Tag Archives: vegetarian

Grill those beets!

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Consider this the world’s shortest list of ingredients next to the recipe for making toast: grilled beets. While dh and ds were at the grocery store yesterday, apparently ds pointed THE ALMIGHTY FINGER OF THE PRESCHOOLER at beets, and dh happily obliged. After all, when your small child is pointing to a vegetable that he’s actually likely to eat, you often want to pounce on that with all of the joy and verve of a tween offered a chance to see Justin Bieber reading the part of Edward in a table read of “Breaking Dawn: part 2”. (Maybe minus all the angsty swoon…but you get the point.)

The pair of ’em picked out a lovely set of golden and red beets. Then dh prepped ’em and put ’em on the grill. Y NO CAN HAS PIC? Sorry, didn’t think to take one, but suffice to say that they were lovely. The golden beets have this terrific yellowish-orangy hue, and the red beets have a fantastic reddish purple color that just lights up a plate. This recipe yields  the same outcome as oven roasting, only you don’t have to bother turning on your oven (yeay!). DH also noted that he finds this method of peeling beets far easier than what I do – using a peeler on them when they’re raw so I can chop peeled beets before roasting them in the oven.

Pointing back to my question about how to have things that help relieve some of the monotony of one-night dinners and the related follow-up post by my friend Local Kitchen, we did have extra beets at the end of the meal, even with ds clamoring for a third serving. What do you do with said leftover beets? WHATEVER YOU WANT. The suggestions I had for dh were either to cut them up and toss them in with some leftover couscous for a simple lunch option or cut them up and add them to the salads he takes to work every day. Either way, they’re yummy and totally worth having. And, if you have a grill, they’re easy to prepare. Also, waste not, want not: this recipe also yields a bunchload of beet greens. USE THOSE BABIES. Make a salad out of ’em, wilt ’em in a pan before serving immediately…find a use for ’em!

I will also point out that when your 2-1/2 year old son decides to wipe purple beety hands on his white t-shirt, baby wipes appear to take out most of the stain. *cough*

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Serves: 3-5 (depends on your beet-lovin’ level)

Ingredients

1 bunch golden beets

1 bunch red beets

Make it Happen

1. Start your grill and aim for about medium-level (indirect) heat. When ready, this should be up in the 450F range.

2. Trim off the beet greens and scrub each beet bulb clean.

3. Wrap each beet bulb in aluminum foil; place the foil-wrapped beets on the grill and close the grill cover.

4. Turn the beets every 15 minutes until at desired tenderness, approximately 1 hour for medium/large beets (3″ or so in diameter), slightly less for small beets (2″ diameter or thereabouts).

5. Remove the foil and then carefully remove the beet skin; this is most easily done by rubbing the beet in a paper towel, which should fairly well slough off the skin.

6. Either serve whole or chop into bite-sized pieces and serve.

Rethinking Cheese Ravioli

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The funny thing about trying to cook things from scratch is that you start to understand why “convenience foods” are just that – they’re convenient. There are certain things that just take so much longer when you try to make them by hand, and then it comes down to a desire to eat things you made yourself, or trying to omit/control certain ingredients, etc. Having two small kiddos and being in a household where both parents work, it really is tough to make a ton of stuff from scratch. I need a housespouse.

But, last weekend, I decided to make lasagna. And, since it was on sale, I purchased the MEGA container of ricotta. Silly me. Then again, at the time, I was thinking that I’d use the remainder to make cannoli…oh wait – I had some in my cart already. *facepalm*

So, confronted with ALL of that ricotta, I did what any other ambitious person might do: I decided to make my own ravioli. Now, I could have decided to make the pasta from scratch, too, but BABY STEPS, PEOPLE. BABY STEPS. Instead of the fresh pasta, I reached into the tofu area of the produce section and pulled out a neat package of Nasoya Wonton Wraps (wonton skins). These things have seemingly unlimited potential: ravioli, wontons, rangoons…lots of options for pockety things that taste good.

The next thing I had to consider was how on earth to manage this. After all, you can either use the approximately 2″x2″ skins to make VERY LARGE ravioli, or you can fold them to make triangles or rectangles. Not being sure of the best course of action, I did all three. I also wasn’t sure how best to seal these suckers up, and I have to say that I was really pleased to see how many of them survived. Naturally, being of the geekish sort, as I was putting them together, I told dh I wasn’t sure how many might survive the carbon freezing process…(His response: “Get out of my head”).

My first attempt at this turned up a total of 16 rectangles, 16 triangles, and 8 large square ravioli. I also had a small amount of leftover cheese mixture (no more than 2-3oz). If you can get your hands on some more wonton skins easily enough, this is a good time to apply them. Otherwise, you can save this mixture to stuff some shells with. Assume that, like anything else, you wouldn’t want to keep it more than a couple of days in the fridge.

This recipe seems more complicated than it really is; all the lettering is just my way of trying to help explain the slight variation that comes from making them in one shape versus another. The majority of the prep time in this, as with stuffed grape leaves (another favorite of mine), is in the lather-rinse-repeat action. If you make only the square raviolis, your prep time will be shorter.

The verdict on this was highly positive. Everybody went for second helpings, and the lighter nature of the wonton skins versus the standard pasta didn’t leave us with the usual Titanic-at-the-bottom-of-your-stomach feeling that can often come from additional helpings of pasta. We’re definitely making these again (perhaps adding in variations with herbed cheese, lobster meat or ground turkey).

Lastly, I made a lot. If you make the recipe as-is, you will have a ton of ravioli on your hands. It’s easily enough for 4-5 people. If you have a smaller crowd and/or don’t want to have leftovers, just halve the recipe and assume your prep time will be cut in half, as well.

Cheese Raviolis

Cheese Ravs - three ways

Prep Time: 45-90 mins, depending upon shape

Cooking Time: 5 mins, once the water is boiling

Serves: 4-5

 

Ingredients

15 or 16 oz part-skim ricotta cheese (whatever size you can get that’s closest)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 pkg Nasoya wonton wraps (~48 individual skins)

water

olive oil

 

Make it Happen

1. In a medium bowl, stir to combine the cheeses.

2. Place water in a small bowl (such as a finger bowl) and set to the side.

3. Tear off several sheets of waxed paper and place them to the side.

4. Put a wonton skin on a plate or other clean, dry, flat surface.

a) For triangles or rectangles, put 1/2 Tb of the cheese mixture in the center of the skin.

a1) Dab a finger in the water and lightly trace the water along the edges of the wonton skin.

a2) Fold the wonton skin over in the desired direction, then press lightly to seal the ravioli and remove as much air as possible.

b) For large square ravioli, put 1 Tb of the cheese mixture in the center of the skin.

b1) Dab a finger in the water and lightly trace the water along the edges of the wonton skin.

b2) Place another wonton skin on top, then press lightly around the cheese to seal the ravioli and remove as much air as possible.

5. Using a small fork (I used a dessert/salad fork), press down on the sealed edges to crimp and tighten the seal on the ravioli, taking care not to puncture the wonton skin. When you have crimped all of the edges, flip the ravioli over and repeat the process on the other side. (Then repeat the appropriate steps for 4a/b, as you desire, until you’ve made all of the raviolis you have skins for. If making triangles or rectangles, you should be able to make 48 small raviolis. If making large raviolis, you should be able to make 24 large raviolis instead. You can also make any combination thereof, as you choose.)

6. Place the raviolis on a plate, on waxed paper. Use single sheets of waxed paper in between layers of ravioli to keep them from sticking together before cooking. If you want to cook them later, cover the plate with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. (I made mine a few hours ahead of cooking, and that worked fine. I would guess they could probably keep overnight, too, if necessary, but I wouldn’t prepare them more than one night in advance.)

7. To cook, add as many as will reasonably fit in a large pot of boiling water, and cook for 5 minutes.

8. Remove raviolis from the pot with a slotted spoon and toss lightly with a small amount of olive oil, to prevent sticking. Serve with your preferred sauce.

Lasagna-aaaaahhhhh

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Even in a winter as odd as this one has been, I love me some comfort food. Now, lasagna is high on that list but often gets bumped down for two reasons: 1) level of effort, and 2) the kids won’t eat it. In the past few years, great strides have been made to reduce the level of effort, primarily due to the development of “no boil” noodles. Prior to this fantastic innovation, many a lasagna chef had spent half the time assembling their lasagna wondering if they’d just burned off their fingerprints. Not much can be done to fix the problem of the kids not wanting to eat it other than time and continual attempts. At 2 and 5, they’re still well into the “hating mixed foods” stage, and I’m not quite certain just when that will end.

With my sister out of town for her annual pilgrimage to a Doctor Who convention, I thought it might be fun to have my BIL down for dinner and cook one of his favorites. I felt a little out of practice, since it had been a while since I’d made lasagna, but thankfully it’s just like riding a bike. Well, maybe not so much for me – I still don’t know how to ride a bike.

Moving along…

So, you can chop some time off this recipe by simply refusing to make your own sauce. If that’s how you want to roll (and I have no complaints if you do), I suggest you aim for the Barilla Marinara. It’s got a good consistency & a good flavor, and it’s my “all-purpose, go-to” sauce for weeknight cooking. A couple jars of that should sort you out just fine. Alternately, you can follow the directions below to make the sauce and the filling simultaneously, then assemble once you have the sauce & filling ready to go. One other note: this is not an exceptionally saucy lasagna (it’s not dripping in sauce and leaving oodles of runny sauce in the pan). If you want a saucier lasagna, just add/make more sauce – to your preference.

Want to make this vegetarian? It’s soooo easy. Just substitute for the ground turkey with another type of mushroom, for some variety; chopped portobello would do the trick here. It’s nice and meaty, and it will add some more heft to the lasagna that just adding more white mushrooms won’t really accomplish.

I apologize that it seems so complicated – there are a lot of steps. BUT, it’s not REALLY THAT complicated; I break a lot of the steps down into itty bitty bits to make it easier to figure out what needs to get done. Typically, I find the work rewarding; when the return on your time investment is a nice hot pan of yummy lasagna, that’s one fantastic ROI.

Lasagna

(drools...)

Prep Time: 10-15 mins

Cooking Time: Active – 15-45 mins; Oven/Inactive – 50-60 mins + 15 mins resting time

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

Sauce:

2 tsp olive oil

28 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes (depending upon your pref for chunky sauce), undrained

28 oz can tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic

1/2 large shallot

10 leaves fresh basil (or probably about 2 tsp dried)

1 Tb double-concentrated tomato paste (in the tube)

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried parsley

Filling:

12 oz ground turkey

10 oz white mushrooms

2 cloves garlic

1/2 large shallot

THE REST of the lasagna:

1 box Barilla “No Boil” lasagna noodles (you will use about 11 of the sheets)

16 oz part skim ricotta cheese

2 cups finely shredded mozzarella cheese

Make it Happen

General Prep (GP):

GP1. Peel and mince the garlic and shallots; reserve half for the sauce and half for the filling.

GP2. Wash the mushrooms and remove the stems. Chop the mushroom caps into small pieces (no more than 1/2″ long and 1/4″ wide).

Sauce (S):

S1. In a stock pot or dutch oven (I use a Le Creuset enameled cast iron one for this), heat the olive oil over medium heat.

S2. Add the basil and the sauce’s half of the garlic and shallots to the pot; stir briskly to combine. Let this cook for 1-2 minutes.

S3. Add the tomatoes (including the water in the can) to the pot; stir well to combine. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so while the liquid is reduced.

S4. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano and parsley; stir well to combine. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so while the liquid reduces some more.

…WHILE the sauce is cooking, in another pan…

Filling (F):

F1. In a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat, brown the ground turkey. Use a bulb baster to remove any grease that bubbles out as the meat cooks.

F2. Once the meat is fairly close to done (very little pinkness is still visible), add the rest of the garlic and shallots to the pan, stirring well to combine. Cook for another five minutes before turning off the heat.

Lasagna (L):

L1. Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

L2. Spray a 9×13″ baking pan (I use a glass – Pyrex – one for this purpose, due to the ease of clean-up) with non-stick spray. Put about half-a ladleful of the sauce on the bottom of the pan, spreading it out so that there’s a light coating at the bottom of the pan.

L3. Place three of the Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles in the pan, side-by-side. You should have a small amount of space that’s unaccounted for; I carefully break one noodle in half and use one of the halves to cover that gap.

L4. Next, put several dollops of the ricotta on each noodle with two large spoons, using the backs of the spoons to gently smooth the cheese out onto the noodle. Don’t worry if you don’t have full coverage; it all works out in the end.

L5. Put one-half of the filling (F) onto the noodles, taking care to try to get it evenly over the entire span of the pan.

L6. Put one-third of the mozzarella cheese on top of the filling, then cover with a couple ladlefuls of sauce to give a nice, light coating.

L7. Place the reserved half-noodle down in the pan, followed by another three noodles, side-by-side. Press down gently on the noodles to get the sauce and cheese in the layer beneath to spread out a little. Repeat steps L4-L6 to make the second layer.

L8. Put three noodles side-by-side and break off another half to cover the final gap. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the noodles, taking care to cover all of the top noodles with sauce.

L9. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top of the lasagna.

L10. To put this in the oven, you want to cover it with foil. BUT, since, like me, you may have your lasagna pan filled mostly or fully to the top of your pan, you’ll want to “tent” the foil. One way to do this is to get a nice long sheet of foil, tuck it tightly under each of the handles at the end of the pan and then make a notch in the center so that it’s in the shape of a tent; another way is to use two pieces of foil and create the notch where they meet up. Either way, you don’t want the foil right on top of the cheese…since then you’ll end up with cheese on the foil and NOT on the lasagna.

L11. For safety purposes, and to limit spillage, I also put the pan on a baking sheet that’s bigger than the pan; that catches any potential drips.

L12. All this done, place the lasagna in the oven and cook for 50-55 mins. When cooking time is done, remove the foil and place it back in the oven, to give the cheese a chance to get browned.

L13. Lastly, remove the lasagna from the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.