Butternut Squash Lasagna with Sausage, Mushrooms and Broccoli Rabe

I'm something of a lasagna freak. I love trying new things with it — Mexican lasagna with tomatoes, black beans, and cheddar; artichoke lasagna with béchamel; classic bolognese lasagna — you name it.

This was probably the best we've ever made.

The sauce is a silky butternut squash puree. The homemade lasagna noodles are layered with spicy Italian chicken sausage, sauteed shiitake mushrooms, broccoli rabe and ricotta cheese.

This is a very complex recipe — something for lazy Sundays or Saturday. Really, though, nothing in the world is better to me than spending my days off investing in an hours-long meal that will cook in the oven for an hour or so. No kidding.

Take the time to make this for a special occasion. You will not be disappointed.



Ingredients
For the butternut squash sauce:
1 medium butternut squash
1-1.5 cups chicken broth
Salt & Pepper
1 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil

For the sausage & mushroom filling:
1 lb spicy Italian chicken sausage
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp each: bacon fat, butter, olive oil
~1 lb shiitake mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch thyme
Pinch red pepper flakes
Pinch salt & pepper
Optional but strongly encouraged: 1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, 1.5 cups chicken broth

For the cheese mixture:
1 bunch broccoli rabe, chopped
1 container whole-milk ricotta cheese
Pinch red pepper flakes
Pinch salt

Homemade pasta sheets (or you can buy them - about a pound. We made the whole wheat version.)

Pecorino Romano cheese

Preparation (Written by Justin)

1. Chop half of a yellow onion and cook on medium heat in a combo of bacon fat, butter, and olive oil (or just one of the above). Add about a pound of sliced shiitake mushrooms, a couple cloves of chopped garlic, thyme, and crushed red pepper. Season well with salt and pepper and cook for another 7-8 mins. 

2. This next part is optional, but makes a BIG difference: we took about a cup of dried shiitake and rehydrated them in hot chicken stock and let them sit in it for about 20 mins then blend until smooth. Add this mixture to the mushrooms and cook until the liquid is almost completely reduced; it should look like gravy.

3. Sauté a pound of spicy italian chicken sausage or whatever ever ground meat and add it the mushroom sauce.

4. Next, blanch chopped broccoli rabe in salted boiling water for about 10 mins. Drain, rinse under cold water and squeeze out all the extra water. Add this to ricotta cheese. Add salt and crushed red pepper.

5. For the butternut squash sauce, cut a squash in half longitudinally, douse with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast skin-side up for about 45 mins at 375 degrees. Once cooled, blend the squash with chicken stock and garlic oil until smooth.

6. Make the pasta (or buy some); if the pasta is fresh, blanch it for 2 minutes in boiling water. If dried, cook them until they're al-dente. 

7. Time to assemble: Add a layer of butternut squash sauce to the bottom of the pan. Layer on the pasta.  Add the ricotta-broccoli rabe mixture, then the sausage-mushroom mixture, then a layer of Pecorino Romano cheese. Then add another layer of squash sauce, pasta, ricotta, mushroom-sausage sauce, 

Pecorino. Repeat until you run out of ingredients.

8. Bake at 375 for about an hour. Let it rest for 10 minutes (if you can wait that long!)

-Katie

Spinach-Mushroom Puffs

As you all know, I'm a sucker for easy make-ahead appetizers. This one is no exception.

Last weekend I catered a 60th wedding anniversary for some extended family. There were about 35 people in attendance, and all of them big eaters. I had to make enough food for about 50.

Here's what I made for the party:

Fruit plate with my mom's famous marshmallow dip
Veggie platter with balsamic dip
3 lbs Fried gnocchi (a la Nigella Lawson) with pesto
Crab toasts (triple batch)
10 lbs pork and beef tenderloin
Wonton tacos (double batch)
Smoked salmon platter
Mushroom puffs (double batch)

The mushroom puffs, while great on their own, showed some serious potential. This recipe makes a lot of puffs, but the point is that you freeze them and eat them 4 or 5 at a time. Trust me, you'll want a lot of these babies.

Recipe Adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients
1 package frozen puff pastry sheets
1 8-oz can mushrooms, drained
1 8-oz can spinach (or 1 package thawed frozen spinach), drained
1 8-oz package cream cheese (can be light)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
Black pepper

Preparation
1. Mix together the cream cheese, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan, mushrooms and spinach (make sure they're dry!).




2. Thaw the puff pastry overnight in the fridge or for a couple hours on the counter. When it's pliable, roll it out with some flour so that it's almost doubled in size.
3.  Cut the puff pastry in half lengthwise. Dollop the cheese mixture onto the puff pastry and spread it in an even layer across the sheet.

4. Paint the edges of the pastry with a beaten egg. Fold the pastry over lengthwise, across the mixture, and seal the edges with a fork.

5. Brush more egg on top of the pastry and sprinkle with pepper. Cut the pastry log in half, then in half again. From there, you can cut the quarters into thirds or halves, depending on how big you want the puffs (I opted for thirds, and that will make quite a few puffs).

6. Freeze the puffs until you're ready to use them. Bake them at 425 for 20 minutes or until toasty.

-Katie

Venetian Artichoke Pesto

A lot of my food inspiration comes from the places I've been — namely, Italy. Spending four glorious months there changed my life intellectually, spiritually, and of course, gastronomically.

Early on in our study abroad experience, Justin and I made the trip to Venice. You can't go to Italy for a length of time and not see Venice. It's hauntingly beautiful, full of strange and wonderful nooks and crannies and crooked cobbled streets. The canals are beautiful, of course, but what struck us the most was the fog that settled over the ancient port town like a veil.

Yep, we fed the pigeons. They are terrifyingly unafraid of humans.

One of the single best things I ate in Italy was an artichoke pesto penne that we had in the old Jewish ghetto in Venice.

This was a close second to an otherworldly eggplant parmesan that I had a tiny waterside restaurant called Timon — but I'm still trying to figure out that recipe. So you'll have to make do with artichoke pesto. For now.

This recipe is the closest I could get to the pasta I had in Venice. Smooth, creamy, and somehow still bright and light. The best thing is, this recipe is super duper easy — no peeling or trimming artichokes. Yup, we're using the canned version.

Ingredients
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
zest & juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3-4 tsp water
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2-1 cup chicken broth
1 lb pasta (penne, rigatoni, whatever you like!)

Preparation

1. Drain the artichokes. Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the chicken broth and pasta into a blender, and give it a whir until smooth. If you need to thin it out a little, add a little bit of water in intervals until it blends.

2. Boil pasta in heavily salted water. Drain. Toss with pesto. Thin out the pasta/pesto combination with a little bit of chicken broth, until it's the consistency you like.

-Katie

Grilled Cheese and Tomato-Meatball Soup

It's slowly getting more fall-ish here in St. Louis. Not fast enough for me, but enough for me to start bustin' out the autumn recipes. This recipe kicks that off, and to top it off, it's a contest winner.

Well, it hasn't won yet. But it will.

Maybe.

To tell the truth, I'm terrible at winning things. I feel like I'm generally winning in life, but so far as prizes and money and fame go, I'm sub-par. Just looking at recipes on Pinterest in all their creativity and magical ways to use canned crescent rolls makes me feel like a rookie.

Maybe this will change that.

The contest is the 5th annual Dei Fratelli Ripened Recipe Contest, and the prize winners get free products for a year.

Free tomatoes for a year.

So much I could do! Marinara! Chili! Stew! Soup! Enchiladas!

OK, I'm going to stop now. Enter the contest if you think you can beat me, but don't enter it if you know you can beat me :-) 

By the way, the soup was delicious. But you already knew that.

Here's the breakdown:

Ingredients

For the soup:

1 28-oz can Dei Fratelli crushed tomatoes

28 oz chicken broth (just pour broth into

 the empty tomato can to measure)

1 lemon

1 bay leaf

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp both salt + pepper

For the meatballs:

1.5 lb ground turkey

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 egg

For the grilled cheese:

Bread

White cheddar

Optional: spinach, mustard, ham, avocado, etc.

Procedure:

1. For the soup: Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil. Add the tomatoes, broth, lemon, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Let this simmer for 20 minutes. 

2. Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender and mix until smooth.

It kinds of feels like I should be boiling a pot of spaghetti right about now, but the ooey gooey cheese sandwich is making me hold off.

3. For the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix all the ingredients into a bowl and stir until just combined.

3. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray generously with non-stick spray. I made golf ball-sized meatballs (is that right? I dunno, I'm not an athlete).

These meatballs are pretty sticky, but that's OK because they're turkey and you need the extra moisture to ensure they don't dry out. Just get them roughly spherical and bake. No need for precision here.

Bake for 20 minutes. Throw them into the soup to continue cooking on simmer for another 10 minutes.

4. For the grilled cheese: I just so happen to have a panini press, but it's not needed really. If you use a griddle, use a griddle. If you use a frying pan, use a frying pan. Your way of making grilled cheese is the right way. The more cheese, the better. White cheddar, fontina, or mozzarella work well here.

Fingers crossed, readers. I'll keep you posted.

-Katie

Giveaway: Allen's Spinach Makes a Delicious Appetizer

So the other day I get an e-mail from a lovely woman who works with Allen's Vegetables about a giveaway opportunity for their product for Vegetarian Awareness Week. Though I'm not a vegetarian by any stretch, I love veggie appetizers and sides as a healthy alternative, and I try to go meat-free once a week if I can.

Plus, the student in me perked up at the idea of free food and the cook in me reveled in the idea of trying a new recipe.

How cute is this? Reminds me of my childhood.

I gave the product a try, and I have to say — I was pleasantly surprised! I always shied away from canned veggies, but the spinach was very close in flavor to frozen spinach and much easier to prep — no defrosting or cooking necessary.

I used Justin as a guinea pig and made these spinach rolls for happy hour paired with a chilled Pinto Grigio. It made a great combination.

Here's my version:

Crunchy, cheesy, buttery and somehow still light.

Popeye Spinach Triangles
Preparation and Cooking Time:45 minutes
Ingredients1 can (13.5 oz.) Popeye Spinach
1/4 to 1/2 lb. butter, melted
6 green onions, minced
1 cup crumbled Feta cheese
2 Tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill weed
Fresh ground pepper
8 or 12 phyllo pastry sheets
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (four slices)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Drain spinach well, pressing to remove as much moisture as possible. Saute onion in 1 Tablespoon butter. Combine onions, spinach, cheese, 2 Tablespoons breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, dill weed, and pepper. 

Triangles: Brush 1 sheet phyllo dough with melted butter. Cut into 2-inch wide strips. Cover remaining dough with wax paper and damp towel to prevent drying. With 2-inch edge toward you, place 1 level teaspoon cheese mixture on left hand corner of strip. Fold corner with filling up and to the right, diagonally and straight until a triangle is formed. Place on a baking sheet; brush with melted butter. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until puffy and brown. Serve warm. 

Slices: Place 1 phyllo sheet lengthwise in front of you on a sheet of waxed paper. Brush with butter and sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs. Repeat until 4 phyllo sheets are stacked. Spread 1/3 of spinach mixture over top phyllo sheet. Roll tightly as for a jelly roll, using waxed paper to lift and guide the roll. Transfer to baking sheet. Brush with melted butter. Repeat until 3 rolls are made, keeping the remaining phyllo dough covered with waxed paper and a damp towel as you work to prevent drying. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cut into 1-inch slices using a serrated or electric knife. Refrigerated, canned crescent rolls may be substituted for phyllo pastry sheets.

Enter the giveaway to win a free can of the spinach used in this recipe along with a pretty little printout of the recipe as well! To enter, do two things:

1. "Follow" this blog
2. Leave a comment on this entry to tell me your name and favorite appetizer!

Giveaway closes Friday at 7pm!

-Katie

*The recipe, giveaway product and accompanying photo courtesy of Allen's Vegetables via RMD advertising - many thanks to their generosity!

Tequila-Lime Chicken with Fried Plantains

I'm baaaaack.

Yes, I know. I've been away for far too long. But in my defense, I've had several job interviews (yaaay), have been doing some part-time editorial assisting (yaaay), babies have been born in the family (yaaay!!) and I have been sick on and off for the past couple weeks (booo) — and thus did not have the time and energy to blog.

Not that I haven't been cooking/eating. See? Here's proof:

Carrot Cake for cake balls {post coming soon}

Mocha chocolate chip cookies

Chicken salad from The Lemp Mansion cafe

BBQ Brisket sandwich from The Lemp Mansion cafe 

Divine French onion soup from The Lemp Mansion cafe.

Perfect mango

Roasted butternut squash

The only artichoke pesto you'll ever want.

Darla is doing well also, in case you were wondering...

Though she's questioning her fashion sense.

***

Anyway, a little while ago Justin and I decided to branch out of our typical Italian-style dinner and go Central/South American. Fried plantains and rice were the inspiration, and because Justin is an excellent chicken roaster, we thought we'd put a saucy spin on his signature dish with tequila-lime chicken.

Ingredients
For the rice:
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 serrano pepper
1 sprig cilantro
1/2 tsp salt

For the beans:
2-3 cups dried pinto beans
2 bay leaves
1 bell pepper
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tsp oregano

For the chicken:
1 2-3 lb whole chicken
3 tbsp tequila-lime seasoning
butcher's twine
roasting pan

Procedure:

1. Soak the beans overnight in a big bowl of water. Drain. Either in a slow cooker or in a heavy-bottomed pot, put in the beans and other ingredients (I cut the bottom off the green bell pepper, you can use about half if you like), and fill the pot with water so that you cover the beans by a couple inches. Simmer for 4-5 hours or until the beans have soaked up the water and they're soft. You may have to add more water as you go. Disclaimer: Don't salt your beans. It'll mess up the cooking process. You can salt them once they're cooked.

2. Pluck out the bay leaves and pepper before serving.

3. For the chicken, smother the meat with the seasoning and roast the chicken at 425 for about an hour.

4. For the rice: combine the chicken broth, rice, the tip of a serrano pepper (don't put the seeds in), salt, and cilantro sprig in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, covered. Turn off the heat and let the rice absorb the broth for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

5. For the plantains: Fry them up for 2 minutes on each side in some olive oil. Salt them when they come out.

Plantains are starchier and not as sweet as bananas. With the rice and chicken, they lend a hint of creaminess and crunch with a subtle sweetness that goes very well with the spice of the rice and beans. 

 

-Katie

Thai Green Curry

I love taking dishes from my favorite restaurants and trying to recreate them at home. When Justin and I went to Fort Lauderdale a few weeks ago, one of our top spots was Thai on the Beach. One night I got the pad thai (pretty good, but a bit sweet for me) and Justin got the thai green curry.

Justin got the curry extra spicy, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. As it turns out, what is spicy to an American who likes Thai food is NOT the same as what is spicy to a Thai person's palate. Breathing. Fire. 

But, we really liked the basic flavor, once we got past the tongue-melting liquid lava. So the other day I decided to give it a go. I turned down the dial on heat a bit, and the flavor profile was fresh, delicious, and fulfilling.

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients
For green curry paste:
1 1/2-inch knob ginger, peeled
2 cloves garlic

1 serrano pepper
1 handful cilantro
1/2 cup fresh basil
1 tsp fish sauce
1 stalk lemongrass
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 lime
1/2 cup coconut milk

For the rice:
2 cups jasmine rice
4 cups chicken broth or water
3 sprigs cilantro
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lime (juice)

For the stir fry:
Thai green curry paste
1 lb cod (substitute: chicken, pork)
1 orange bell pepper
1 head broccoli, florets
1/2 lime
1 serrano chili
Extra cilantro for garnish
1/2 to 1 cup coconut milk
1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth


Preparation

For the paste: 

Thwack the lemongrass to crack the stalk. Remove the tough outer leaves. Chop up the light green portion. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz until smooth.

For the rice:

Rinse the rice well. Put it into a pot with the sprigs of cilantro, garlic, and salt. Bring to a boil, 

In a wok, pour in a dab of sunflower or olive oil and fry up the paste so that the lemongrass, ginger and garlic cook slightly. You want to do this just so you don't have that raw flavor.

Add in the bell pepper, broccoli, serrano, chicken broth and coconut milk. Saute for 10 minutes or so until the veggies are cooked through.

Meanwhile, saute the cod in a separate pan for 5-6 minutes per side or until it flakes easily with a fork.

Spoon the curry over the rice, top with fish and sprinkle some fresh cilantro over the top.

We had ours with Thai Iced Tea:

Brew 4 cups water + 3 bags regular black tea with:

1/2 star anise

1 knob lemongrass

1 knob ginger (no need to peel)

Serve with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk and a lemon wedge.

-Katie

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Turkey + Broccoli Rabe Pesto

A little while ago I wrote a post on on making homemade gnocchi. I love gnocchi. Something about rolling out little mounds of soft dough, shaping and squishing, is a tactile delight. Justin loves sweet potatoes so I wanted to develop a recipe combining the two.

Sweet potatoes are super good for you, but they also carry a lot more moisture than regular potatoes and are starchier. They create much firmer, denser gnocchi than regular taters, but they also hold up to a heartier sauce and have more flavor.

Broccoli rabe is sort of a mix between broccoli and collard greens. It's super delicious just blanched and sauteed with garlic, oil and anchovies. It has a ton of flavor and is the perfect foil for the sweetness of the potatoes.

I made a broccoli rabe - basil pesto inspired sauce. I threw in some ground turkey just for a little protein and meatiness, though you can leave it out if you want to make this is a vegetarian dish.











Note: The dough for sweet potato gnocchi is super sticky and tacky, seemingly no matter how much flour you put in. No worries. I made the gnocchi by pinching off little pieces of dough and rolling them around with flour.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Don't you just love how anything sort of misshapen and ugly can be called "rustic"?

{Tossed in pesto}

These gnocchi are really filling. No seconds this time.

-Katie

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe Pesto

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
2 large sweet potatoes, about 1.75 lbs
1 egg
2 cups flour
Cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper

For the sauce:
1 head broccoli rabe, stems removed
1/2 cup basil
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb ground turkey thigh
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 whole milk
Parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper

1. First, to make the gnocchi, boil or bake the potatoes until done. Pass them through a food mill or mash with a fork until smooth. Let this cool for a while before adding the egg. Mix in the egg, a pinch of salt, pepper, and cayenne, and flour until a dough forms in the bowl.
2. Pinch off about half a tablespoon's worth of dough, roll in a bit of flour to keep it from sticking to your hands, and form into little balls. They won't be perfect! That's OK though.
3. Boil the gnocchi in water for 2-3 minutes or until they float to the top. Toss in the sauce.
4. For the sauce: Blanch the broccoli rabe in boiling water for 7-8 minutes. Transfer to an ice water bath for 5 minutes. Squeeze out as much of the water in the rabe as you can using a kitchen towel. 
5. In a food processor, blitz together the broccoli rabe, basil, olive oil, salt and red pepper flakes. 
6. On medium heat in a saucepan, brown the turkey thigh until cooked. Add the pesto, chicken broth, white wine, and more salt + pepper to taste (if needed). Let this reduce for 10 minutes or so until the sauce has reduced by half. Add the milk and Parmesan. It won't be a really creamy sauce. 
7. Toss the gnocchi with the sauce for 5 minutes or so until the gnocchi has absorbed some of the liquid. I had to cook the gnocchi in batches, so I just threw the dumplings into the sauce as I went.