Mashed Potatoes and Root Vegetables

This dish is weird, but in a good way. My notes say "unusual change of pace" but I would make it again. I don't use parsnips often, so this was fun.

Preparation Time: about an hour, mostly boiling stuff

Ingredients:
4 tbsp unsalted butter

8 ounces carrots, parsnips, turnips, or celery root cut up into chunks

1.5 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, cut up into chunks, rinsed 3-4 times in cold water

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

table salt

3/4 cup half-and-half

3 tbsp minced fresh chives

pepper

Directions:

1: melt butter. add root vegetables. cook until vegetables browned and caramelized (10-12 minutes).

2: add potatoes, broth, and 3/4 tsp salt. Cook covered on low heat (do not boil) stirring occasionally until everything's soft and crumbly (20-30 minutes). Cook uncovered a final 2 minutes to dry things out a bit.

3: mash gently; fold in half-and-half and chives; season with salt and pepper

Source: America's Test Kitchen
Servings: 4

Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups reduced-fat cream-style cottage cheese
15 ounces reduced-fat ricotta cheese
1-1/2 teaspoons crushed Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 to 1 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups skim milk
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach or broccoli, thawed, drained
1 medium carrot, shredded
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste
9 oven-ready lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup marinara sauce

Directions:
Beat the eggs lightly in a medium bowl. Stir in the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and Italian seasoning. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, onion and garlic. Saute until tender. Stir in the flour and pepper. Add the milk. Cook until thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly. Cook for 1 minute longer.

Remove from heat. Stir in the spinach, carrot, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and salt.

Layer one-third of the spinach mixture and one-third of the noodles in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Layer the cottage cheese mixture, the remaining spinach mixture, mozzarella cheese, Cheddar cheese and remaining noodles one-half at a time over the layers. Spread the marinara sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until heated through. Let stand for 10 minutes
before serving.

Note: You may assemble the lasagna, cover with foil and chill for up to 48 hours before baking. To freeze, wrap the unbaked lasagna tightly with foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. To serve, bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 35 to 40 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Source: DailyInbox
Servings: 10 - 12

Sweet Potato Ravioli

These are a bit of work, but quite tasty as a gourmet treat.

Preparation Time: Quite a bit.  Depends on how quick your fingers are.

Ingredients:
Dough:
4 eggs, beaten
¾ cup water
3 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt

Filling:
1 large sweet potato baked, cooled and mashed, about 1 cup
1 cup Parmigiano cheese grated
2-3 tablespoons prosciutto chopped
1 egg, yolk only
2-3 tablespoons Italian parsley chopped
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
Salt, pepper to taste

Directions:
Dough:
In a bowl, mix the eggs, water, 2 cups flour, and salt. Gradually mix in the remaining flour until smooth. Divide dough into 2 parts. Cover, and set aside in the refrigerator 20 minutes.  Roll the two parts into sheets of desired thickness.

Ravioil:
Place the baked, cooled and mashed sweet potato in a bowl and add the grated cheese, prosciutto, egg yolk, parsley, the nutmeg, salt and pepper, and mix. This may be prepared ahead. Make the ravioli, by laying down one of the sheets and dotting it with 2-teaspoon mounds of filling about 2 inches apart (don't be stingy). Lay a second sheet over the first, tamp down gently around the filling to join the two sheets together and cut the ravioli free with a serrated pastry wheel. Continue laying down and dotting sheets until the filling is used up.

These are wonderful boiled for a couple of minutes and then fried in an herb butter.

Source: About.com
Servings: 2 for entree.  More for side.

Vegetarian Due Tomorrow

Next Week's Topic:  Chicken.

Any votes for the following?

Chana Masala

Spiced chick peas are delicious. I have been working on finding the ultimate Chana Masala recipe. This is one of my favorites and makes it to my table fairly regularly. This recipe has a lot of spices. I bought mine at an international food store and the investment has led to lots of tasty meals.


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon flavorless oil like vegetable oil or grapeseed oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced (I use 3-4)
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 fresh, hot green chili pepper, minced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used a quarter of this because my cayenne is extremely hot)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tablespoon amchoor powder (this is mango powder you can use 1/2 a lemon juiced if you can't find this)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small
2/3 cup water
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon (juiced)

Directions:
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onions fry for a couple of minutes then add garlic, ginger and pepper. Continue to saute until browned about 5 minutes.

Turn heat to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, amchoor (if using it), paprika and garam masala.

Cook for a minute or two until the spices become fragment and smell less raw. Then add tomatoes, and any juices. Scrape any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.


Source: Smitten Kitchen
Servings: 3-4

Vegetable Risotto

Great filling meal and really easy to make. Its a good comfort food for a cold night. 

Preparation Time: 45 minutes 

Ingredients:
olive oil
2 finely chopped yellow onions
1 Tbs of minced garlic
1 lb of arborio
1/2 cup white wine
32 to 48 ounces of vegetable stock heated up
salt and black pepper to taste
Sauteed asparagus and peppers

Directions:
In a medium saucepan coat with oil and sweat onions and garlic on medium heat. Season and add rice and saute for 3 to 5 minutes. Add wine and let rice completely absorb. lowly add the hot stock one ladle at a time while stirring. The rice needs to completely absorb the stock before another ladle is added. The risotto is done when creamy texture is achieved. In a separate pan saute asparagus and peppers till they are cooked and place veggies on top of risotto.

Source: Food Network and tweaks by myself
Servings: 4 servings

Seasoned Shredded Leeks

A sharp dish to pair with heavy meat dishes. We had this with bulgogi 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 leek

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Directions:
Get rid of the top green part of the leek.

Cut the leek in half lengthwise and rinse throughly.

Cut the leek into thin matchstick strips.

Soak the leek for 2 minutes

Pat dry.

Toss in sesame oil and red pepper flakes.

Source: Chung's Korean Kitchen
Servings: 4

Spinach and Artichoke Mac N Cheese

I was hesitant about making this recipe at first, but was hoping it was impossible to mess up macaroni and cheese! This dish is very easy to make, a great alteration from your typical macaroni and cheese, and so delicious!

Preparation Time: 20 minutes prep time, 50 minutes cook time

Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat penne

2 tbsp EVOO

3 tbsp butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated

3 tbsp flour

1/2 cup white wine

2 cups milk

Freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/4 tsp (we didn't use fresh and it tasted great!)

(1) 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and wrung dry in a kitchen towel

(1) 10 oz. box frozen chopped artichokes, defrosted and wrung dry in a kitchen towel

Salt & Pepper

1-1/2 cups shredded Italian Fontina cheese, plus additional for sprinkling on top

1-1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus additional for sprinkling on top

(We substituted both cheeses with smoked gouda and sharp cheddar - delicious!)

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta, salt water and cook pasta to al dente.

While the pasta water comes to a boil, place a medium pot over medium-low heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons, and the butter. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook the veggies until very soft, about 10 minutes. Then heat the broiler and position rack in the middle of the oven. (We just baked it at 375 degrees for approximately the same time)

Turn the heat up to medium-high and sprinkle the flour into the pan. Cook for about 1 minute then whisk the wine into the pan, cooking for another minute to burn off the alcohol. Whisk the milk into the pan and bring up to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, spinach, artichokes, salt and pepper to the sauce and simmer until thickened and vegetables are warmed through, 2-3 minutes more. Add 1 cup of each of the cheeses to the sauce and stir until melted.

Toss the prepared sauce with the cooked pasta and transfer to a casserole dish. Sprinkle some more Fontina and Parmigiano over the top and bake until the cheese ha melted and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

*You can easily substitute either of the cheeses for something you like might better. Any cheese that melts well should work fine! If you'd like this to be a one dish meal, you could also add more vegetables to the pan in the first step, such as diced carrots or red peppers. For the non-vegetarians, you can easily add diced chicken to this dish to satisfy your appetite!

Source: Rachael Ray Show
Servings: 4-6