War and Peas

This is a simple and light vegetable lasagna recipe. I used frozen spinach and jarred basil marinara sauce, but retained its made-from-scratch taste with fresh squash and carrots. It can be easily substituted with more frozen vegetables, such as broccoli.

Light and Simple Vegetable Lasagna

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced

1 squash, chopped

3 carrots, shredded

1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary, nutmeg

8 oz fat free ricotta cheese

1 egg

2 cups low-fat mozzarella or Italian cheeses

Jar of marina sauce, any flavor

9 lasagna sheets

8×8 square pan

Preparation

Boil a pot of water for the lasagna noodles, cook noodles until al dente. Defrost spinach in microwave.

Sauté garlic over medium-high heat for 1 minute, add squash, carrots, seasonings and spices, cook for 5 minutes until done, but not soft. Season liberally. Set aside.

Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach and add to pot of cooked vegetables. Add ricotta cheese and egg to the pot and mix until everything is combined well.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut lasagna noodles to fit the 8×8 pan. Pour and spread 2 heaping spoonfuls of marinara sauce into bottom of the pan. Layer three noodles, sprinkle a handful of cheese, spread ½ the vegetable/ricotta mixture, spread 3 heaping spoonfuls of marinara. Repeat the process once again, starting with the layering of three noodles. Then, layer the final three noodles, spread a generous amount of marinara and sprinkle cheese on the top.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest for half an hour before serving.

I’ve made this cake before and it turned out too flat and too dense for my tastes. I thought it was due to my miscalculation of the amount of baking powder needed, since I didn’t have measuring spoons at the time; but this attempt was no better and it seems that I made no mistake. This is a flat, dense cake. Needless to say, it’s not my favorite, so I’m not going to post the recipe. The strawberry puree that was left over from the day before was delicious though. So, here’s the recipe:

Strawberry Puree

Ingredients

1 bag frozen strawberries

1/4 cup of sugar

Preparation

Puree the mixture in a bender.  If you want, strain out the seeds.  I kept them in mine.

I’ve become quite adept at making lentil soup. But, I decided to change it up this time by adding different spices and only using red lentils. My original version from Epicurious has puy (french green) and red lentils and spices like rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme. This is a spicy version of the original with curry, cumin and coriander. Since, red lentils are quicker to cook than other varieties, I shortened the cooking time. It also seemed that red lentils soak up more liquid than the puy variety because this soup ended up being a bit too thick for my tastes.  So, for the recipe I decreased the amount of lentils from 1 ¼ cups to 1 cup.

Spicy Red Lentil Soup

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

2 Tbsp extra–virgin olive oil
2 medium chopped onion (red or yellow)
1 cup chopped celery stalks
1 cup chopped carrots
2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp ginger, finely chopped or ground ginger
3 ½ cups to 4 ½ cups vegetable broth (I like homemade or Trader Joe’s vegetable broth)
1 cup red lentils, rinsed, drained
1 can (14 oz) of diced tomatoes in juice (or 2 tomatoes, chopped)

1 ½ tsp madras curry powder

½ tsp cumin, coriander

Zest of half a lemon

Preparation

Either hand chop veggies or use food processor. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium–high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, garlic, ginger; sauté until vegetables for about 15 minutes. Add curry powder, cumin and coriander and sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Add 3 ½ cups broth, lentils, tomatoes with juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium–low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 25 to 30 minutes. While the soup is simmering, add more broth to thin soup, if needed. After the soup is done, sprinkle in the zest of half a lemon and stir.

Serve with lemon slices.

I found this recipe from Epicurious and have made it a few times and each time its garnered rave reviews.  This time it was for a charity fundraiser my roommate was involved with. This is a decadently rich flourless cake, only for serious chocolate lovers, and best served with fruit and whipped cream to balance the flavors. It requires the springform pan to be submerged in a waterbath, so wrapping it tightly and securely in aluminum foil is critical to prevent water seepage into the batter while it’s baking.  Use extra-large aluminum foil and wrap the pan in at least 3 layers.  With this cake, I had water seep into two of the aluminum foil layers, but luckily not the last.

La Bete Noire (adapted from Epicurious)

Ingredients

Cake
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
14 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped finely

5 large eggs (brought to room temperature)

Ganache
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
61/2 ounces bittersweet, chopped finely

Serve with whipped cream and Strawberry or Raspberry Puree

Preparation

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Start boiling a pot of water for a waterbath. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round and butter the parchment. Wrap 3 layers of extra large heavy-duty foil tightly around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim.

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; let it cool slightly (or else eggs will curdle when you add it to the mixture).

Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in a large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.

Bake cake for 40 minutes until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken. Remove from water bath. Cool completely in pan for two hours.

For ganache:
Over medium heat, bring heavy cream to simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cooled cake still in the pan. Gently shake the pan to distribute evenly over the top of the cake. Leave the cake at room temperature for the next hour or two. Refrigerate the cake in the pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Take out ½ hour to an hour before serving, Cut between the cake and pan with a knife before releasing the sides of the cake from the pan. To release the bottom of the cake from the pan, take a hot clean knife and cut carefully to release the edges of the pan. When you see that the parchment can be lifted without damage to the cake, flip the top of the cake onto one plate, remove the parchment, then flip it back onto the other plate. Slice the cake into 16 or 32 slices with hot, clean knife for each slice.

I made this last night for Andy. It was delicious and really simple!

Pasta with Clams and Wine Sauce

Ingredients

½ box whole-wheat thin spaghetti

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 can whole or chopped clams
½ cup white wine

1 tablespoon butter

Preparation

Cook pasta according to directions minus two minutes. Drain pasta.  Heat pan over medium heat, add oil.Saute garlic and shallot for a minute. Add wine and simmer for a minute. Then add tomatoes and clams with juice and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes. Add butter. Add cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Add the slightly undercooked pasta to sauce.  Cover and lower heat to med-low for five minutes. Add parsley and take off stove.