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Thursday Night Recipe Exchange: Spinach Recipes
Recipe Exchange cross-posted at Balloon-Juice.
I thought last week went really well. Thanks for playing along. This week we delve into spinach recipes. I used to hate spinach. This is probably because I am a child of the 70′s and the only spinach I ever saw was canned or frozen, with the consistency of slime. As an adult I discovered fresh, baby spinach and I never looked back. One of my favorite spinach recipes is Spinach Lasagna.
JeffreyW's stuffed manicotti with spinach
To get us started:
Spinach Lasagna
This is one of my most requested recipes. Every time I make it, someone wants the recipe. Since the prep time is long, I usually only break it out for special occasions. It freezes well, so you can make a double batch and freeze two 8×8 pans of uncooked lasagna for two more meals. Thaw the night before (in the refrigerator) and cook until heated through, about 45 minutes to an hour. This recipe is great vegetarian, or you can add ground beef and sausage if desired.
This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and another hour to cook. It easily serves 6 – 8
Sauce:
- 3-15 oz cans tomato sauce
- 2-6 oz cans tomato paste
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp oregano, crushed
- 3 tsp basil, crushed
- 3 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 medium carrot, peeled & finely grated
- pinch of sugar (reduces acidity of the tomatoes)
- Optional: ½ lb ground beef and ½ spicy Italian sausage, browned
Saucepan
Add all ingredients to saucepan on medium-high, stirring constantly until it begins to boil lightly. Turn to low and let simmer while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Lasagna:
- 1 pkg lasagna noodles (16 oz), cooked and placed in cool water until layering*
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 8 oz fresh baby spinach, washed and dried and chopped
- 1 egg
- 12 oz sliced mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
13×9 baking dish (I prefer glass), lightly oiled
To prepare: Mix ricotta, spinach and egg until well blended. Ladle a layer of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover in a single layer of noodles. Ladle sauce over noodles. Spoon ½ of the ricotta mixture evenly (if you place large dollops evenly like putting cookie dough on a baking sheet, fairly close together, it will spread as it cooks, no need to smooth it). Layer 1/3 of the mozzarella over the ricotta. Repeat: noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, noodles. On top of the last layer of noodles, add remaining sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovered – I like to place the baking dish on a baking sheet to catch any spills as it bubbles. Place knife through the center, if it comes out heated through, remove and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. If it needs more cooking time, you can cover with foil to keep the cheese from burning and cook 10 more minutes. Let stand uncovered before serving.
*if you’d like to make your own noodles, here is the recipe I use:
Lasagna Noodles
When I do make the pasta, I make three, pan-sized noodles, rolled very, very thin. I place them uncooked in the dish, so they absorbed much of the sauce. I usually make a bit extra sauce to serve on the side with the lasagna.
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
In a large bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center and add egg yolks, eggs and salt. Mix well with a fork. Mix in water, 1 tbsp at a time until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a well floured board or pastry sheet. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll one ball out as thin as possible (I use a marble rolling pin, you can also use a pasta machine). Make sure to cover remaining balls with a damp towel until ready to use. Cut to fit pan. Repeat with remaining dough until you have 3 pan sized noodles. DO NOT COOK homemade noodles before putting lasagna together. Follow directions above for putting lasagna together.
Next Week: Favorite Super Bowl Food
Thunder Snow and Sweet Potato Soup
We are once again under a severe winter snow warning. Blizzard conditions in some areas. It started out as rain then turned to snow. Along with the snow there was lots of thunder. They call it thunder snow – seems to happen during fall and spring snows.
Roads are bound to be an icy mess tomorrow. I’ll probably be working from home. Already made a batch of soup and am planning on a couple more batches of different varieties tomorrow to serve as lunches through the weekend.
This is one I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It’s a blended sweet potato soup. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Creamy Sweet Potato Tomato Soup
- 2 large tomatoes or 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 small zucchini, quartered
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 8 pieces each
- 1 large carrot, scrubbed, cut into quarters
- 1 apple, cored
- 2 cups vegetable broth – I prefer low sodium
- 2 cups water
- salt and pepper to taste
In blender, add all ingredients, except water. Blend until smooth, add water as needed. Add mixture to saucepan, along with water, salt and pepper. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with a crusty bread. Serves 4
Roasted Tomato Soup
Mrs J called and said she would be late coming home, seems they brought back a bunch of puppies and kittens from a local kill shelter and she will stay until they are squared away. I hope she has time to take some decent pictures.
Meanwhile, I made a batch of tomato soup from this recipe. It is a bit more complex than the easiest ever recipe from this morning but I will still give it an easy tag. I followed the recipe fairly closely with some minor mods-I added several tablespoons of tomato paste, a pinch of sugar and a splash of Marsala wine (h/t Kirk), and used fresh tomatoes rather than canned. The recipe lists basil and heavy cream as options, I didn’t use the cream, did use some basil.
Tomato soup just cries out for grilled cheese on the side. I sliced some French bread, spread garlic butter on the slices, and layered on some farmer’s and pepper jack cheeses. Mmm…grilled cheese.
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Mmm…ramen for lunch
Sigh, I just can’t quit you, Ms Ramen. Not that I’d want to. LOL!
Repaired a small leak in the basement this morning, a pin hole in a piece of copper water pipe. It was right over the kitty litter boxes and has ruined about a peck of litter. Mrs J has gone to the store for more and will stop at the grocery while she’s in town. Good chance to indulge my “hot” tooth with a generous squirt of sriracha sauce.
Just the basic ramen stir fry-this one with some roast pork that has been laying around. Added some carrot and broccoli, half an onion, a rib of celery and various condiment type ingredients: Garlic, peppers, ginger, etc. Yummy and quick.
I bought some pot stickers at the Asian grocery last trip, I may steam those tonight, and do something with shrimp. Mmm…shrimp.
Mmm…more ramen
I just love this stuff. It cooks quickly, the dishes are colorful, I can make them spicy to my heart’s content. I usually whip this dish up when Mrs J is off to the shelter. I don’t have to worry about not feeding her, or rather, fixing a spicy dish that she would refuse to eat.
This time I have some broccoli, a nice bit of those sweet Vidalia onions, some shredded carrot, the last of my dried shiitake mushrooms (note to self: get more), shrimp, and some dried red chilies to go with the noodles.
While the noodles boil, stir fry the veggies and the peppers in hot chili oil, toss in some ground szechuan peppercorns for a little extra kick. I made a quick sauce of chicken stock, corn starch, chili paste, ginger paste, and some minced garlic, leaving out the soy sauce this time. Add the shrimp to warm, drain the noodles and dump them in and stir about to coat everything.
Mmm…spicy noodle stir fry
This dish is so easy…
Boil the ramen and meanwhile stir fry some veggies in some chili oil. I tossed in some pre-cooked shrimp to warm at the end, drained and added the noodles, and then plated. This iteration of the dish has most of a sliced sweet onion, some shredded carrot, a few broccoli florets, some celery and green onion. I finished it off with some generic stir fry sauce and a healthy squeeze of Sriracha hot sauce.
Ramen!
I roasted a pork butt last night, made a few sammiches, packed 2 one quart mason jars with meat and broth and pressure canned those. I think of them as instant pozole. Had a little bit left over and browsed some recipes for soups with pork in them. Found this one with the engaging title: “Asian Ramen Noodle Soup“. I think the title could have been reduced to the one word-”ramen”. Heh, but who iz I ta quibble over words n stuff. LOL
I pretty much followed the recipe, adding some shredded cabbage and some julienned carrot. If this hadn’t been intended for Mrs J as well as myself I would have really jazzed it with some more heat-peppercorns, more red pepper flakes.
Enjoy!
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Slowcooker Meal: Molho Beef
Molho is Portuguese for gravy and this dish makes its own. I don’t remember where I came upon this recipe, but I enjoy it and it’s nice to come home to at the end of a busy day. It’s like a beef stew, but with exotic flavoring.
Molho Beef
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 pieces (1 lb) thinly sliced steak (round steak, breakfast steaks, eye steaks – the tougher cuts)
- 1 onion, sliced in rings
- 2 large tomatoes, sliced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 4 potatoes, thick slices
- ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp crushed garlic
- ¼ tsp allspice
- dash of cinnamon
Slow-Cooker
This is a layering dish. Add oil to Slow-Cooker. Layer ¼ steak, ¼ onion, ¼ tomatoes, ¼ carrots, ¼ potatoes in Slow-Cooker, repeat 4 times. Mix together water, soy sauce, garlic, allspice & cinnamon and pour over mixture. Cook according to manufacturer’s directions, usually about 8 to 10 hours on low.
More Stir Fry
Most of the fun cooking these things is coming up with a sauce. I had lots of fun today. Started with a cup of chicken stock, poured in some sesame oil, about a tablespoon. I have some tamarind paste that has been skulking in the refrigerator door for months. I scooped about two tablespoons into the mix. Added half a tablespoon of ginger root paste. A few dried red peppers. Hmm…need some corn starch, two tablespoons ought to do it. A splash of dark soy sauce, maybe a tablespoon. Two tablespoons of hoisin sauce. Maybe some Splenda for sweetness? Yup…maybe two tablespoons. Ah, some dry sherry, another glug added. OK, simmer for a bit, set aside. It’ll be the last thing to go into the pan. I’ll let the pictures do the rest.
Enjoy!
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Pickled Daikon/Carrot Garnish
While surfing around the other day looking at various sammiches, a Vietnamese street favorite caught my eye. It is a banh mi, based on a small loaf that is split from the top and stuffed with various meats and veggies. I’ll get to the sammich recipes some other day, today I want to talk about what seems to be a necessary garnish: Pickled daikon and carrot. Daikon is a long white radish-looks like a huge albino carrot. I wish I had thought to take a before picture of the one I chopped up just now. There are plenty of pickle recipes online, I found the one I used here. It has plenty of pictures so I don’t feel too bad. There are plenty of links on that page to find sammich recipes, I’ll look at some of those when I get around to making them. The veggies need 3-5 days to get right.
TaMara
jeffreyww
LFern7
indylib
