Classic Lasagna with Bechamel

  I made this lasagna last night for my mother-in-law’s Birthday. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve made my Dad’s famous bolognese sauce and it has been on my brain the past couple of weeks. Since it makes so much, we usually eat it a couple of nights in a week and freeze the rest. It is the perfect meal to feed a crowd so I decided to make it for Renee’s birthday dinner. At the last minute, I decided to have some fun and make lasagna with the sauce instead of spaghetti.

   I’m not a huge fan of ricotta cheese in lasagna, so I decided to go the classic route and use a béchamel instead. It is one of the simplest sauces to make and it can be used in a variety of dishes. The only ingredients you need for it are butter, flour, milk and a little nutmeg. Sometimes, it’s even better with a little cheese melted in, but for lasagna, I like to keep in simple. Believe me, there is PLENTY of cheese in this recipe!

  The bolognese gets better the longer it simmers. Mine cooked for about 6 hours before I assembled my lasagna. I only used about half of the sauce and saved the rest for another night. You could seriously feed an army with this sauce. It’s pretty well known around these parts as the best spaghetti sauce you’ll ever eat. So, even if you don’t want to brave the lasagna recipe, do yourself a favor and at least make some spaghetti, k?

   I'm a fan of what some refer to as a 'crunchy lid'. I would be happy to just peel off the entire top layer of the lasagna and have it for my meal. But, I settled for a nice big corner piece so everyone could enjoy the deliciousness that is the 'crunchy lid'.  If you are not interested in a nice brown top, just add some spaghetti sauce to the top layer before adding the cheese and it will be gooier. Gooier? Is that a word?

  Classic Lasagna with Bechamel
 (serves 8-10)

For the Bolognese:
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2-5 cloves garlic, minced ( of course I use all 5)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2Tbsp butter
2 large cans plum tomatoes
1 jar tomato basil sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 lb ground beef
1lb sweet Italian sausage
dried Italian seasoning
1-2 Tbsp sugar
Fresh basil, chiffonade

For the Bechamel:
1/2 cup (1stick) butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
Pinch nutmeg
salt to taste

For the Lasagna:
12 lasagna noodles ( boiled 10 minutes, until al dente)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese

To make the bolognese, brown beef and sausage til cooked through. Add some dried herbs, salt and pepper to taste; drain.
Meanwhile, saute the onion and bell pepper in olive oil and butter until translucent. Add minced garlic and saute another 2-3 minutes.
Combine veggies with meat and add tomatoes, tomato paste, jarred tomato sauce, and sugar. (Break the plum tomatoes up a little bit, depending on how chunky you want your sauce.) Season with more dried herbs, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer on low for as long as possible. Add fresh basil just before serving.

To make the bechamel, melt butter in a saucepan over med-low heat. Once melted, add flour. Stir constantly until well combined and no lumps remain. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to burn it!
Slowly add the milk, about a half cup at a time, stirring between each half cup until combined. Sauce should start to thicken up after each addition, but be careful that it doesn't get lumpy. After all milk has been added, add the nutmeg and salt to taste. Continue to cook the bechamel until it reaches a nice thick consistency ( about 5 minutes) stirring occasionally to avoid lumps. It is ready when it will coat the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat.

To assemble the lasagna, coat the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with bechamel. Layer 3 lasagna noodles, overlapping slightly. Cover noodles with a couple of ladles bolognese, more bechamel, and about a cup of mozzarella. Continue with 3 more lasagna noodles, bolognese, bechamel, and another cup mozzarella. Make one more layer of noodles, sauces and cheese. You should have 3 layers in all. Top final layer with 3 remaining lasagna noodles and cover with bechamel. (If you want the top to be gooey, add a little bolognese; if you want crunchy, just use a little bechamel.) Top with remaining cup of mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, bake lasagna for 30 minutes. Raise temperature to 400 and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Keep an eye out to make sure it doesn't burn. You want the cheese to get brown and crispy but not burnt. Remove from oven and let rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

Serve with a green salad and garlic bread. Enjoy!

Garlic-Encrusted Baby Back Ribs

  When Brian and I got married in 2009, my parents gave us one of the most awesome gifts I've ever received. They collected tons of yummy recipes, from family and friends, and compiled them into a cookbook for us. It was so thoughtful and creative and it was obvious how much time and effort they had put into typing the recipes, finding pictures to go along with them, and arranging them by category into a lovely book. It contains some of my favorite recipes I grew up enjoying and lots of new ones begging to be tried. Three years later, I still use my cookbook regularly. It is, by far, my favorite cookbook I own. Not only because it is sentimental, but because it contains so many wonderful recipes.
   Both of these recipes came straight from my Daddy's kitchen. That's how I knew they would be so delicious. My Dad is the best cook I know and I credit him for my prowess in the kitchen. The ribs are sweet and garlicky and the best part is they are prepared in the oven! I love that I can cook finger-licking good ribs without having to fire up the grill. These ribs are easy to throw together and the oven does all of the work. The baby blue salad is the perfect accompaniment for the ribs. It's fresh and simple and together they make the perfect light meal.

Garlic-Encrusted Baby Back Ribs

1/4 cup olive oil
10 cloves garlic, minced
3 sprigs rosemary, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 lbs baby back pork ribs
1/2 cup BBQ sauce

In a bowl, combine first 7 ingredients.
Place ribs in a shallow baking dish and pierce meat all over to allow the marinade to penetrate. Rub the marinade into the meat with your hands until ribs are entirely coated with garlic and herbs. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Transfer ribs to a baking dish large enough to hold ribs in one layer. Reserve marinade. Brush both sides of ribs with BBQ sauce and arrange, meat side up, in dish. Roast on middle rack for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is cooked and tender, basting occasionally with reserved marinade.
Increase temperature to 500 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes, until edges are crispy. Remove from oven, cut into sections, and serve.

Baby Blue Salad

1 bag spring mix lettuce
bleu cheese, crumbled
Mandarin orange slices
strawberries, quartered
walnuts
balsamic vinaigrette

Toss lettuce mix with balsamic vinaigrette and bleu cheese. Top with oranges, strawberries, and walnuts.

Enjoy!

Rosemary-Balsamic Butternut Squash

   It's been a few days since my last post. Lots of things have been going on around here! I started working on a lot of crafts for Ethan's 1st birthday party coming up in March.  After spending about three hours working on it the first night, I felt very accomplished to have started a few things and even completely finished one project! I was so proud of how great it looked, I took a few pictures to show the girls at work. I left everything on my craft table when I went to bed, knowing I would pick it back up the next night. In the morning, Ethan got up and we followed our normal routine; bottle for him, coffee for me. I went to turn on Good Morning America and....wait, did I mention Ethan is going through this stage where he likes to shake and rock things? Yeah, well, my craft table with my cup of coffee sitting on it was his latest victim. Needless to say, I had to start over on my one beautiful finished project!  At least I have pictures to remember the original.

    That was only the beginning to my week.  It has been crazy busy at work, Ethan is cutting yet another tooth and oh yeah, he started walking! I foresee all of my weeks in the future being just as busy and exhausting as this one. Pray for me and my sanity now that my little climbing, rocking, banging, wild child can get around on two feet!

  Through all this, I did find some time to cook. I have made this butternut squash recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen several times now. It has become a regular side dish in our house. Every time I make it, it seems better than the last. This time, I served it with grilled pork tenderloin and grilled asparagus. Yummm!

  Rosemary-Balsamic Butternut Squash

2 lbs. butternut squash cubes (one large squash)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss squash cubes with olive oil, 1 Tbsp vinegar, rosemary, and salt&pepper. Arrange on baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 20 minutes, turn and roast about 20 more minutes.

Remove from oven and toss with additional vinegar ans salt&pepper.

(note: As with most dishes, I have never measured any of these ingredients. These are the measurements she gives in her recipe)

   For the pork tenderloin, I used some of the same flavors. The night before, I made a marinade with balsamic vinegar, chopped rosemary, garlic, crushed red pepper, and olive oil. I poked holes all over the tenderloin so the marinade could really sink in and marinated it overnight. I took it out of the fridge when Brian started the grill so it could come to room temp before cooking. He grilled it for about 30-40 minutes.

    

    

Creamy Ranch Pork Chili

I love making soups and stews this time of year.  I make some sort of soup almost every week during the winter. It is so nice to have something warm and comforting on a cold winter night. It also doesn't hurt that most are a cinch to prepare. This week, I thought soup would be a great way to use the leftovers from the other night when I made slow roasted pork shoulder. This recipe is kind of a cross between chili and brunswick stew, but it's creamy like a chowder. The original recipe is made in a slow cooker, but I cooked mine in a big pot on the stove. That's just my preference. If you prefer to use a slow cooker just skip the onion and garlic step, throw everything else in your slow cooker, and cook on low 6-8 hours.


Creamy Ranch Pork Chili
 adapted from Plain Chicken


1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic. minced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
3/4 cup chicken broth
1lb pork shoulder, shredded


Heat olive oil in a large pot over med/high heat. Add onion and garlic to pan and saute until translucent. Add remaining ingredients, except cream cheese, and stir to combine. Place cream cheese on top. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Stir cream cheese into chili and serve.

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

  

    We love, love, LOVE  pork shoulder (or Boston Butt) in this house. Brian always makes a dry rub for it and smokes it for hours on the smoker, basting it with homeade bar-b-que sauce. We serve it for a big group of family and friends with my famous white sauce. It is sooo good! That's why I was intrigued when I saw this recipe from NomNomPaleo for Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder. Roasting it in the oven with only vegetables and a simple rub, allowed the flavors of the pork to really come through and gave me the ability to serve it however I wanted. I served this with corn on the cob with herb butter and Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan. This dish made enough for two dinners in our family, so I will be using the leftovers for another meal.


Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder
(adapted from NomNomPaleo)

3lb boneless shoulder roast (boston butt)
dry rub of your choice (I just grab whatever looks good from my cabinet)
vegetables (I had onion, carrot, and garlic on hand)


The night before, season pork with your dry rub. Really work it in, showing it some love. Refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat your oven to 275 and let your pork come to room temperature. Cover a pan with foil and place your veggies on the foil with the roast on top of them. Wrap the veggies and roast in the foil. Put it in the oven and forget about it for at least 6 or 7 hours. ( I checked mine at this point with a meat thermometer and it was close to being done, so I unwrapped it and roasted it about another hour.) Your roast is done when it reaches 165 degrees and is fork tender. Yummm!

When it's done, pull it out of the oven and let it rest while you prepare the rest of your meal, at least 30 minutes. Then, pull it apart with your fingers or two forks.

You could use bbq sauce..or ranch...or whatever tickles your fancy. But it really doesn't need anything. We ate it plain.

I wanted simple sides to go with my simple roast. I wrapped corn on the cob in paper towels and microwaved them for 8 minutes. I chopped up some fresh herbs and stirred them into melted butter to brush over the top of the cooked corn.

We also had Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan which you can find here.


Voila!! Simple and delicious!