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]
The atypical traditional German Zwiebelkuchen (Onion Tart). OK, that sounds rather contradictory, eh? Here is the thing: the recipe is traditional. Onions, Speck, Paprika and Nutmeg. And yes, while it looks a little like a quiche, it only has one egg in it. In Swabia (the Southwestern part of Germany nearest to the French and Swiss borders), this Zwiebelkuchen is often eaten in the fall and is a great accompaniment to new wines.
But why atypical? Well, my presentation, actually. While it certainly is possible that a cast iron pan was used at some point in the history of Zwiebelkuchen-making, it is more often made in a tart pan with a removable bottom or even as a square on a regular Backblech. Also, I am quite sure that no one bothers to cut out many little leaves, cut patterns in them and then glue them to the edge. So there. Typical German recipe. Typical me presentation. All good. Well, would have been better if that one side of the crust didn’t decide to take a nose dive into the filling, but imperfection is perfection.
And yet another lucky foodie idea: eating fish on New Year’s Eve/Day. I’ve heard many different reasons why fish is supposed to be lucky — everything from that the scales look like coins (wealth), that they swim in schools (abundance) and that they swim forwards (moving ahead). New Englanders (and people in Scandinavia, Italy, Brazil, etc) are known to eat the (sacred) cod … more on cod some other time. Some people advocate that is it because of cod that the world is what it is today — bit of a stretch in my opinion, but whatever. In Germany, there is the tradition of Silvesterkarpfen (New Years Carp), but also herring (also a Polish tradition) is an option.
Me? Well, I don’t have any carp or herring, but I love smoked salmon, so here we have a quick appetizer of smoked salmon with dill mascapone, on homemade knekkebrod. The Knekkebrod is a cracker like bread (no fat or leavening) with sunflower, sesame and flax seeds. Yummy like this or even just with a schmear of cream cheese.
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.