Lasagne with zucchini, ricotta, and tomato sauce

I made this one all out of season, but it's a good one to have standing by when zucchini season hits in earnest. This is a great way to use your zucchini. I didn't think I'd like this lasagne very much, but it was really tasty. The nuts made a really terrific texture and flavor along with the zucchini and tomatoes. I took it to a potluck and everyone seemed to love it. As lasagnas go it was quite easy, especially since you use no-boil lasagne noodles. It does take 40 minutes to cook in the oven, but not too long to put together.

Let's Get Started

Preheat the oven to 350º. Oil a 9x12 pan, or two smaller pans. I usually use 2 smaller pans for just the two of us, and then we have a lasagna in the freezer for another night.

Make the tomato sauce. I used a 28 oz can of Muir Glen whole peeled tomatoes, and I felt that this didn't quite make enough sauce. The recipe called for fresh sauce, but it was the wrong season. Canned turned out REALLY tasty. You can use diced, crushed, or whole tomatoes.

To make tomato sauce from canned tomatoes, heat 1 T. olive oil in a skillet with 1 sliced garlic clove. When you smell the garlic, add the tomatoes with their juices and a good sized pinch of dried marjoram or oregano crushed between your fingers. (I used basil that I had dried myself. That worked well, too.) Cook over medium-high heat, smashing the tomatoes against the pan to break up the larger chunks. After 5 minutes or so (whenever it feels like it is a sauce), stir in 1 teaspoon tomato paste to deepen the flavor. Taste for salt and season with pepper.

To make tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes, put 2 1/2 pounds whole unpeeled tomatoes (plum types work best) in a heavy pan with 1 shallot or 1/2 small onion, finely diced, and 1 sliced garlic clove. Cover and cook over medium-high heat. The tomatoes will give up their juices pretty quickly, but keep an eye on them and add a smidge of water if the pan gets too dry. After about 20 minutes the tomatoes will have thoroughly broken down. Pass them through a food mill to get rid of the skins and seeds. (If you don't have a food mill then you should skin and seed the tomatoes first.) Return the pot to the stove and cook over low heat, stirring frequently until it is as thick as you want. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 1 T. (or more) olive oil.

While the tomato sauce is cooking, stir a little salt and pepper into 1 pound ricotta cheese (preferably whole-milk ricotta.) If the ricotta is very densely textured, you can thin it with a little water.

Trim 2 1/2 pounds small zucchini, and cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half into diagonal slices as thinly as possible. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, add zucchini, and cook over medium-high, stirring frequently until it glistens and is tender - about 5 minutes.

Finely chop 1 cup of pine nuts or walnuts, or a mixture. Cut 1/2 pound fresh mozzarella into very small pieces (or grate it if you can do that without making it into a mush - I can't.) Grate 1 cup parmesan or pecorino cheese. Have no-boil lasagne noodles standing by.

You now have all the ingredients ready for your lasagna. First spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in the bottom of the prepared pan. Lay 3 no-boil lasagne noodles over the sauce. Cover with 1/3 of the ricotta, dot with 1/3 of the nuts, and cover with 1/3 of the zucchini. Season with salt and pepper, then cover with 1/2 cup tomato sauce, 1/4 of the mozzarella, and a sprinkling of parmesan. Add another layer of noodles and repeat the layering. Cover the final layer of pasta with the remaining tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan.

Tent the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Things I'd Do Differently Next Time - I'd like to try this with fresh tomatoes next time, especially when they are ripe at the same time as the zucchini.

Approximate Cost to Prepare

28 oz can tomato sauce - $2.00 - 4.00 OR

8 roma or plum tomatoes - $2.00 - $4.00

1 pound ricotta cheese - $4.00 for the good stuff

2 1/2 pounds small zucchini - $2.00 (free in the summer from your neighbors)

1 8-oz package no-boil lasagne - $2.00 (I didn't use the whole box, so maybe less)

1 c. finely chopped pine nuts or walnuts - pine nuts are much more expensive than walnuts, but I'm guessing $4.00 for a mixture

1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese - $2.50

1 c. freshly grated parmesan - $1.50

TOTAL for a big lasagna (6-8 people) - $19.00 (more or less depending on your ingredients)

Feta and Ricotta Cheese Skillet Pie

This dish is simple, fast and delicious. Add a salad or a bowl of soup and you've got a quick weeknight meal. I've made it several times now, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about it. The dish is handsome enough for company, especially if you have a cast iron skillet, which I don't. I think it is pretty enough for company even if you cook it in a plain dish. I usually cook it in a skillet that I can put in my oven. It is also high in protein, thanks to cheeses and eggs. It's so fast that you literally have to wait for your oven to warm up. It's also quite forgiving about the quantities. When I made it yesterday, I only had about 1/2 pound feta, and 2/3 pound ricotta, so I just used fewer eggs to get a consistency I thought would work.

Let's Get Started

Preheat the oven to 375º. Butter a 10" cast iron skillet or an earthenware baking dish.

In a bowl, mix 1/2 pound feta cheese and 1 pound ricotta cheese. You want some chunks left, so don't mix for too long. Stir in 4-6 eggs. Then add 1/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup milk. Season with salt and pepper, and 1 T. chopped dill.

Pour the batter into the buttered pan or dish. Crumble 1/4 pound feta over the top. Bake until golden, 35-40 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

Sweet Souffled Ricotta Cakes

I made these delicious little pancakes for Easter brunch with my sweetie. They don't have any sugar in them, so they are only sweet if you put jam or syrup on them at the end. You could take these in a savory direction as well. They are made with ricotta cheese which makes them substantial, but then the folded in egg whites makes them like little clouds. So yummy. I wish I hadn't made so many other things for Easter brunch so I could have eaten more of these. Next time we'll try them for dinner. These are excellent with champagne punch.

Here's how to make them.

Melt 3 T. butter in a skillet. Turn off heat when melted. Beat 1 cup ricotta with 3 egg yolks until smooth, then stir in 1/2 cup milk and the melted butter. Then stir in 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 t. salt. Stir to make a smooth batter. Stir in 1 t. vanilla extract and a little nutmeg.

Whisk the 3 egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Fold them into the batter.

Reheat the skillet that you melted the butter in. Drop 1/4 cup dollops in the pan. Cook over medium heat until golden on the bottom. Turn and cook the other side. Don't pat them down because you want them to stay light and fluffy. Serve with jam, preserves, maple syrup, sour cream, or applesauce.

Things I'd do differently next time: They were really difficult to turn when making several small ones in the same pan. I think I'd make them regular pancake size next time. I made the batter in my stand mixer, which made it super easy. I also whipped the egg whites in there - no effort at all. Yay for the stand mixer. I love it.

Approximate cost to prepare:
1 cup ricotta - $3.50 (the good stuff)
3 eggs - $1.20
1/2 cup milk - $.25 (organic)
3 T. butter - $.30 (regular, organic is about double that)
1/2 c. flour, salt, 1 t. vanilla, dash nutmeg - negligible
TOTAL cost for 4 people - $5.25

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

January 20th, 2010

Well, I finally made a meal in under 30 minutes, thanks to Rachel Ray. I made stuffed portobello mushrooms for dinner and are they ever scrumptious. The recipe is here:

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=1055

She actually includes 2 dishes in this recipe - stuffed portobellos and bread salad with tomatoes. Since tomatoes aren't in season, I just made the stuffed portobellos and a salad. I also served leftover green rice from the day before.

Since I was only making this recipe for 2 people, I had leftover artichoke and spinach filling. I think I'm going to try making some hand-made ravioli. I make pasta by hand quite often, but I've never tried ravioli before. I'll let you know how it goes.

The portobellos were fast, easy, and really tasty. You start by trimming and preparing your portobello, which usually includes scraping out the gills, but I didn't bother this time and they were really delicious. You oil the top side of the portobello and put it in the oven for 8 minutes or so. While it is cooking on that side, you combine frozen spinach (thawed), artichoke hearts, ricotta cheese, 1 egg yolk, one clove of garlic, and a little nutmeg, salt, and pepper. You then flip the portobellos over, and stuff them, and add a small handful of grated parmesan on top. Put them back in the oven for about 5 minutes. That's it.

They were juicy and delicious. With a salad, you've got a quick meal.

Approximate cost to prepare:
2 portobello mushrooms - 3.50
1 can artichoke hearts (organic) - 4.00
10 ounces frozen spinach (organic) - 2.00
1 egg yolk - .25
1 1/2 cups ricotta - 3.00
garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg - negligible
1/4 cup parmesan - 1.00 (I found paremsan for $5.00/pound, which is unusual)
TOTAL - $13.75 However...

This was supposed to make 8 mushrooms. I counted the cost to make the stuffing for the full recipe, but only the cost of 2 portobellos. If you were making 8 of these, you would need to add another $10.00 or so for 6 more portobellos.