Spring Vegetable Pouches

I recently was blessed to review Eat Well and Stay Slim: The Essential Cuisine Minceur

From the million-copy bestselling author of Cuisine Minceur. Over 140 exquisite recipes fuse traditional flavors with the global influences that are redefining French cuisine, all with astonishingly low calorie counts.

This book is the mecca for healthy scrumptious recipes. Tons of mouth watering photos with easy to follow directions. I would say this is the go-to book for people who want to eat healthy, but still want foodie quality food. Get yours here: Eat Well and Stay Slim: The Essential Cuisine Minceur

So today I have adapted a recipe from the book. With some changes of course.  These over-sized ravioli are scrumptious and nice and light. so great for the waistline. Enjoy! 

Spring Vegetable Pouches

adapted from  Eat Well and Stay Slim

1/2 cup peeled and shredded carrots

1/4 cup celery

1/2 cup sweet onion, sliced

1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced

1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped

8 large won ton wrappers - or fresh squares of pasta dough

1 3/4 cup vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

fresh tomatoes and chives for garnish

Cut up your veggies. 

In a medium-sized covered saucepan, gently sweat the carrots in the olive oil for 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms an sweat for 3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the finely chopped tarragon and set aside. 

Place 4 squares of pasta dough or large won ton wrappers.on your work surface. Place some of the cooled vegetables in the center of each pasta square. 

Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the edges of each square with water. Lay another pasta square on top and then gently press the edges of the pasta squares together, making sure that there are no openings. 

Add your vegetable stock to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add ravioli and cook one at a time for 5 minutes. Serve, topped with fresh tomatoes and chives! 

Italian Chicken Noodle Soup

The cold and flu has hit my house hard. I am still healthy, but my hubby not so much, and my daughter is sick too, which means she comes to stay with me so I can nurture her back to health and make her my famous Chicken Noodle Soup. 

I have been told many times that I make the best chicken noodle soup. I sometimes even tell myself when I am sick and forced to eat soup from a restaurant. I always wish someone would make me my soup instead, but I have not taught anyone how I do it. Even though it is not hard to do, when I am sick, I am usually too sick to try to show someone. So I am finally writing down my simple recipe that is sure to comfort the sick. Enjoy!

Italian Chicken Noodle Soup

1 lb. Italian chicken sausage

2 Tbsp Olive oil

8 cups chicken broth

1 onion

3 carrots

2 celery stalks

1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 bay leaf

Cooked Ditalini pasta, or pasta of your choice.

salt and pepper to taste

I first start out by making a mirepoix. It is a combination of onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. The base to any really good soup. Chop them up into similar size pieces, except the garlic should be minced. Add olive oil to a skillet and add the mirepoix. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Cook stirring often until onions are translucent. 

Meanwhile cook your pasta according to package directions. 

I like using ditalini, but you can use whatever noodles you like. 

Drain. 

In a large stockpot, add your chicken broth, cooked vegetables, Italian seasoning, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer. 

Meanwhile brown your chicken sausage.

Remove the bay leaf from the stock. 

Add your sausage and noodles to the stock, and serve. 

Lasagne Bolognese

It has been a while since I have put a romantic tip on here, so I thought it was time for one. I think it is important to stay connected to your love during the day. Even though we all work and have responsibilities outside of our relationships. It is still good to make your presence known through the day. Many single guys consider work a safe haven from the minefield of dating and don't want that sacred space violated. In marriage and committed relationships , though, it's different: News from the home front serves as a nice reminder of what you're working for. 

Romantic tip:  Call your love while at work, or send a mushy email letting them know how much you love them and how much of a turn on it is that they are hard working. Let them know you are excited to be together after work where you can share with each other the events of the day.

Now on to the food. 

I love a good lasagna. I also love a good bolognese. Usually bolognese is served with spaghetti. But why not a lasagna? I made this for my man and he went crazy over it. This is time consuming, and I would recommend breaking the process up into two days. Day one make the bolognese. Day two the noodles and bechamel and assemble and bake. 

This recipe serves 4 because pasta is magnificent leftover. My husband loves to take it to work the next day for lunch and make his office pals jealous with the smells of Italian food.

Lasagne Bolognese from scratch

adapted from Bon Appétit | October 2013

Bolognese sauce:

1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped

1/2 medium carrot, peeled, coarsely chopped

1/2 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 pound ground beef chuck

1/2 pound ground pork

2 ounces pancetta (Italian bacon), finely chopped

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup whole milk

1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups  chicken broth, divided

Fresh pasta dough:

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more

2 large eggs, room temperature

Béchamel:

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/8 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk, warmed

Kosher salt

For Assembly:

1 cup finely grated Parmesan

Make the Bolognese sauce

Pulse onion, carrot, and celery in a food processor until finely chopped.

Heat olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add ground beef, ground pork, pancetta, and vegetables; cook, 

breaking up ground meat with a spoon, until moisture is almost completely evaporated and meat is well browned, 25–30 minutes; season with salt and pepper.

Add wine to pot and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, about 2 minutes. Add milk; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until moisture is almost completely evaporated, 8–10 minutes. Add tomatoes and broth; 

bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, until flavors meld and sauce thickens, 2 1/2–3 hours.

Let sauce cool, then cover and chill at least 12 hours or up to 2 days. (Letting the sauce sit will give it a deeper, richer flavor.)

Make the fresh pasta dough:

Whisk salt and flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center, and crack eggs into well. 

Mix eggs with a fork, then slowly mix in flour until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting lightly with flour if sticky, until smooth, about 5 minutes (it will be fairly stiff). Wrap in plastic; let sit until dough holds an indentation when pressed. One hour.

Chill dough if you are not rolling it out right away. Bring to room temperature before rolling out.

Set pasta maker to thickest setting; dust lightly with flour. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining dough wrapped in plastic as you work, flatten dough into a narrow rectangle (no wider than mouth of machine); pass through rollers . 

Fold dough as needed to fit and run through again. Repeat without folding, adjusting machine to thinner settings after every pass and dusting with flour if sticky, until pasta sheet is 1/16" thick (setting 8 on most machines). Place pasta sheets on a lightly floured surface and cut crosswise into 8 8"-long noodles.

If making noodles ahead, stack on a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper between each layer. Cover with plastic wrap; chill.

Make the béchamel:

Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Whisk in warm milk, 1/2-cupful at a time. Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, whisking often, until the consistency of cream, 8–10 minutes; add nutmeg and season with salt. Remove from heat, transfer to a medium bowl, and press plastic wrap directly onto surface; let cool slightly. 

Cook the noodles

Working in batches, cook fresh lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until just softened, about 10 seconds. 

Remove carefully with tongs and transfer to a large bowl of ice water; let cool. Drain noodles and stack on a baking sheet, with paper towels between each layer, making sure noodles don't touch (they'll stick together).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 13x9" baking dish with butter.

Assemble the lasagna:

Spread 1/4 cup béchamel in the prepared baking dish. Top with a layer of noodles, spread over a scant 3/4 cup Bolognese sauce, then 1/2 cup béchamel, and top with 1/4 cup Parmesan. 

Repeat process 7 more times, starting with noodles and ending with Parmesan, for a total of 8 layers.

 Place baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake lasagna until bubbling and beginning to brown on top, 50–60 minutes. Let lasagna sit 45 minutes before serving.

Serve warm.

Meat Lasagna

updated from archives

Every time I open the pantry, I'm accosted by two lingering boxes of lasagna noodles that have been sitting at eye level for the last two years.  I have not made lasagna since then--perhaps it's because I'm still a little traumatized by all the prepping and cooking that went on that week. But if I'm to be successful in clearing out the entire pantry, I had better start making some lasagna.

In other news, I'm still working through moderating all the unpublished comments and the hundreds of emails in my blog email. So if you've left a comment on this blog and are wondering where it is or if you've sent me an email and I have not replied, please bear with me. Thank you for your patience! I do love your emails and comments. If you make something from the blog, I wanna hear about it! Even if you didn't like it. Also let me know if recipes are unclear, I'm in the process of updating many older recipes.

Some notes: Lasagna can be time-consuming but the sauce can be made in advance to save some day the day of. If using boil noodles, only cook them about 75% of the way, undercook them by about 3 - 4 minutes. They will finish cooking in the oven.

Meat Lasagna
serves 6 - 8

Meat Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pound of ground beef or 50-50 mix of ground beef and italian sausage, casings removed (I prefer this combo but it depends on what I have)
1 medium onion chopped fine
6 medium garlic cloves minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
28 ounce can tomato puree
28 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon salt

Lasasgna
15 ounce ricotta cheese, preferably whole-milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup coarsely chopped basil
1 pound shredded mozzerella cheese
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
12 no-boil noodles

Making the sauce
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the ground meat and cook, breaking up the pieces, until browned. Transfer the ground beef to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the fat back to the Dutch oven and turn the heat down to medium. Drain and discard the rest of the fat.

Add the chopped onions and cook until translucent while scraping up the brown bits. Add the black pepper and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the meat back to the sauce, add the drained diced tomatoes, tomato puree, and salt. Simmer for 1 hour.

Assemble the lasagna
If using chilled, premade sauce, let it sit out at room temperature for 20 - 30 minutes prior to using but you do not need to do this if you do not intend on baking the lasagna right away.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the ricotta, cream, egg, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the chopped basil.

Mix the grated Parmesan and shredded mozzerella in a separate bowl and set aside.

Smear the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with 1/4 cup of tomato sauce (avoiding large chunks of meat). Place 3 noodles on the bottom of the dish. Drop 3 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture in one tablespoon dollops along each noodle. Roughly spread the cheese mixture out on each noodle with the back of the spoon. Evenly sprinkle 1 cup of the grated mozzerella and parmesan mixture on top of the ricotta mixture. Then cover each noodle with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Apply another layer of noodle and repeat the ricotta, mozzerella, meat sauce, and finally noodle again twice more. In the last ricotta layer, use up the remaining ricotta mixture.

Place the final layer of lasagna noodles on and cover with the remaining meat sauce. Then spread the remaining mozzerella mixture evenly over the top.

A cross-section of the lasagna will look like this:

Remaining mozz/parm
Remaining meat sauce
Noodle layer 3
Meat Sauce
Mozz/Parm
Ricotta
Noodle layer 2
Meat Sauce
Mozz/Parm
Ricotta
Noodle layer 1
1/4 cup sauce without meat
However, for a more photogenic lasagna with separate cheese and meat sauce layers, you can do something like this. Up to you, fresh lasagna never slices neatly anyway.

Remaining mozz/parm
Remaining meat sauce
Noodle layer 3
2x Meat Sauce
Noodle layer 2
2x Mozz/Parm
2x Ricotta
Noodle layer 1
1/4 cup sauce without meat

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Depending on the oven, the top may brown faster than anticipated, if this happens, loosely cover the lasagna with a piece of foil and continue baking. Let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature prior to slicing and serving.

If planning ahead, the lasagna can be kept in the fridge for 2 days. If freezing, wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap, then wrap tightly with foil, and finally wrap tightly once more with plastic wrap. Thaw in the fridge for 24 - 48 hours. Make sure the center of the lasagna is not frozen prior to baking. After defrosting, let the lasagna sit at room temperature for an hour prior to baking.

Gently remove the foil when unwrapping because it can be used during baking. Gently drape the foil over the lasagna and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then uncover and continue baking until the sauce is bubbly and cheese is spotty brown, approximately 25 - 35 more minutes.

Hearty Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

(updated from archives)

I grew up on spaghetti with Ragu. Not the lowercase italicized ragu, but the capital R followed by a copyright sign Ragu. And it was Hunt’s more often than not since it was cheaper. As a child, I always wanted the meat flavor thinking that it sounded better than plain tomato. Then one day, I thought it was odd that there wasn’t actually any meat in the sauce. Upon further inspection, the sauce was merely “flavored with meat.” Gross.

When Steven and I first started dating (now nearly a decade ago, crazy right?), he made some spaghetti for me with his mom’s homemade meat sauce. The sauce had actual pieces of real meat, onions, chunks of tomatoes, and oh my god are those herbs?

This is also how Steven introduced me to cheese. Like many Chinese people, my family was very suspicious of cheese. Stinky tofu? Bring it on! Fermenting milk? Nooo thank you. But Steven eventually won me over with a little freshly grated parmesan on my pasta.

When I started cooking, I first learned how to brown meat and chop and saute an onion. I doctored up jarred spaghetti sauce with ground beef and onions. Then I bought my first jar of herbs, Spice Island Italian Herb Blend, and added some of that. I eventually switched the jarred, overly salty stuff to plain tomato sauce. Over the years, I added more and more ingredients like diced tomatoes and some red wine, and finally topped it off with some fresh basil. This recipe has come a long way.

Hearty Meat Sauce
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef or mix of ground beef with Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
14 ounce can tomato puree
14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Pasta of your choice
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped or chiffonade
1/2 cup grated parmesan for serving

Heat a tablespoon olive oil in a large saute pan or Dutch oven and brown the ground beef. Drain the fat through a fine mesh sieve and set aside.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook until softened. If the bottom of the pan is turning too brown, add a little bit of water and scrape up the bits as you go. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine to deglaze the pan and cook until the wine is completely gone. Add the tomato puree, drained diced tomatoes, pepper, and oregano.

Cook the sauce at a gentle simmer over low heat, partially uncovered for 2 - 3 hours or until the sauce is thicken and ground beef is tender.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions

Serve over pasta, topped with basil and parmesan or use in lasagna

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Carbonara is Steven's most requested dish. It's one of the few recipes on this blog that I make regularly, so I'm a little embarrassed I haven't updated the recipe since 2007. The ingredient list has stayed the same in the last four years but I added the trick of tempering the eggs with boiling pasta water before adding it to the pasta. On the rare occasion, I get a little fancy but I always go back to the original recipe of 5 ingredients, 6 if you include salt for pasta water. Traditionally you would use pancetta or guanicale, but let's face it, that stuff is expensive and I'm a poor student. Because this recipe is so simple, there are a few things I feel strongly about. First, I don't believe in adding cream; I think it's like cheating. But I unfortunately don't know anyone Italian who can back me up. Second, use freshly ground pepper; this is non-negotiable.

This recipe is one of our staples during medical school, because I can make this in less than 30, maybe even 20 minutes. I like to cook with ratios because it makes recipes easy to scale up or down. This recipe is no different and can be easily adjusted.



Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Approximately 4 ounces or 4 slices of thick-cut bacon, sliced into 1/4 inch wide strips or equivalent amount of pancetta or guanciale, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 ounces finely grated parmesan, parmigiano, or pecorino romano
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (I go up to 1 teaspoon)
8 ounces spaghetti

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until it is crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a piece of paper towel.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Salt it generously, it should taste like sea water. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions, until it is al dente.

Temper the eggs like making a custard. With one hand beat the eggs and with the other slowly drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of hot pasta water with a measuring scoop or cup into the egg mixture. Set aside.

Before draining the pasta, set aside about half a cup of the boiling pasta water to loosen the pasta if needed.

You'll have to move fast at this point. When the pasta is al dente, drain the pasta then return the pasta back into the hot pot. Keep the pot off heat. The residual heat in the pot and pasta will thicken the sauce. Add the drained bacon, ground pepper, pasta and with one hand, stir the pasta while pouring in the tempered egg mixture.

Keep stirring to mix the cheese and egg evenly and the sauce will be thickened and silky smooth. Add a bit of the pasta water if needed.

Optional: top with extra freshly ground pepper and grated cheese before serving.

March 2007