Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

This recipe is from “Barefoot Contessa at Home” by Ina Garten. My best friend gave me this book as a Christmas gift and it is a beautiful book. The pictures are gorgeous and the recipes are quintessentially Ina Garten. They are filled with butter and cheese and east coast style. My only complaint is that the recipes scream “summer”. I read the cookbook from cover to cover and then cooked nothing from it. The snow has now melted, the tulips are coming up and I’m now excited to try some recipes from this cookbook. This is the first recipe I’ve tried and it is beautiful. This is a French twist on lasagna. It is elegant and bursting with rich flavour. So lovely.

• Kosher Salt
• Good olive oil
• 3/4 pound dried lasagna noodles
• 4 cups whole milk
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tbsp salt and splash of oil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside.
2. For the white sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan. Set aside. Melt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. Add 1 tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring first with the wooden spoon and then with a whisk, for 3 to 5 minutes, until thick. Set aside off the heat.
3. Separate the mushroom stems from the caps and discard the stems. Slice the caps 1/4inch thick. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan. When the butter melts, add half the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and they release some of their juices. If they become too dry, add a little more oil. Toss occasionally to make sure the mushroom cook evenly. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and set all the mushrooms aside.
4. To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of a 8x12x2-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, then more sauce, then one-third of the mushrooms, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Repeat two more times, layering noodles, sauce, mushrooms, and cheese. Top with a final layer of noodles and sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. 
5. Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

Tomato Omelette Envelopes

Delicious omelettes, filled to capacity with warm tomato, onion and melting Camembert cheese. Simple and lovely. This recipe can make either 2 HUGE omelettes or 4 normal sized omelettes.

This recipe is courtesy of “15 Minute Vegetarian” by Matthew Drennan.

• 1 small onion, cut in thin wedges
• 4 tomatoes, cut in thin wedges
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp snipped chives (or 1 tsp dried basil)
• 4 oz Camembert cheese, rinded and diced
• salt and pepper

1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in frying pan. Cook onion for 2 minutes over moderate heat. Raise the heat and add the tomatoes. Cook for a further 2 minutes, then remove from the heat.
2. Beat the eggs with the herbs in a bowl. Add S&P to taste. Heat the remaining oil in an omelette pan. Add half the egg mixture and tilt the pan to spread thinly. Cook for 1 minute, flip the omelette and cook for 1 minute more. Remove from pan and make 2nd omelette. 
3. Return the tomato mixture to high heat. Add the cheese and toss the mixture over the heat for 1 minute until the cheese starts to melt. 
4. Divide mixture between the omelettes and fold them over. Serve at once.

Potato Carrot Mash

This is a great little side dish when you're feeling too lazy to make both a starch and a vegetable. This is a starch and vegetable together as one! It's pretty tasty too!

Potato Carrot Mash

- 2 medium red potatoes

- 2 medium carrots

- basil (fresh or dried)

- salt & pepper

- margerine or butter

1. Cut up the potatoes and carrots and boil in salted water for approx 20 minutes, until soft.

2. Drain the water. Add butter and mash up, like mashed potatoes. Add basil and S&P. 

Serves 4.

Sun-Dried Tomato Haddock

Fish is apparently good for you. So here is a delicious way to eat healthy. It's also really easy to make. Serve with my Potato Carrot Mash.

Sun-Dried Tomato Haddock

• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 yellow onion, halved
• 10 capers
• 10 julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• dash balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper
• 4 haddock fillets 
• 4 slices of

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small blender. Blend together until finely chopped (add sun-dried tomato oil if needed)
3. Lay each haddock fillet on 1 slice of prosciutto slice. Spoon the sun-dried tomato mixture on to each fillet. Wrap the prosciutto slice around it.
4. Bake for approx 20 minutes.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This recipe tasted absolutely amazing. Obviously "Danish" Camembert is not Mediterranean, but I stand by my cheese choice for this recipe! I actually cooked this meal for Valentines Day but have been too lazy to post the recipe until now. Lately I've been cooking with Mediterranean flavours and wrapping meat in more meat. It's been a long winter and I'm ready for some nice weather! These stuffed chicken breasts reminded me of a summer evening.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

 

• 2 chicken breasts, cut open and pounded flat
• 125g Danish Camembert Cheese
• Half of medium sized eggplant, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, finely chopped
• 2 anchovies fillets in oil, finely chopped
• 4 strips of bacon
• Italian seasoning, salt & pepper
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Heat a little oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add eggplant, onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies and seasonings. Fry lightly for approx 3-5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and place in a small hand blender. Pulse while adding a bit more oil until mixture becomes a nice paste.
4. Spread the mixture evenly on the chicken, place a large slice of camembert on top and roll the chicken. Place 2 slices of bacon around the chicken to hold together.
5. Bake for approx 30 minutes.

Serves 2

Cuba Libre Back Ribs

These ribs have become an absolute favourite in my house. This recipe is from “Cooking with Booze” by Ryan Jennings and David Steele. I had never heard of this book until my awesome real estate agent, Larry Jennings, gave me this book, autographed. Turns out his son is Ryan Jennings. But how did I find Larry to be my real estate agent? I have worked with his other son Shane on many occasions. This happens to be a 6-degrees-of-separation-type-thing! (But with less degrees :) 

This is a must try recipe that I highly recommend. “Cuba Libre...literally means “free Cuba” but really it’s just fancy bartender talk for a classic run and Coke.” These are literally Rum and Coke ribs. I love ‘em. You need to try ‘em.

Cuba Libre Back Ribs

Ribs:

2 racks pork back ribs

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 onion, peeled and quartered

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2L cola

Caribbean Barbecue Sauce

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 onion, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

3/4 cup ketchup

1/3 cup dark rum

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Dash hot pepper sauce

1. Preheat oven to 200F.
2. For the ribs, trim any visible fat and remove membrane from underside if attached. Season both sides with salt and pepper and place meat-side down in large baking dish. Arrange onion and garlic evenly around ribs. Pour enough cola to cover ribs completely. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 3 hours. Remove from oven and allow ribs to come to room temperature in cooking liquid, about 1 1/2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, to make sauce, heat oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, cumin and chili powder and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. (Note: I generally add a bit more brown sugar than the recipe calls for. I like the sticky sweetness of the brown sugar. Feel free to play around with your flavours)
4. Preheat BBQ to low (about 300F).
5. Place ribs meat-side down on grill and close lid. Cook, turning occasionally, until meat is browned and caramelized, about 30 to 45 minutes, or until tender and bones are exposed at ends. With 10 minutes remaining, brush ribs with BBQ sauce. 
6. Remove from BBQ and let sit a few minutes before serving. Bring lots of napkins to the table and dig in. I like to serve this with roasted potato fries (finger food!) Simply cut up potatoes into fry-like-shapes and coat with olive oil and herbs de provence - bake in 475F oven for approx 30mins.

Roasted Herb Chicken

After much debate with my beautiful, pregnant sister-in-law, we finally decided to try this recipe for chicken. She wanted chocolate, the rest of us wanted regular chicken. I suggested a Mole sauce (spelling way off), but in the end, she decided she could live without chocolate for this dinner. LOL. This turned out really good. The chicken was moist and the glaze was wonderfully saltly and complicated. 

Roasted Herb Chicken

1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1tsp dried rosemary, crushed

salt & pepper

1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled

1 roasting chicken

1 apple, quartered

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry.
3. Combine first 7 ingredients and baste chicken. Insert fresh rosemary and apples into cavity of chicken.
4. Bake for 1 hour, 15mins or until meat thermometer 82C, basting chicken with sauce every 30 minutes. 
5. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes and enjoy.