Baked Ziti

This is another recipe I've made a few times for company and just made again this weekend. I absolutely love the make-ahead aspect. I omit the peas, because if you've ever had a meal with Jake he's probably told you about his hatred for peas.

Janice's Vegetarian Baked Ziti
(apparently from the Sopranos Family Cookbook, but I found it on google)

For the sauce:

1 (10-ounce) package white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 (28-ounce) cans tomato puree
4 basil leaves, torn into bits
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup fresh or frozen peas (unless you are having Jake over!)

For the pasta:

1 pound ziti
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Regiano
1 cup ricotta
8 ounces mozzarella, diced

To make the sauce: Cook the onion in the oil in a large skillet until tender and golden. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic and cook until the mushrooms are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato purie, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the peas.

Meanwhile, bring at least 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. Add the ziti and salt to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente, tender yet firm to the bite.

Drain the ziti and place in a bowl. Toss with about 3 cups sauce and 1/2 cup grated cheese.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spoon half of the ziti into shallow 3 quart baking dish. Spread the ricotta on top. Pour on 1 more cup of sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella. Top with the remaining ziti, sauce, and grated cheese. Cover the dish with foil. (At this point, the ziti can be refrigerated for several hours, or overnight. Remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking.)

Bake the ziti for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 to 30 minutes longer, or until the center is hot and the sauce is bubbling around the edges. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Servings: 6 to 8.

TIP: I made this once in a 9x13 pan and it overflowed. (This seems to be a pattern for me.) This time I made it in two round baking dishes - one 2.5 quart and one 1.5 quart, and it was just perfect.

Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagna

I made this lasagna about a year ago for our dinner club and just made it again this weekend for my ILAB friends. It takes a little bit more effort than I usually like to expend on cooking, but it is delicious and well worth it for a special occasion. This time I bought peeled and pre-cut organic butternut squash from Trader Joe's, and it shaved a good 30 minutes of fighting with a knife off the total time for me. But for me, making the white sauce is even more scary than chopping the squash - I'm always convinced it is not going to come together.

The recipe claims to serve 6, but it would have to be 6 starving people with nothing else on the table (it's in a 9x13 pan!). I think 9 really big servings or 12 medium servings is more realistic. One last tip -- just because you have extra filling and you know it is going to be delicious, do not give in to the temptation to pile it up above the top of the pan! The extra will spillover, burn on the bottom of your oven, and set of the smoke alarm. (The sad thing is I should have learned this lesson 12 hours earlier when I was making Molly's delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cake and did the exact same thing!)

On to the recipe (complements of epicurious.com)...

INGREDIENTS

For squash filling:
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1 cup hazelnuts (4 oz), toasted , loose skins rubbed off with a kitchen towel, and coarsely chopped

For sauce:
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups milk
1 bay leaf (not California)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

For assembling lasagna:
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, coarsely grated (2 cups)
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 oz)
12 (7- by 3 1/2-inch) sheets no-boil lasagna (1/2 lb)

PREPARATION

Make filling:
Cook onion in butter in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes. Add squash, garlic, salt, and white pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is just tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parsley, sage, and nuts. Cool filling.

Make sauce while squash cooks:
Cook garlic in butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, 1 minute. Whisk in flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes. Add milk in a stream, whisking. Add bay leaf and bring to a boil, whisking constantly, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 10 minutes. Whisk in salt and white pepper and remove from heat. Discard bay leaf. (Cover surface of sauce with wax paper if not using immediately.)

Assemble lasagna:
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Toss cheeses together. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in a buttered 13- by 9- by 2-inch glass baking dish (or other shallow 3-quart baking dish) and cover with 3 pasta sheets, leaving spaces between sheets. Spread with 2/3 cup sauce and one third of filling, then sprinkle with a heaping 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat layering 2 more times, beginning with pasta sheets and ending with cheese. Top with remaining 3 pasta sheets, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese.

Tightly cover baking dish with buttered foil and bake lasagna in middle of oven 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let lasagna stand 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Surf and Turf

Joel ended up with the most popular gift at our last gift exchange with my college friends: 2 lobster tails, 2 fillet minions, and a bottle of wine. they were both broiled - lobster with butter, garlic, salt & pepper and the steak with salt, pepper and bacon. A very nice meal that was super easy. if only we dined this well every night.

Milk Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake

Also from the Egyptian website (touregypt.net, if you're curious). Pumpkin is allegedly also eaten in Egypt... and according to National Geographic, pumpkins grow on every continent but Antarctica. So it is plausible that this would be served at a dinner table in Egypt.

This cake was a hit dessert at my last dinner night, and it was even better the next day, after the flavors had a chance to mingle with one another. And for what its worth, it made for a great breakfast. It has eggs in it, which is of course a breakfast food, and pumpkin is high in Vitamins A and C. So the cake is, you know, practically health food.

Ingredients:

• 3 c. all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 oz. milk chocolate chips
  
• 1- 15 oz. can pumpkin
• 3/4 c. melted butter or margarine
• 6 eggs slightly beaten or equivalent egg substitute
• Oven 350F
• Tube pan or fluted tube pan (Bundt pan)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Generously spray the tube pan with nonstick spray.
• Set aside 1/2 c. flour in a small bowl
• In a large bowl, combine the remaining flour, sugars, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Place the chocolate chips in the reserved flour and toss to coat. Set aside.
• In another bowl combine the pumpkin, melted butter, and eggs.
• Add the pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined. Add the chocolate chip mixture. Stir until combined, then pour the batter into the tube pan.
• Bake for 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean, when tested near the center of the cake.
• Cool pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Gently remove the cake from the pan and cool for 30 minutes. Garnish with powdered sugar or drizzle with icing.

Makes 12-16 servings.

I don't have a picture of the cake, so instead I will share a pic of the ladies enjoying dinner. The two dips were a saffron aioli and a lemony carrot dip with toasted cumin seeds.

Orange and Radish Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

I found this on a website of Egyptian recipes, yet it called specifically for McCormick® brand spices. So I have doubts about its authenticity, but it does have a pretty spectacular balance of flavors. There are a lot of bold tastes in this recipe, but none of them overpowers the others. It served as a nice accompaniment to the koshari.

INGREDIENTS

Vinaigrette

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Salad

• 3 seedless oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch fresh radishes, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
• 1 package (6 ounces) baby spinach or 6 cups torn spinach
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

DIRECTIONS

• In a small bowl, blend vinaigrette ingredients. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients except almonds.
• Just before serving, toss half of vinaigrette with salad mixture. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve remaining vinaigrette at the table.

Koshari

Koshari and Orange and Radish Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

Cooking Light touts this recipe as a staple of Egyptian street food, but I challenge any of you to make this in a cart. When all was said and done, my postage stamp-sized kitchen looked like Sur La Table exploded inside of it. The end result, however, more than made up for the heap of cookery carnage left in the wake of this dish. The fire of the tomato sauce plays against a pillow of starchy delights (rice, lentils, and vermicelli) and a mound of sweet caramelized onions.

A couple of tips on the preparation...

Notice that the recipe calls for cooked rice, so make it ahead of time. It isn't even imperative to keep it warm, since you will stir it into the warm lentil/vermicelli mixture.

Also, I followed this recipe very linearly: I made the tomato sauce first, then I sautéed the onions and made the koshari. Thus, my tomato sauce simmered for about an hour on the stovetop, and the pepper really lit up. Those who are not chile-heads may want to dial the spice down a bit, so either make the sauce while the lentils are simmering or add less pepper if you know the sauce will be on the burner for a while.

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

Koshari:

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups thinly sliced onion
• 1/2 cup uncooked vermicelli, broken into 1-inch pieces
• 5 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups dried lentils or yellow split peas
• 2 1/2 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation

1. To prepare sauce:

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat
• Add chopped onion to pan, and cook for 15 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally
• Add garlic; cook for 2 minutes
  
• Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, peppers, and tomatoes; cook 10 minutes or until slightly thick
• Transfer tomato mixture to a food processor; process 1 minute or until smooth. Keep warm. Wipe skillet dry with paper towels.

2. To prepare koshari:

• Heat 3 tablespoons oil in pan over medium heat
• Add sliced onion; cook 15 minutes or until deep golden brown, stirring frequently
  
• Remove onion with a slotted spoon to several layers of paper towels; set aside
• Return pan to medium heat. Add vermicelli; sauté 2 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Set aside.

• Combine 5 cups water and lentils in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.
  
• Remove from heat; add vermicelli, stirring well to combine.
  
• Wrap a clean kitchen towel around lid, and cover lentil mixture; let stand for 10 minutes or until vermicelli is tender.
  
• Add rice and 1 teaspoon salt to lentil mixture; fluff with a fork. Serve immediately with sauce and onions.