Cold and Snowy outside? Comfort food inside! Spinach Mushroom Lasagna to the rescue!
Note: as often is the case, the recipe is for a “full lasagna” (like about a 9 x 13 casserole dish), but pictured is a somewhat smaller version… you know, being single and all, and while I love lasagna, I don’t want to eat it for a week!
Note Two: Greater Boston got virtually no snow that hit the Mid-Atlantic. I was just looking for another excuse to make lasagna. [grin]
Taking photos of some of my savory dishes is hard. I mean, this is just shredded beef short ribs, so not exactly the prettiest thing to take a picture of. But Oh-My-Goodness are they amazing. This is an America’s Test Kitchen recipe and it takes hours to make in a really low-and-slow braise, but it is sweet and savory and really yummy. Broccoli is options, but also pretty yummy. In fact, you could stick this in a burger bun and make a really fine shredded beef sandwich, Asian-style. Note: This is pretty much a verbatim recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. Have to give props where props are due.
One of the things that I love about Germany (or I guess lots of places other than Boston), is that you have better access to wild game in restaurants. I love boar and venison (and bear, and elk, and moose, though you can get out west in the Rockies and such). And when I was just in Munich last week, I had a great Wild Boar Goulash. This is my version of that and it is really really good. Time consuming, as most stews are, but that was just an excuse to smell it all afternoon.
I’ve been working on perfecting some “from scratch” and quick lunch recipes. This one is almost from scratch (meaning, I used puff pastry so that was store bought, but everything else was from scratch). A little less than 40 minutes from “still in the fridge” (though you do need to take out the puff from the freezer) to “completely devoured”. Plus that includes the photography time. I did burn my mouth though from one of the tomatoes bursting. I probably should have waiting a few more minutes before eating, but I was hungry.
This is a great tart for this time of the year when cherry tomatoes are so plentiful in the garden and at the farmer’s markets, but actually can be made year round because cherry toms are reliably decent even at other times of the year.
There is something very comforting about potatoes. So simple, so homey. But you can easily dress them up too, and that is what this recipe does: moves them from comfort potatoes to “cool looking special occasion potatoes”. They are tiny (about the size of a large marble, or a quarter). If you can’t find them at a farmer’s market, they also sell them in 1 pound nets at Trader Joes. Add shallot, thyme, lemon and salt/pepper to some butter, and voila. Yummy. And comforting.