Broccoli Bacon Salad

This salad is incredibly un-healthy. I know, not my usual, but my fiance loves it and requests it every time he's down. I'm making it slightly healthier every time, so we'll get there but here it is so far. I highly recommend making the night ahead.

The pictured salad has a three dashes of Chinese black vinegar, no mozzarella, and honey vs granulated sugar (I find it combines easier with the dressing) but other than that it is the exact recipe below.

Broccoli Bacon Salad
adapted from food.com

Ingredients:
- 2.5 lbs. fresh broccoli florets, chopped small (I recommend Costco bag of florets)
- 1 cup sweet red onion, chopped small
- 1/2 lb. bacon
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 4 oz. mozzarella, shredded

Instructions:
1. Cook in microwave until slightly firm, then chop bacon into 1/2" pieces. Drain fat.
2. Mix together broccoli, onions, bacon, and mozzarella in a large bowl.
3. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, sugar, and mayo.
4. Pour mayo mixture over broccoli and stir well to coat.
5. Let marinate overnight in refrigerator before serving.

Radish Carrot Top Pesto Lasagna with Sage Infused Béchamel and Pan-roasted Carrots and Kale

On my recent locavore mission, I've been going to my local farmer's market on Saturdays and buying the fresh, local, in-season produce there, with ambitious goals to . But then throughout the week I find I have no time, energy or even drive to cook and get to the next weekend with a fridge full of not-as-fresh produce giving me the pouty-face for wasting their best days sitting in a cold waiting room. It really is a tragedy.

 This time, though, I didn't let that happen: I used ALL the local produce I had. Every last bit. I would have to say this is actually the most locally-based then I've ever made. If I had gotten the freshly-ground flour that can be found at the local Hy-vee and made the lasagna noodles, it would have been pretty much pure-local. Radishes, carrots, and kale from my local farmer's market, sage from my garden (my first garden produce of the year, from my first truly-mine garden!), milk, cream, and butter from Shatto, and Kansas City-made mozzarella from Hautly Cheese Company. This is light and hearty at the same time, and tastes just like spring.

Radish Carrot Top Pesto Lasagna with Sage Infused Béchamel and Pan-roasted Carrot Purée and Kale

Ingredients:
12 lasagna noodles
1 recipe raddish and carrot top pesto (below)
1 recipe sage-infused béchamel (recipe here)
1 recipe ricotta (recipe here)
1 bunch carrots
herb for carrots (I used rosemary)
1 Tbs. butter
salt, pepper
1 bunch kale
8 oz. mozzarella, grated
2 oz. Parmesan, grated

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375F. 
2.. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
3. While water boils, melt butter in a cast-iron skillet on medium-heat. Add carrots and pan-roast with herb of choice, and sprinkle with salt.
4. Place a plate over the pan and cook until carrots are softened, stirring occasionally. When soft, food-process (adding oil if needed) until a purée is formed. Cover and set aside until assembly.
5. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. While cooking, make raddish and carrot-top pesto below.
6. Pour the lasagna water into a bowl with the washed kale, and let kale soak for a minute until kale is softened. Strain and squeeze as much liquid out of the kale as possible, and set aside.
7. Butter the lasagna dish, and assemble the lasagna: Pour 1/4 of the béchamel on the bottom of the pan. 
- Lay 4 noodles across the pan, slightly overlapping if need be. 
- Spread a layer of 1/2 the carrot purée, half the ricotta, half the carrot top pesto, half the kale, spreading out the leaves, and another 1/4th of the béchamel
Repeat above 2 bullet points for the next layer. Place remaining lasagna noodles on top, then remaining 1/4th of the béchamel on top and evenly sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmesan on top. 
8. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until cheese on top starts to get golden-brown and bubbly. Remove from oven.
9. Let lasagna sit and set for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Raddish and Carrot-top Pesto
2 cups mixed carrot and/or radish tops, stems chopped off
1/3 cup toasted walnuts
2 - 4 Tbs. oil, as needed
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until they are completely ground.
2. Add the tops and process until completely chopped, scraping down the sides as needed.
3. Process again, slowly adding oil until a nice paste is formed. Add salt and pepper to taste and put aside in a covered bowl until assembling lasagna.

Pumpkin Lasagna with Sage-infused Bechamel

This lasagna is a show-stopper. It's what I served at my first official dinner party:

My Bosnian family was moving to Boston (far away from the KC-area!) and one of our mutual friends had a small get-together where we all had snacks and celebrated our Bosnian family.

The Bosnian mother brought a beautiful gelatin cake on of her co-workers made for her. It was from a moulde, but it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen food-wise. I broken vegetarian-edge for it *gasp!*

All the flowers were completely suspended within this thing, and it was 100% edible and (somehow) 100% gelatin-based food-stuffs, with the most delicate flavorings.

The mother is all about local, organic, seasonal natural-foods and since that's been my focus as of late, I proposed that night that I throw a dinner party the following day, as I thought I could whip up something everyone would enjoy : D

Appetizers:
Butternut Squash Tahini Dip with fresh locally-made pita bread (Olive Cafe)

Salad:
Citrus, Feta, Walnut Salad (without the squash)

Entree:
Pumpkin Lasagna (recipe shown below)
Blanched Green Beans with walnuts, walnut oil, and light salt

Desert:
Pear Almond Tart

I was pretty proud of myself after this dinner, not gonna lie. All in my mother's beautiful home and on her nice china (since they both live a few blocks away from each other in the burbs and my apartment is hardly of the dinner-party accommodating size) Though this has made me realize: I'm getting old. I'm addicted to NPR, I seriously enjoy throwing dinner parties, and I'm out-of-my-gourd excited to start working and being completely independent and responsible for myself. But if this is what getting old feels like, SIGN ME UP!

The picture shown above is a re-make (I was far too busy cooking and entertaining to take pictures at the time of the lasagna or the other dishes I made for the dinner), and I made it for my roommate from my Indian study abroad program when I visited her in her family home on Long Island, NY. It was beautiful and snowy, the perfect background for this winter-squash lasagna.

The original recipe calls for the pumpkin to be pureed, but I like it in layered strips for texture-sake. Also: you aren't limited to pumpkin, pretty much any squash would do. My original make of this lasagna was with pumpkin, the second one (featured above) is using butternut squash, as pumpkin was unavailable at the time.

Pumpkin Lasagna with Sage-infused Béchamel
from Gobo Root

Ingredients:
12 lasagna noodles
4 cups sage infused béchamel (recipe below)
1 pumpkin, peeled, sliced thinly, oiled, salted, and roasted
1.5 cups ricotta (recipe here)
1 large bunch Swiss chard, washed and leaves separated from stem
1 cup Parmesan, grated
1 cup mozzarella, shredded

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375F. Cook noodles according to package instructions. Reserve cooking water and dunk Swiss chard into the water for a few minutes.
2.  Squeeze excess moisture from the chard and cut into 1" pieces. Set aside.
3. In the bottom of the baking dish, spread evenly 1/4th of the béchamel. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce.
4. Top with 1/2 of the pumpkin slices, then 1/2 the ricotta, then half the Swiss chard and another 1/4th béchamel.
5. Repeat with second layer: 4 more lasagna noodles, last 1/2 of pumpkin slices, last 1/2 of ricotta, and last of swiss chard and last 1/4th of béchamel.
6. Lay remaining 4 lasagna noodles over the top, and sprinkle with parmesan and mozzarella evenly.
7. Bake until top is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Sage-infused Béchamel
makes 4 cups

Ingredients:
4 cups milk
6 Tbs. butter
6 Tbs. flour
a sprig of sage
salt and pepper
ground nutmeg

Instructions:
1. Place milk and sage in a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl to let stand for 10 minutes. Discard leaves.
2. While milk is standing, melt butter in the sauce pan over low heat. Sprinkle in flour and stir quickly until flour has completely combined with butter. Let bubble for a few minutes until roux starts to smell nutty.
3. Turn heat up to medium and slowly add in sage-infused milk, whisking constantly.
4. Let sauce cook until thickened, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
5. Remove from heat and cover.

Insalata Caprese

Seriously one of my favorite summer-time things to make. But, even though it's mid winter, it was time to make this because I finally got around to making the balsamic reduction I've always wanted to! This makes a great light meal with a ramekin of potato gratin, hunk of baguette, and a glass of white wine.

Insalata Caprese

Ingredients:
2 large ripe tomatoes (or large cherry tomatoes), sliced 1/3" thick
1 handful basil leaves (roughly torn if using cherry tomatoes)
1 mozzarella ball, cut into 1/4" slices (then quartered if using cherry tomatoes)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar (or 1 tsp. balsamic reduction, recipe here)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions:
1. Arrange caprese salad: tomato slice, leaf of basil, mozzarella, repeat, in a centric circle.
2. Drizzle olive oil over salad, following the pattern. Same with balsamic. Grate fresh pepper over salad, and serve.

Stuffed Shells

Sin-fully delicious. I did this recipe once upon a time with whipped cottage cheese, but this version with the (home-made) ricotta is far superior. Serve 3 - 4 shells each with a light side salad.

Stuffed Shells

adapted from Healthy Food for Living
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups ricotta cheese (recipe here)
1 Tbs. butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
9 oz. fresh spinach (4 cups tightly packed)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 1/2 cup marinara sauce, divided
1 cup shredded mozzarella

16 jumbo shells

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add shells, and cook for 10 minutes (until al dente), then strain and set aside.
3. Heat butter in a skillet on medium heat, then add garlic and saute for 30 sec. Add all spinach, and cook until all spinach is wilted, stirring often.
4. In a bowl, combine whipped cottage cheese, sauteed spinach, salt, pepper, Italian seasonings, egg, and Parmesan cheese. Combine well.
5. In a cake pan, spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce evenly over the bottom.
6. Take a shell, open up (like a coin purse), and fill with the cottage cheese mixture. When stuffed, place into cake pan. Repeat process until all shells are filled. Cover with remaining marinara sauce, and sprinkle the mozzarella over the top.
7. Bake for 35 mins.