The Best Part

Posted: January 22, 2010 | Author: Johanna | Filed under: Johanna | Tags: Cheese, cooking-in-advance, frozen, lasagna, pasta, sausage | 2 Comments »

I love lasagna. Something about the excuse to eat bechamel, AND sausage, AND tons of cheese, AND pasta all at the same time really gets to me.
See this lasagna?

This lasagna was delicious.
I made a red sauce, by browning a pound of hot Italian sausage along with half a minced onion, and a can of fire-roasted crushed tomatoes. It simmered down for a good long time, until the liquid had reduced by 1/3. But the marinara wasn’t the best part.
There was also a parmesan bechamel,  which I made in the usual way, stirring milk and chicken stock into a roux, adding lots and lots of black pepper and a good quarter-cup of grated parmesan cheese. Honestly though, the bechamel wasn’t the best part either.
I grated about half a pound of mozzarella, because this was going to be really really decadent, and made sure that there was plenty of cheese on each layer of the lasanga. Dry noodles, white sauce, red sauce, cheese. Dry noodles, white sauce, red sauce, cheese, until it was all gone. But even the cheese wasn’t the best part.

The best part was that after I assembled it on Sunday, I covered it in foil, froze it solid, and let it wait until Wednesday. Then, Jesse baked it for me, while I was at the gym running my little legs off. I would recommend baking it for 45 minutes at 400 degrees, and another 15 minutes at 425. Covered or uncovered, whatever you feel like, for the first 45. Uncovered for the last 15, absolutely, to crisp the cheese up. Don’t worry about cooking the noodles, since they’ll cook when you bake the lasagna, and the moisture that’s released when the ice crystals melt will keep everything from getting too dry.
Not having to make dinner on Wednesday, because you made it on Sunday and froze it?
That is the best part.

Mmm..loaf of meat…

Posted: October 9, 2009 | Author: Alyssa | Filed under: Alyssa | Tags: Beef, Comfort Food, meatloaf, sausage | 2 Comments »

Meatloaf is easily one of the most versatile foods on the planet.  Just on this website alone, you will find at least three recipes that are impressively different from one another.  This diversity is one of my favorite things about it, because no matter how you make it, its probably going to be good, and no matter what people say, it is still meat loaf .  Growing up, I had meat loaf maybe a a half dozen times, but it was hardly a staple in our household, probably because none of us liked it.  As I got older and cooking on my own, it was always one of those foods I was curious about, but I had this weird feeling that I had to be a soccer mom of four in a crazy sweater with embroidered reindeer on it to make a successful meat loaf.   Somehow I thought the ingredients would not successfully make a delicious meatloaf if they were brought home in my Jetta and not a minivan.  However, about a year ago, I decided to conquer my fear and tackle the challenge that was meatloaf.  All of the meatloaf recipes I looked at sounded good, but didn’t really seem like they were my style, so I made one up.

Here is my take on the deliciousness that is meat…in loaf form.

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef

1lb ground sweet italian sausage

One medium onion diced fine

One large rib of celery diced fine

3-ish cloves of garlic diced fine

a couple of mushrooms (depends on how much you like them) diced fine

1 egg

bread crumbs

italian seasoning

basil

parmesan cheese

red wine – at least 1/3 cup (I usually go more, but I don’t think anyone is surprised by that)

The hardest part of this recipe is cutting all the vegetables up super fine, but the rest of it is cake.  Put the meat in a bowl and mix in all the vegetables  (your hands are your best kitchen tool here).  Mix in the egg and red wine, then the bread crumbs, cheese and herbs until all the liquid is soaked up, if you add too many bread crumbs, the easiest fix is going to be to add more red wine.  I know this would be a tragedy, but hey,  sometimes you have to do things you don’t like in the name of the culinary arts.  Schlep it all onto a cookie sheet and form it into a loaf type shape and top it with more shredded parmesan.  Bake it at 375 for appx. an hour…I usually just shove my meat thermometer in until it gets to 160 degrees.

Of course with this, I have to make mashed potatoes.  I usually try to make a different kind every time, but so far my favorites are the fully loaded mashed potatoes, carmelized onion and bacon mashed potatoes, and bleu cheese mashed potatoes.

Happy Carnivore-ing!

TT