh tomato sauce from Tutti Frutti Farms (They sell at our local Farmer’s Market).

Cathy adapted Mario Batali’s recipe for Baked Lasagne Alla Norma that we found on the web. Instead of the Béchamel sauce we used Burrata Cheese. We had some of the Truffle Cheese left over, so I suggested we top the Lasagna with it. It worked. This remaking of the recipe made a great Lasagna with lots of leftovers. We love where the crunchiness of the Nnoodles meets the crunchiness of the baked cheese. This is a wonderful adaptation of the recipe. Highly recommend it! Sometimes I feel I could be a vegetarian!

Baked Lasagne Alia Norma

Mario Batali

Layers of eggplant-tomato Sauce, bechamel, and pasta...what else could you ask for in an Italian comfort food!

BAKED LASAGNE ALLA NORMA

Eggplant-Tomato Sauce

3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for pan

2 medium Eggplant, peeled and cut into medium diced

1 medium Red Onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced

2 (28 ounce) cans Italian Plum Tomatoes, crushed by hand, juices reserved

3 tablespoons Chopped Fresh Basil (about 2 large sprigs)

1 tablespoon Fresh Thyme Leaves

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

BECHAMEL

5 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour

3 cups Whole Milk

2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon Freshly Grated Nutmeg

TO ASSEMBLE

2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

1 (1 pound) Package Lasagne Pasta

1 cup Freshly Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Ricotta Salata (grated to serve)

1.   Make The Eggplant-Tomato Sauce: Preheat the oven to 475°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

2.   Place the eggplant on the preheated baking sheet and roast until soft and dark golden brown (15-20 minutes). Remove and allow to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F

3.   While the eggplant is roasting, heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a 12-to 14-inch saute pan until smoking. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and light golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, and thyme and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, and season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked eggplant cubes and simmer for 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4.   Make The Bechamel: In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Cook until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the milk, 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until smooth, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside.

5.   Assemble The Dish: Bring 8 quarts of water to a boil in a pasta pot and add the salt. Set up an ice bath next to the stovetop. Drop the pasta into the boiling water, 6 or 7 pieces at a time, and cook about 1 minute less than suggested on the package. Transfer to the ice bath to cool, then drain on kitchen towels, laying the pasta flat. Repeat to cook the rest of the pasta.

6.   Spread a layer of the eggplant-tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9-by 3-inch lasagne pan and top with a sprinkling of parmigiano-reggiano, a layer of pasta, a layer of bechamel, another layer of eggplant-tomato sauce, a sprinkling of parmigiano-reggiano, and a layer of pasta. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, finishing with a layer of pasta topped with bechamel and a sprinkling of parmigiano-reggiano.

7.   Bake for 45 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the sauces are bubbling. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

8.   Serve with ricotta salta grated over the top and extra sauce if desired.

Tips

Lasagna is a great dish to make a day ahead of time for a large group of people. Build the lasagna and bake before serving.

It is also important to let the lasagna rest when it comes out of the oven, so all of the flavors and layers come together.

Dover Sole

Sautéing in the pan

One down, one to go

Dover Sole is always a treat. We were at McCall’s Meat and Fish and they had some beautiful fish. In New York we love eating at Balthazar Restaurant. It is just like being in Paris. The recipe for Sole A La Meuniere from The Balthazar Cookbook by Keith McNally, Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson is easy (if you don’t mind filleting fish). You can get the recipe from our blog of: Dec. 4, 2011. Click the date to get the recipe.

Served with Asparagus this made for a perfect dinner.

Beef Shank

Meghan with the Beef Shank

Looks like a sculpture

Truffle Cheese, Motzos and Wine

It is Passover

The Shank after Cooking

Shank Meat on bed of Polenta

Not one, but two desserts!

Guillermo was in town for the weekend. It was the one year anniversary of the death of his mother. We invited him to dinner along with Tom and Scott. We decided to make Rotisserie Chicken, easy delicious for the dinner. We went to McCall’s Meat and Fish to get the chicken and Megan told us they had a Beef Shank that had been ordered but not picked up. Megan and Nate thought we should rotisserie it instead of the Chicken. Cathy and I went back and forth trying to decide if we should change our menu from chicken to beef and then we finally decided – how could we not attempt to cook this huge sucker.

I had doubts that it would fit on the rotisserie, Cathy had doubts it would ever get tender (shank meet is tough). When we got home Cathy did a lot of research and decided it really should be braised for many hours. We started by using Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton’s recipe for Beef Shank from the cookbook: Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton at Home. This required the shank to be cut into slices through the bone of approximately 1-1/2 inches. So I bundled up the shank and returned to McCall’s where the cut the shank up for us. We returned to the house to cook the shank, low and slow.

It was a warm night and we started on the front deck with a Truffle Cheese from McCall’s that everyone loved. It being Passover we served it on Motzos!

Next we had an Asparagus Salad with Burrata and Hazelnuts.

Finally we served the braised Beef Shank. It had become quite tender and the marrow from the bones only added to its richness. We served it over Polenta. It was a huge hit. I am glad we didn’t get the chicken and we listened to Megan!

For dessert we had Gateau Basque Cake from McCall’s and a Fruit Tart form Scott and Tom.

It was a great dinner with fun conversation.

Beef Shanks

Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton at Home

Beef shanks are delicious, meaty, and very inexpensive, but they may not be available at every market. They are worth asking for, though. Request one-inch-thick slices, allowing about half a pound per serving. Beej shanks contain lots of marrow, which thickens the hearty stock. Serve these beef shanks in a bowl with to soak up the flavorful broth.

2         tablespoons olive oil

2         pounds beef shanks

1         onion, finely chopped

2         celery stalks, chopped into 1/2-inch dice

1         large carrot, peeled and chopped

2         tablespoon chopped celery leaves

1         flat-leaf parsley sprigs

1         bay leaf

1         teaspoon fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme

1         cup red wine

1         cup beef broth

1         cup water

1         tablespoon tomato paste

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan large enough to hold the shanks in a single layer. Sear them on both sides over high heat until well browned. Remove.

To the pan add the oijiwn, celery, carrots, celery leaves, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, wine, broth, water, and tomato paste. Firing to a boil, return the shanks to the pan, cover, and simmer foivPhour. Check after 30 minutes and add more water if needed to keep the liquid to the top of the shanks. {

Remove the shanks, skim off the fat with a ladle, and put everything remaining in the pan into a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Puree, then press the puree through a strainer and return the liquid to the pan. Add 1 cup of water if the sauce is too thick. Discard the solids in the strainer.

Return the shanks to the pan and cook over very low heat_foj 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the meat is tender and falls away from the bone. Serve in a bowl.

Serves 4

Japanese, ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber

We made this Japanese Style Chicken but 
we were underwhelmed. We won't make it again. 

Japanese, ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber

A Change of Appetite

Diana Henry

SERVES 4

FOR THE CHICKEN

3-1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

3       tablespoons sake or dry sherry

3       tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

½      tablespoons brown miso

2/3    cup peeled and finely grated ginger root

4       garlic cloves, finely grated

1       teaspoon togarashi seasoning, or 1/2 teaspoon chili                 powder

8       good-size skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, or other bone-in chicken pieces

FOR THE CUCUMBER

1-1/2  cucumbers

2       garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2       teaspoons sea salt

2       tablespoons pink pickled ginger, finely shredded

small handful of shiso leaves, if available, or mint leaves, torn (optional)

This dish has a great interplay of temperatures. The chicken is hot and spicy, the cucumber like eating shards of ice (make sure you serve it direct from the refrigerator). The cucumber recipe is adapted from a recipe in a wonderful American book called Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. You can also make the chicken with boneless thighs and grill them.

Mix everything for the chicken (except the chicken itself) to make a marinade. Pierce the chicken on the fleshy sides with a knife, put the pieces into a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over the meat. Massage it in well, turning the pieces over. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.

When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350°F. Take the pieces out of the marinade and put them in a shallow ovenproof dish in which they can sit snugly in a single layer. Pour over half the marinade. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes, basting every so often with the juices and leftover marinade (don't add any leftover marinade after 20 minutes; it needs to cook properly because it had raw chicken in it). Check for doneness: The juices that run out of the chicken when you pierce the flesh with a knife should be clear and not at all pink.

When the chicken is halfway through cooking, peel and halve the cucumber and scoop out the seeds. Set on a board and bang the pieces gently with a pestle or rolling pin. This should break them up a little. Now break them into chunks with your hands.

Crush the garlic with a pinch of the salt and massage it—and the rest of the salt—into the cucumber. Put in a small plastic bag, squeeze out the air, and put in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. When you're ready to eat, transfer the cucumber to a strainer so the juices can drain away. Add the shredded ginger. You can add shiso leaves if you can find them (I can't, I have no Japanese store nearby). Nothing else really tastes like it, but I sometimes add mint. Serve the chicken with brown rice or rice vermicelli (the rice vermicelli is good served cold) and the cucumber.

Grilled Shrimp with Pancetta and Radicchio

We made Grilled Shrimp with Pancetta and Radicchio

from The Young Man and the Sea by David Pasternack. This is an excellent simple recipe. You can get the recipe from our blog of: April 7, 2014. Click the date to get the recipe.

Rici-e-Bici

We had shelled several pounds of fresh peas to make the Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas. We kept all of the pea shells and made a pea stock that we could then use for making: Rici-e-Bici. The wonderful rice and pea dish that is halfway between a soup and risotto. This is a delicious dish. You can find the recipe in our blog of: March 31, 2014. Click the date to get the recipe.

Mushroom Risotto

One of the joys of Spring is Asparagus from the delta. Note to self: pray the delta won’t be to badly affected by our California Drought. There are so many ways to make an Asparagus Salad. This is one of our favorites: Blanched for 3 minutes, brown butter, burrata cheese and hazelnuts.

We made a Mushroom Risotto to go with the salad. We love the earthiness of this dish and have made it many times. You can get the recipe from our blog of April 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. The sausages were from McCall’s Meat and Fish.

Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots

I purchased several pounds of fresh spring peas. Spring Peas are wonderfully sweet and easy to peel. We made a favorite: Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots. This is a delicious pasta. You can find the recipe on our blog of: April 28, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We had so many peas we made a Pea Puree as a first course. You can get the recipe from our blog of: April 3, 2006. Click the date to get the recipe.

Moroccan Short Rib Tagine

We made a Beef Tagine with Sweet Potatoes from The Food of Morocco.  I loved this recipe. It was a combination of tastes of both Moroccan Spices and the sweetness of the Potatoes. You can find the recipe in our blog of: Oct. 2, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. We of course made Cous-Cous to go with it. We purchased the beautiful short-ribs at McCall's Meat and Fish.