Cheese

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Lasagna - Vegetarian

December 11, 2010 in Entree's, Pastas, Vegetarian by Moogie | 1 comment

smileyLasagna for the new millenium.  Fast and easy because the recipe calls for pre-made marinara sauce, no boil lasagna noodes, pre-shredded cheese, etc.

 

Pre-prep

 

Preheat oven to 350

Decide which non-reactive 9 X 13 (or there abouts) baking dish you are going to use

***What is a non-reactive baking dish *** 

Ingredients

 

  • 2 10 oz. boxes, chopped spinach
  • 1 lb. mushrooms, cremini, sliced
  • 1 onion, yellow, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp garlic, chopped (more or less)
  • 1/2 cup sherry
  • 2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 2 cups grated Italian 5 cheese blend (or more)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 tsp oregano, dry (would be better with fresh...)
  • 2 tsp basil, dry (would be better with fresh...)
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1- 25 oz jar good quality marinara sauce (or more if necessary)
  • 9 to 12 lasagna noodles: No boil variety (or more)
  • 1 cup water

Panic Mode:  More noodles, another part of a jar of marinara sauce, and some more cheese.... See directions below

 

Directions:

 

You need to know that I have a problem actually following recipe directions, so this is sort of what I did.

Thaw out the spinach, drain, and squeeze the liquid out.  The only way I see doing this is by clumping the spinach in your hands and squeezing until there is no more juice.

Historical Note:  Grandma Tuso said the spinach had to be chopped fine, so this would be the point where you chop the already chopped spinach to her specifications!

  1. Saute the onion, mushrooms & garlic in olive oil, add some sherry, and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, 1/2 the grated cheese, egg, spinach, oregano, basil, mushroom mixture, salt & pepper.
  3. Spray the baking dish with Pam
  4. Spoon 1 cup sauce in the baking dish
  5. Put a layer of noodles down
  6. Put a layer of the cheese mixture

Repeat the layers

Panic Mode:  This is the point where I paniced because it looked too thin in the baking dish.  I made another layer of just sauce and cheese.  So maybe buy more cheese, sauce & noodles and add it to the cheese mixture so it is thicker in the baking dish.

Whatever you decide to do, the final layer is noodles with sauce and 1 cup cheese sprinkled on top.

The original recipe said to pour 1 cup of water around the edges, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 1 1/4 hours.  I left out the water, but maybe it would have been better with it,

Whatever you do, let it stand at least 15 minutes or more to set up before you serve it.

I served it with a big green salad w/balsamic dressing and grilled vegetables.

 

 

 

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Not your average Mexican dip

November 4, 2008 in Appetizers by iheartsprout | 1 comment

Ingredients:

  • I box package of Philly Cream Cheese.
  • I regular size jag of salsa.
  • I bag of shredded cheese, mexician blend or taco blend.

Procedure:

This recipe is very easy to execute.  Take a 9 x 11 glass pan and and drop in the block of cream cheese.  Use a rubber spatula to evenly spread the cream cheese over the bottom of the dish.  This is easy if you let the cream cheese sit out to soften.

Next, dump the jar of salsa on top of the cream cheese and also spread it around evenly over top of the cream cheese.  This recipe is made more interesting if you experiment with different types of salsa.  One of my favorites is Newman's Black bean salsa.

Follow all this up by liberally and evenly sprinkling the shredded cheese over the salsa.  I know the price of cheese has gone up but this is not the time to be frugal, you should use most of the bag if not the whole thing.

Now this can be covered and stored in the fridge or transported to the party or BBQ.  Right before the dip is about to be devoured slip it under the broiler until the cheese on top starts to bubble and get a bit brown.  When this has occured pull it out and enjoy.  You will be suprised how good this stuff is.

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Cast-Iron Chicken Parmigiana

October 17, 2008 in Entree's, Poultry by misterdelicious | No comments

This is such a comfort food dinner for my family.  I serve it with fresh pasta, and the casti iron skillet looks great coming from the oven straight to the table.  If you don't have a cast iron skillet you can use another oven-safe skillet.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs chicken breasts
  • 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 egg
  • Bread crumbs
  • Fresh basil
  • Fresh Mozzarella
  • Ground Parmigian
  • 28oz Can Crushed Tomato
  • spoonful of tomato paste
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 3-4 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Dried Basil and Oregano
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Olive Oil

Directions

Sauce first
  • Sautee garlic and onion in small saucepan until translucent with some olive oil.
  • Add crushed tomatoes and spoonful of tomato paste.
  • Add some basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
  • Stir and let simmer with a lid.
Prepping the Chicken
  • Preheat oven to 350F
  • Take the Chicken and flatten it a little with a mallet.  You don't want to make it super thin.
  • Prepare the assembly train for the chicken.  Flour, egg then bread crumbs.  Add some of the ground parmigiana to the bread crumbs.
  • Brown the breaded chicken on each side in the cast iron skillet with a little olive oil.  About 2 minutes per side.  Once browned set the chicken aside.
  • Once the skillet has cooled, clean it a little with a paper towel and add the sauce into the skillet.
  • Place the chicken cutlets into the sauce.  Make sure they are submerged.
  • Place basil leaves on top, then place some sliced fresh mozzarella on top of the basil.  Then add some parmigiana above that.
  • Place in oven for 30 minutes.
  • Take out and serve over pasta!

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