Category: Family

Mushroom Spinach Pesto Lasagna

Posted on by Leigh Ann

Last time I made lasagna, it turned out *exactly* perfect. I’m certain I wrote down my recipe at that time, but I can’t find it anywhere. So, I’m hoping this version turns out okay, and meanwhile I’m documenting every step.

Ingredients:
1 28oz can crushed San Marzano tomatoes
1 28oz can diced San Marzano tomatoes
1 large onion
10 TBS butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

8oz mushrooms
1/8th cup olive oil
salt & pepper

16oz frozen chopped spinach
4oz pesto

16oz mozzarella
16oz ricotta
4 eggs

1lb DeCecco lasagna noodles

Start the sauce first, since it takes at least 45 minutes to simmer.
Usual Marcella Hazan recipe.
Before I use the sauce, I like to remove the onion, then run the immersion blender for a moment, to make sure all the diced tomatoes are fully incorporated. This recipe makes more sauce than I needed, but it’s delicious and will get used for something.

Mushrooms:
Pre-roast the mushrooms to extract as much liquid as possible, while concentrating the flavor using the “Easy Roasted Mushrooms” recipe at https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-roasted-mushroom-food-lab-recipe
With an immersion blender, chop coarsely.
(Okay for this version, I only had 8oz mushrooms, but I suspect 16oz would be better. Time will tell.)

Spinach:
Thawed, drain, and SQUEEZE until absolutely all of the moisture has been removed.

Cheese Mixture:
Grate the mozzarella. In a large bowl, mix moz, ricotta, and eggs. Combine well, then divide evenly into two bowls.
Into one bowl, stir spinach and pesto.
Into the other bowl, stir mushrooms.
Refrigerate until assembly.

FINALLY! Pasta.
The sauce is nearly finished and the cheese mixtures are in the fridge. Honestly, at this point, I need a little sit-down. But then! Boil pasta for 4 minutes. Drain, plunge into cold water to keep noodles from sticking together during assembly.

Assembly:
This time, I layered, from bottom to top:
Sauce
Noodles
Spinach cheese mixture
Noodles
Mushroom cheese mixture
Noodles
Sauce
— Which is less sauce that I usually add, but I’m aiming for distinct layers. Also, those two layers of sauce were pretty thick. I’m not at all worried about not enough moisture. The remaining sauce (and the onion) will be reheated and served on the side.

At this point, double-cover the lasagna, and put it into the fridge overnight, to bake and serve the next day. Sure, I could bake it right away, but dammit. The entire kitchen, and every bowl, pot, and utensil is dirty, and I need a nap.

Next Day:
Take lasagna out of the fridge maybe 20 minutes before putting it into the oven. I like to top with a generous dusting (flurry? blizzard!) of freshly grated Locatelli cheese before baking.
Preheat oven to 350. Bake covered, maybe 45 minutes, maybe more or less.
Absolutely plan to take it out of the oven a solid 10 minutes before serving, at the very least. Can not serve lasagna right out of the oven. It needs time to rest. Lots of time.
Since my guests are due to arrive at 5:pm:
3:50 – remove from fridge, pre-heat oven
4:10 – start baking
4:55 – remove from oven

Garlic Prep

Posted on by Leigh Ann

There’s no substitute for fresh garlic. Sure, I cook with garlic powder, and even the little frozen cubes of minced garlic from Trader Joe’s, and they have their uses. But they aren’t the same as fresh. Don’t talk to me about that minced garlic in jars, that stuff is nasty.

The problem is, I hate peeling garlic. My fingers smell like garlic for the next 24 hours, and yes, I’ve tried peeling technique, and every scent removal hack. Now what I like to do is peel a whole mess of garlic, all at once, and then not worry about it again for months.

My technique, and no, I’m sure I didn’t invent this:

  1. Grab a large mixing bowl that can go into the freezer. Add ice to the bowl so it’s about 1/2 full, then add water until all the ice is covered. Put the bowl full of ice water into the fridge or freezer.
  2. Place a large pot (maybe 3-5 quarts) of salted water onto the stove to boil.
  3. Peel and trim at least 3 heads of garlic. Go big or go home. This isn’t worth doing for just a few random cloves.
  4. Blanch the naked cloves for 30 seconds in the now boiling, salted water.
  5. Immediately drain cloves, and plunge them into your prepared bowl of ice water.
  6. Fish the cloves out of the water, and let them dry on a clean dishtowel.
  7. Once dry, place all the cloves into a mason jar, and pour olive oil until the cloves are just barely covered. You don’t want any peeking thru the top, but you also don’t want to have to dig through an inch of oil to find a clove.
  8. Cover with a tightly fitting lid, and refrigerate. The oil will likely solidify, that’s fine.
  9. Whenever you need fresh garlic, grab a spoon and dig out a clove. You’ll also have garlic-infused olive oil as a bonus. I can’t imagine what you’re cooking with a clove of fresh garlic that wouldn’t be improved with a little olive oil.

When I told my mom I was starting a blog, she specifically recommended this post. I think she classified it as “Life Skills Coaching” which I thought was maybe overstating things a bit. I don’t think I should be coaching anyone how to do anything, unless you want to learn how to knit backwards, which I seem to be pretty good at teaching.

But then…I laid in bed, not sleeping (yay age!) thinking of what, generally, these types of tips are called. It’s a “hack” but I hate that term. Maybe we are “leveling up” our skills. Why are all these terms gamer / coder terms? Didn’t people cook before Nintendo?

Prep is a restaurant term, and as a Capricorn I’m all about planning. So: Garlic Prep. Good enough.