7/24/16

Lasagna From Scratch. Really.


 Today, I made the sauce and homemade ricotta. It is so easy to make, and so creamy and delicious!

The sauce has 1# ground beef, 1# mild italian sausage, 2 cl garlic, 1/2 c chopped onion, 2 cans tomato paste, 2 small cans tomato sauce, 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds. Simmer 1 1/2 hrs after browning meats.
 Italian Sausage (removed from casings)







Ground beef, browned.





Sauce, ready to simmer.


The ricotta, I made 2 batches. You line a sieve with cheesecloth ( used an old flour-towel) over a drip pan. In a sauce pot add 2 C. whole milk, 1/2 C. heavy cream, 1 tsp salt, and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and stir in 2T white vinegar and you'll see it curdle. Stir a bit, then pour through the sieve. Let sit 20 minutes at room temp- and you can refrigerate it up to 2 days. I've tried lemon, but vinegar gives me better results.  This yields about 8 oz.




















For the homemade noodles in the AM. Make a well of 3 1/2 C. AP Flour. Put four 4 eggs in the middle. I'm kneading with a dough hook, 'cause I'm lazy, but it should be pliable but not sticky. Cover and let rest at room temp for 15 minutes. Roll out on a floured board and roll as thin as humanly possible without a pasta machine!!  I'm cutting large rectangles for the lasagna. Cook 30 sec's in boiling water, place in an ice bath quickly, then start layering.














Mix the ricotta with 1 egg and some parsley, then start with: Sauce, noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, repeat and top with mozz and parm.













Cover with foil (spray with cooking spray first to avoid stickage!) and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes before cutting and serving.





Pork Enchiladas

I had leftover pork in the freezer from a slow cooked roast, so I defrosted it and made pork enchiladas with homemade sauce. The rice was leftover- not authentic Mexican, but the enchiladas were good and the smell brought my teenager out hunting for grub! :)

7/18/16

Hähnchenschnitzel


So, we spent a day in Leavenworth, WA a few weeks ago- a little bavarian town in the Eastern Cascades foothills. We all tried schnitzel, or as the A put it, "Shitzel". Today was homemade schitzel day! I made it with chicken, but traditionally it is made with veal.

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts, skinless
Flour, 1/2 c.
2 Eggs
1/2 c. bread crumbs, unseasoned
tsp paprika
tsp nutmeg
tsp salt
Oil
4 oz dry spaetzle (Cost Plus Mkt)
Mushrooms (Fresh, chopped)
Butter
Beef boullion cube
Paprika
Cream
Milk

Recipe:
Mix the spices with the breadcrumbs.Using a flat mallet, pound breasts to 1/4 inch or less. Dip in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. 

Fry 4 minutes on each side in oil. Meanwhile, add 4 oz spaetzle to boiling water. Cook 17 minutes. 

For sauce, saute mushrooms in butter, add 1/2 c cream, 1/2 c milk, tsp. of paprika, and 1 beef boullion cube, and 1/4 c. white wine. Stir over med heat until reduced and creamy. Serve over schnitzel & spaetzle.

A doesn't like the sauce, so here is the plain view:

Here it is with mushroom sauce:




7/13/16

Viva la France!

Demain est jour de la Bastille!  In honor of this moment in French history, I shall be having quiche and brie on triscuits. I'm not sure triscuits are Francais vrais, but since I'm cutting down on the carbs, gotta go without the brioche.

Here is the bacon cheddar quiche recipe, however, I added mushrooms, because J'aime champignons! I honestly believe that if we called mushrooms "champignons", more people would eat them.

This spreadable brie I located at the Grocery Outlet. It is called "wee brie", which is tres mignonne, ne c'est pas? 
Here's a little history for you that you might find interesting: "La Fête Nat. is probably called 'Bastille Day' in English because [it] is a brief, concise and unambiguous reference to the storming of the prison of the Bastille in Paris on July 14,1789, by 954 men and one woman, armed with pikes and miscellaneous firearms, yelling “Tous à la Bastille!"  *

But don't wish a Frenchman "Happy Bastille Day".  They view it as rude.  They don't approve of we Americans hanging our stars and stripes all over the place on July 4 either.

They just like to quietly get the day off and enjoy no work. I can respect that.

*Source: ©Julia Frey, 2010

7/11/16

Georgie's Mediterranean

I've been wanting to try out Georgie's Mediterranean for awhile since they opened about six months ago. I finally went on my own, and it was a little slow in the service department, but excellent food!

I ordered the chicken kebab plate. Chicken pieces over great rice pilaf, side of hummus and pita, side of cabbage salad, and garnished with garlic sauce. So delish!




Ina Garten's grilled shrimp marinade





This is not a good picture, but this marinade is really excellent.  I'd suggest marinating overnight.
Her recipe is here. It's a great way to use basil too.

Vacation Eats!

Holy Moly we at A LOT in Spokane, Washington this summer.  For 3 weeks we gorged ourselves.

First, we had a week of local eats and road trippin' to the Palouse Falls area in Southeastern, WA.  We drove a long way to Lyons Ferry State Park for a picnic before visiting the falls. Grilled hot dogs and chips in the wild is never bad! 





We also went out to Twiggs Bistro several times. That's my parents' favorite restaurant. We had pizza at the Boiler Room, near my parents on the site of the old Tidyman's grocery that I used to go to with my grandma. Their woodfired pizza was so good!  This is the one I had first, and it was excellent along with my salad and gorgonzola ranch for $10 for lunch... what a deal!




Fries with Tartar at Zips, and an Italian meal at the Italian Kitchen downtown. Aidan and I also ate out at Ruby Tuesdays, KFC, and did trips to Trader Joe's and the Mexican grocery for a little taste of home. I picked up chorizo from the local mexican grocery, De Leon's- great homemade tortillas! Pan Dulce? Yes please...


Then it was off to Oompahland!  AKA Leavenworth, WA , the bavarian town in the cascade foothills. We toured the nutcracker museum and then ate Schnitzel with Spaetzel and brats and beer at King Ludwigs. 

Even Aidan tried the chicken schnitzel, though he accidentally
called it shitzel, and it will forever be shitzel in our family!




Week three, Aidan and I discovered Dutch Bros. coffee and never looked back.  It is awesome! 


I can not wait for our next trip to the Pac NW or Vegas, or Arizona. YUMMO!