Spicy Turkey Lasagna

I just recently discovered HBO Go and Showtime Anytime. I can watch all of my favorite shows, any season, anytime I want. Obsessed. Naturally this discovery deserved a good marathon accompanied by a bottle of wine and food. Since I chose Sopranos, lasagna was the natural choice.

I'm not normally a huge fan of lasagna. There always seems to be a  unpleasantly dry and somewhat tasteless layer of ricotta, which is a big turn off. The noodles always seem to be off on their own, sliding around as you try to eat. Like the whole layered thing immediately falls apart when in hits your plate. Recently I had some lasagna at my favorite Italian place. There was none of that happening. Everything was all happily getting along, being delicious and moist.

Part of it may have been the homemade noodles and the way it was layered. The homemade noodles aren't necessary  but do make this dish. Everything else comes together really quickly, but the noodles take a little work. You'll get a good arm workout though. Can't complain about that. The noodles come out perfectly al dente. They aren't pre-cooked, cooking instead in the sauce and filling. Perfectly melded sauce and noodle situation.

If you have a pasta machine, go ahead and use that instead of a rolling pin. The difference with really be arm workout or not. The sheets also won't be as wide, but most of mine weren't anyways. Don't panic when your sheets aren't a perfect 9 x 13 rectangle. Just think rustic lasagna. Cut them up to fit appropriately.

I'm not sure what the "normal" way of layering lasagna is because I've never made it. The majority of recipes I looked at had layers of ricotta all by its lonesome. Easy solution was to not do that. It worked. No dry ricotta bits in this lasagna. Ricotta is sort of bland too, which doesn't help its situation. Mixing the ricotta with the mozzarella  Parmesan and basil, I like to think also made a big difference. All together it is a little piece of heaven.

Ingredients:
Homemade lasagna noodles:
2 1/4 cups flour
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1. In a food processor, combine the flour, eggs and salt. Pulse several times until the dough resembles medium crumbs (if the dough seems too moist, add a 1/4 cup flour).
2. Turn out the dough onto a clean, dry, flour-dusted work surface. Gather the dough together and knead it until it comes together and is smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rest for at least 10 minutes or up to 2 hours. Remove from fridge 5-10 minutes before rolling out, into your desired form.

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds spicy Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 large onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon (generous) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 28-ounce and 1 14-ounce crushed tomatoes

Filling:
3/4 ounce package fresh basil leaves
1 15-ounce container plus 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Topping:
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (about 12 ounces)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)

Instructions:
Sauce:

1. Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion, garlic, oregano and red pepper and saute until sausage is cooked through, mashing sausage into small pieces, about 10 minutes.
2. Add crushed tomatoes. Bring sauce to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season with salt and pepper.

Filling:

1. Using on/off turns, chop fresh basil leaves finely in a food processor. Add ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan  egg, 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Using on/off turns, process filling until just blended and texture is still chunky.

Assembly:

1. To make the lasagna noodles, divide the dough into 3 equal balls. Using a rolling pin, flatten the ball out from the center to the outer edge. Keep rolling out the dough, rotating the dough one-quarter turn as you go. Flip the dough over once or twice and be sure to lightly flour the surface to prevent sticking. Continue rolling out the dough until it reaches a 1/16-inch thick, or until it becomes transparent enough to read through.
2. The sheets of pasta should be roughly large enough for a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, if not cut them to cover the whole area of the pan (it doesn't need to be pretty, mine wasn't).
3. Preheat the oven to 375F. Spread 1 1/4 cups sauce in 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Arrange one layer of noodles on sauce. Drop 1 1/2 cups cheese filling and 1 1/4 cups sauce over noodles, then spread evenly to cover. Repeat layering of sauce, filling and noodles 2 more times (3 layers of noodles). Top the final layer of sauce and filling with mozzarella and Parmesan. Spray large piece of foil with nonstick spray. Cover lasagna with foil, sprayed side down.
4. Bake lasagna 40 minutes. Carefully uncover. Increase oven temperature to 400F. Bake until noodles are tender, sauce bubbles thickly and edges of lasagna are golden and puffed, about 20 minutes. Transfer to work surface; let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Bartolotta Pasta

Yes, it has taken me considerably longer than my fellow Badger bloggers to complete my first post, but I have finally got around to it! I decided to start off with one of my favorite pastas: it's cheesy, fresh, and has a nice little spicy kick. Coming from an Italian family, pasta is a staple at my house, and is eaten at least once a week. If you are from the Milwaukee area, you probably have heard of the Bartollota name that is in the title of the pasta. This is because they own a line of Italian restaurants in Southeastern Wisconsin. And yes, my mom got the recipe from one of the Bartollota's in person! It is really easy to modify this one by using vegetables that are in season or just change ingredients to your own taste. I have to admit, I did not have all the necessary ingredients to make it this time, but the recipe has yet to fail me on always turning out delicious, no matter what is missing or what I add to it. The picture really doesn't do the recipe justice, but I promise you will love it.

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1-2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like it)

16 oz. can of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes

3/4 cup water

Handful of fresh basil leaves: they can be whole or coarsely chopped (I didn't have this when I made it, so I used about a teaspoon of dried basil)

1 pound penne or rigitoni (I just used up the half-full boxes of pasta I already had sitting on my shelf...hey I'm a college student on a budget)
8 oz. block of mozzarella cheese cut into small cubes


Optional Ingredients (no need to add all of them! Choose your favorites. Today I used Italian sausage, yellow zucchini squash, half a green pepper, and a few mushrooms):


Your favorite Italian sausage (I have also used spinach chicken sausage or spicy Italian seasoned chicken sausage which were really yummy)
Zucchini
Yellow Zucchini Squash
Eggplant
Green, yellow, and/or red peppers
Mushrooms
Spinach

Be creative! Add whatever you would like!


Start a large pot of water on high heat to boil the pasta before getting started on the sauce. (Don't forget to season the water with salt!) I also always make sure all of my veggies are chopped and ready to go before I start cooking. Way less stressful that way. Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with olive oil and put on medium heat. If you are using sausage, brown before adding the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute the garlic and red pepper flakes only for about 1 minute. Add your vegetables and let them saute with the garlic for a a minute or two. Add the can of diced tomatoes and water. I usually just fill the empty tomato can 3/4 full of water to get the tomato remnants out of the can instead of measuring out the water. Put your fresh (or dried) basil in the sauce and let it simmer uncovered until your pasta is ready.

I would recommend under-cooking your pasta just a little bit for this recipe, just because adding a hot liquidy sauce continues to cook the pasta after the dish is complete. In a large mixing bowl or serving dish, pour your pasta and the contents of the saucepan and mix.  I discovered from experience to not add your cubed mozzarella to the large mixing bowl, because it tends to melt and dissolve to almost a soupy consistency. I like to add a few cubes of cheese to each serving. Let the cheese melt, sprinkle with some fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano, garnish with fresh basil, and indulge!

I forgot to mention: the leftovers are AMAZING! I always make some extra to be sure I will have a plate left-over for the next day. I would almost choose the pasta a day old over fresh! Just mix the remaining cubes of mozzarella to the your leftovers dish and zap in the microwave for a minute and half and it is heaven! Hopefully it won't take me half a year to put up my next blog post.

Fettuccine Alfredo

This was a staple in my house when I was growing up. It was always expected at my swim team pasta parties. My friends would come over and we would make it together. Everyone would fight over getting to grate the Parmesan cheese, which I will never understand. I still make it with friends; a true comfort food for me.

This is an incredibly fast and simple pasta. It can be a one pot meal, mixing it in the same pot you cooked the noodles. The longest part of making it is cooking the noodles. Be sure you split the cream up. I almost always forget to do it, but it is not the end of the world if you forget.

Naturally, I had a friend over when I made this. We decided to increase the amount of cheese from the amount traditionally used. Excellent decision because we always end up dousing it with more anyways. I didn't feel the need to do it though, with the increase in cheese. Make sure you use freshly grated Parmesan, not the fake kind. If you don't use Parmesan regularly, it is still a good investment because it takes forever to go bad.

Ingredients:
1 pound fettuccine noodles
1 cup heavy cream, separated into 2/3 and 1/3
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg or scant 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package.
2. Combine 2/3 cream and butter in a microwavable measuring cup. Microwave on high for 1 minute, making sure it does not boil over. 
3. Drain pasta and return to same pot, pouring the cream and butter mixture over the noodles, mixing to coat the noodles. Add the remaining 1/3 cup cream, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Mix to combine and serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

Beef and Spinach Lasagna

So I actually made this lasagna a little over a month ago for my boyfriend's birthday dinner, but I've been so busy with finals, Christmas, and a trip to California for the Rose Bowl that I just hadn't gotten around to writing a post!  Hopefully I'll get some good cooking in before spring semester starts, especially with the new cookbooks and cooking gadgets Santa left for me under the Christmas tree.

This lasagna is only the second one I've ever made.  The first time I used sauce from a jar, but this time I decided I wanted to make it myself.  I tried making it the way my Mom does because it is always so scrumptious, but there is definitely plenty of room to alter the recipe as you please.  I wanted to use spinach in mine, but it will taste equally delicious without.

Ingredients

• Wheat lasagna noodles (about 11)
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes (may want to use diced tomatoes with italian seasoning)
• 28 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 lb ground beef
• Italian seasoning
• Onion
• Garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Mozzarella cheese
• Ricotta low fat cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Spinach

Directions

1. Brown ground beef.  In a large pot mix together diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, ground beef, italian seasoning to taste, chopped onion to taste, diced garlic to taste, and butter.  Simmer.

2. Cook wheat lasagna noodles as instructed on package.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Lay down a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.

5. Add a layer of noodles, sauce, dollops of ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese.

6. Add layer of spinach if desired.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6.

8. Add a last layer of noodles, sauce, parmesan, and mozzarella.

9. Cook for 1 hour.  Let sit for 10 minutes to allow lasagna to settle so the layers don't fall apart.  Cut and serve.

Chicken Pesto Pasta

I decided when I got back from class today that I wanted to cook something for dinner, so I started to think about what I had to work with.  I have a plethora of noodles because I like to buy them in all different shapes and sizes.  My noodles take up too much space in my cupboard, so I figured I should clear out some room in there since I only have a limited amount of cupboard space in an apartment of six.

I still consider myself to be a beginner cook and am still learning how to use spices, so I just used a jar of store bought pesto.  

First I put a medium size pot of water with a touch of salt in it on the stove to boil.  At the same time I started warming a large saucer with a large drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (regular olive oil works too).  

While that is going on, I took a large chicken breast and cut it up into strips.  I seasoned the strips with Morton Nature's Seasoning (any similar all seasoning would work) for a little extra flavor.

Once the water is boiling I poured about half a pound of rigatori noodles (any other shaped noodle with grooves in it for the pesto to sit in will work too) into the pot.  

Place the seasoned chicken in a single layer in the frying pan.

As the chicken cooks I cut it into smaller pieces because I like having chicken in as many bites of my pasta as I can!

Once the noodles and chicken are done cooking, strain the noodles and pour them into the frying pan.  Mix them in with the chicken.  Add spoonfuls of pesto and stir in to taste.  (I used about four spoonfuls or so.)

Serve as you wish!  I sprinkled a parmesan/asiago cheese mixture on top of my pasta.  The amount I made left lots of leftovers, which makes a quick and easy lunch when I get back from class and am starving.

Enjoy!