Well, Christmas is almost here. So, in order to enjoy the day, I decided to do the prep work today during football. I'm making a savory ham (Alan doesn't like sweet ham) and a veggie lasagna which will give us all of the food groups! I'm also having dinner rolls, making an apple crumb pie and cookies. For me, my dessert will be figs and walnuts.
So, the apple pie and ham will be done on Tuesday, but the rest was done today.
Ham
smoked ham
roasted garlic paste
rosemary
Crisscross cuts into the top of the ham, not too deep, just deep enough for the paste. Mix in rosemary leaves (as much or as little as you want) to the paste. Slather the paste over the ham. Let it sit for a bit to room temperature, then bake it until it's completely warmed through or cooked. It doesn't need salt because ham is salty enough.
Veggie Lasagna
2 to 3 bags shredded mozzarella
Container of pecorino romano cheese
Ingredients below
Prep work - a couple of days ahead:
Veggies
3 bell peppers (red and green) (sliced about 1/2 wide)
small head broccoli (sliced about 1/4 wide)
3 large carrots (sliced about 4 inches long x 1/2 wide)
3 medium onions (one diced, 2 sliced thin)
1/4 head celery, sliced thin and with the leaves
one bunch asparagus sliced 1in pieces
olive oil
salt
pepper
In batches, using a cast iron pan, heat the pan, put in some olive oil, when hot, add the diced celery and onion, some salt and pepper, saute until 1/2 done, add the carrots, saute until soft. Transfer to a bowl. Add a little oil, fry the peppers and sliced onions until soft, transfer to the bowl. Add a little oil, fry the broccoli and asparagus until 1/2 done, add the tomatoes, saute until soft, transfer to the bowl. Mix the veggies together well, set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate
Bechemel Sauce
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
7 and 1/2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
Melt the butter in a heavy bottom sauce pan, add the flour, using a whisk, mix them together. When the mixture starts to bubble, add the milk, whisk frequently so the mixture doesn't stick, add a little salt and pepper to taste. When thickened, turn off heat, let it cool still whisking so there is no film on top, transfer to bowl or container. Cover and refrigerate.
Ricotta
4 lbs ricotta (2 x 32oz containers)
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basic
1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients together, mix well. If the mixture needs a little salt, add it or add a little more cheese. Cover and refrigerate.
Day of cooking:
When you are ready to make the lasagna, take out all of the ingredients and get them to room temperature. If the bechemel is too thick to work with, just warm it up a bit. Follow the directions on the lasagna noodles, either no cook or cook for a minute or two.
Place some sauce on the bottom of a deep lasagna pan. Layer the noodles, spread some ricotta on the bottom, not too thick, but don't skimp. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese, sprinkle some pecorino romano on top and add another layer of noodles. Cover this layer with more bechemel sauce then add a layer of veggies, do not skimp. Add another layer of mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with pecorino romano and add a layer of noodles. Cover with bechemel sauce.
Now, depending on how deep your pan is, you can repeat the steps above, after the veggie layer, do a ricotta layer, then veggie layer. Just remember, after you add the noodles, be liberal with the sauce. You want this recipe oozing with cheese and sauce, not dry. After you are done your layers, top with sauce, mozzarella cheese and pecorino romano.
Bake in a 375 oven until browning on top AND it's bubbly all over (sides and middle). Remove from oven, let it set for a few minutes (a layer of tin foil will keep in warm) and it will set firmly. Cut squares to as large or as small as you want.
Enjoy!!!!!
On a side note, I made my own lasagna noodles this time. I think I made more ingredients than I need for a 3 level lasagna, but may not have enough noodles. So, I use the no-cook ones and sauce it up!
Enjoying Life!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
I've been yelled at!!!
OK folks, Pop officially yelled at me today because I haven't posted since August. Well, I've been making what I call standard stuff all this time, nothing really new, so I haven't posted. Since my ex brother-in-law, Kevin, wants to learn how to make beef stew and we had it for dinner today, I figured I'd put my recipe on here.
For thanksgiving, I found a new trick to keep the turkey nice and moist....... when you clean and prepare the turkey the day before, after a good cleaning, salt the outside, put it in it's pan in the refrigerator WITHOUT any covering. The air sort of dries out the skin and helps the salt to absorb into the meat. The skin comes out really crispy and the meat is moist and not salty at all. Oh my, it's so good!!! I'll do this every year! On a side note, I made apple and pecan pies from scratch. Except, my hubby tells me, "it's half scratch because you didn't make the crust!" Now, tell me, if Pillsbury makes such wonderful pie crusts, why do I have to make them from scratch??? So, now the new term is "half-scratch".
As far as everything else goes, my new job is going well, I really love working there. We've done some things to update the house, usual stuff, new door knobs, painting the trim, new refrigerator, those kinds of things. I can't believe the year is almost over! Where does time go these days??? It's really true what "they" say, as you get older time goes faster! Well, it was just yesterday I was in my thirties, where did the time go???
Anyway, enough food for thought (pardon the pun), here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy!
Beef Stew
1 lb beef cubes
1/2 cup flour
1/4 olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
2 carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
4 bay leaves
4 red potatoes, cubed
2 medium onions, diced
32 oz beef stock
water
In a 6 quart pot, add the olive oil and heat on medium until hot. Put the beef cubes into a baggie add the salt, pepper, flour and shake well coating all of the meat. Empty the contents into the pot of hot oil and brown the meat. Stir it to make sure the meat and flour do not burn. Once browned, add in 1/2 of the diced celery, carrots and onions, bay leaves and beef stock. Cook on medium, stirring about every 10 minutes (so it doesn't burn or stick to the pot). After about an hour, check the liquid, it should be getting thick. If it's too thick, add water for the desired consistency, start with a little and go from there. Then, add the rest of the celery, carrots and onions. Cook for an additional 30 mins, stirring as above, then add the cubed potatoes. Cook, stirring (as above) until the meat is super tender. Remember, beef cubes are the toughest of cuts and take a good two hours to "stew". If the consistency is too thin, sprinkle some flour and work it in the mix or add about 2 ounces of water to a tablespoon of four, stir well, then add the mixture to the stew. After adding water, you may need to add some additional salt to bring up the flavor.
This is a really easy recipe to prepare and cook, you just have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn! I serve it with biscuits - Pillsbury will do. I haven't mastered the task of making my own, one day......
Kev - try this out, I think you'll enjoy it!!!
One more thing............we have our house almost decorated. The tree is up, the lights are up in the living room and kitchen. We need more lights in the dining room, that will happen soon. We have 2 more trees to put up in the windows, then we'll be done! Since we live in a condo community, we can't put outside lights up, so the next best thing is a tree in the window! Take care everyone, enjoy your holidays - especially with family and friends.
For thanksgiving, I found a new trick to keep the turkey nice and moist....... when you clean and prepare the turkey the day before, after a good cleaning, salt the outside, put it in it's pan in the refrigerator WITHOUT any covering. The air sort of dries out the skin and helps the salt to absorb into the meat. The skin comes out really crispy and the meat is moist and not salty at all. Oh my, it's so good!!! I'll do this every year! On a side note, I made apple and pecan pies from scratch. Except, my hubby tells me, "it's half scratch because you didn't make the crust!" Now, tell me, if Pillsbury makes such wonderful pie crusts, why do I have to make them from scratch??? So, now the new term is "half-scratch".
As far as everything else goes, my new job is going well, I really love working there. We've done some things to update the house, usual stuff, new door knobs, painting the trim, new refrigerator, those kinds of things. I can't believe the year is almost over! Where does time go these days??? It's really true what "they" say, as you get older time goes faster! Well, it was just yesterday I was in my thirties, where did the time go???
Anyway, enough food for thought (pardon the pun), here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy!
Beef Stew
1 lb beef cubes
1/2 cup flour
1/4 olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
2 carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
4 bay leaves
4 red potatoes, cubed
2 medium onions, diced
32 oz beef stock
water
In a 6 quart pot, add the olive oil and heat on medium until hot. Put the beef cubes into a baggie add the salt, pepper, flour and shake well coating all of the meat. Empty the contents into the pot of hot oil and brown the meat. Stir it to make sure the meat and flour do not burn. Once browned, add in 1/2 of the diced celery, carrots and onions, bay leaves and beef stock. Cook on medium, stirring about every 10 minutes (so it doesn't burn or stick to the pot). After about an hour, check the liquid, it should be getting thick. If it's too thick, add water for the desired consistency, start with a little and go from there. Then, add the rest of the celery, carrots and onions. Cook for an additional 30 mins, stirring as above, then add the cubed potatoes. Cook, stirring (as above) until the meat is super tender. Remember, beef cubes are the toughest of cuts and take a good two hours to "stew". If the consistency is too thin, sprinkle some flour and work it in the mix or add about 2 ounces of water to a tablespoon of four, stir well, then add the mixture to the stew. After adding water, you may need to add some additional salt to bring up the flavor.
This is a really easy recipe to prepare and cook, you just have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn! I serve it with biscuits - Pillsbury will do. I haven't mastered the task of making my own, one day......
Kev - try this out, I think you'll enjoy it!!!
One more thing............we have our house almost decorated. The tree is up, the lights are up in the living room and kitchen. We need more lights in the dining room, that will happen soon. We have 2 more trees to put up in the windows, then we'll be done! Since we live in a condo community, we can't put outside lights up, so the next best thing is a tree in the window! Take care everyone, enjoy your holidays - especially with family and friends.
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