A Birthday/Lasagne Dinner Party: Roasted Portobello, Bacon & Kale Lasagne

I had a dinner party for my birthday a few months back and made two types of lasagne - one with a white sauce and one with a red sauce - Roasted Portobello, Bacon & Kale Lasagne and Two Sausage & Collard Greens Lasagne. I wanted something that would be prepped the day before and then baked up without too much effort the day of. It was my birthday, after all, and I didn't want to spend all day cooking. Lasagne is great too because you always get lots of leftovers!

hearty and delicious!

Here is my recipe for Roasted Portobello, Bacon & Kale Lasagne (adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe).

Ingredients
Filling:
3 T. and 2 T. olive oil
10-12 large portobello mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
8-10 slices of thick cut bacon
4 large shallots, finely chopped
1 large bunch kale
2 t. finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 t. finely chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper

White Sauce:
4 c. whole milk
16 oz. broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 bay leaf
8 T. butter
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. (approx. 8 oz.) shredded Gruyère cheese
1/3 c. shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

1 pound lasagne noodles, slightly under-cooked as they will finish cooking when you bake the lasagne
1/2 shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (to sprinkle over assembled lasagne)

Method
See below for the step-by-step:

Step 1, making the mushrooms. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss cleaned and de-stemmed mushrooms in 3 T. olive oil (drizzle oil over mushroom caps and rub with your hands until the oil coats the mushrooms).

oil drizzled portobello mushroom caps, ready for baking

Place mushroom caps upside-down on two parchment paper covered sheet pans. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until tender.

done! These were so fragrant and delicious after baking.
I would definitely make these again and serve sliced or cubed over pasta or a salad
(or just as a meal with some crusty bread). Yum!

Slice each cap into thin strips (approx. 1/4 or 1/3 inch wide) and set aside. A serrated knife works well for this.

slice each cap into thin slices and set aside

Step 2, making the rest of the filling. While the mushrooms are roasting, make the bacon, kale, and shallot filling.

ingredients for the bacon-kale-shallot filling

Cut the bacon slices crosswise into small pieces (approx. 3/4 inch or so). Finely chop the shallots, and both the herbs. Set the herbs aside.

Wash the kale and cut it into a chiffonade (long strips). You can do this easily by laying several kale leaves on top of each other, then roll them into a round (lengthwise) and slice thinly.

leaves are rolled up and cut into thin strips

voila, a chiffonade of kale!

In a medium, heavy-bottomed pan, heat remaining 2 T. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add bacon and saute until crisp and browned. Add shallots and herbs. Cook for about 5 minutes, until shallots are tender. Lower heat, if necessary.

cooking down the bacon and shallots; rosemary and thyme are added

Add kale, stir well, cover and cook an additional 5 or so minutes until the kale softens. It doesn't have to be completely cooked as it will continue to cook in the lasagne.

doesn't this look amazing? Bacon, shallots, and kale? I could eat it just like this!

Remove this mixture from heat and set aside.


Step 3, making the sauce. Shred the cheeses and set aside; grate nutmeg and set aside.

ingredients for the white sauce

shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano and Gruyère cheeses

Add milk, broth, and bay leaf to a large heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat to a simmer. Remove the milk mixture from heat and set aside for 10 minutes, then remove bay leaf and discard.

In a separate large, heavy-bottomed pan or medium pot, create a roux by melting the butter over medium heat. When it begins to get bubbly and foamy, whisk in the flour (lower the temperature, if necessary so the butter doesn't burn). Whisk for about 2 minutes to remove the floury taste.

creating the roux

Whisk in about 1 cup of the hot milk mixture, whisk well (this will help avoid lumps), then add remaining hot milk mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer about 5 minutes, whisking frequently. You don't want the mixture to get too thick because it will continue to thicken after you add the cheeses.

Remove from heat and stir in the two cheeses and the grated nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Set the sauce aside.

the finished sauce

Step 4, boil the lasagne noodles. Cook the noodles as directed by the package, but cook for slightly less time than noted (they will continue to cook when you bake the lasagne). Boil your noodles gently, so they don't get ripped or shredded. Drain and rinse with cool water.

gently boiling my noodles

If not assembling the lasagne immediately, drizzle some olive oil over the noodles so they don't stick together and gently toss (or use your hand to swirl the noodles around) to make sure all noodles get some oil. Carefully lay out all noodles and make sure there is a bit of oil between each noodle, so they don't stick. I used a sheet pan (they fit perfectly!) lined with foil.

my cooked noodles, lightly oiled

fillings made, noodles boiled...I'm ready to assemble

Step 5, assembling the lasagne! If baking right away, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 13x9 inch glass baking dish. Spoon approximately 1 cup of sauce into the baking dish and spread evenly over the bottom. Layer 3 noodles over the sauce, overlapping them slightly, if needed. Spread about 1 1/2 cups of sauce over noodles (use more if needed), then layer 1/3 of the sliced mushrooms over the noodles, then layer 1/3 of the bacon-kale-shallot mixture over the mushrooms.

layering the sauce and two fillings

Three more noodles go next, then about 1 1/2 cups sauce, then 1/3 of the mushrooms, then 1/3 of the bacon-kale-shallot mixture. Repeat with 3 noodles, about 1 1/2 cups sauce, then the remaining mushrooms and remaining bacon-kale-shallot mixture. Top with 3 more noodles and the remaining sauce.

At this point I wrapped my assembled lasagne and refrigerated it overnight.

my assembled lasagne goes into the fridge until the next day

When you are ready to bake the lasagne, sprinkle the 1/2 shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese over the top of the sauce. Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes (or 1 hour, if out of the fridge), until golden brown on top and the sauce is bubbling up. Let stand in a warm place for about 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

baked up hot and ready to enjoy!

Bye for now...
 

Thick & Hearty Mushroom "Bisque"

I've been wanting to make more soups lately - they seem so easy and delicious...and healthy! This weekend I wanted to make a mushroom bisque but I didn't want an actual cream soup so I figured I would try to use a vegetable broth and then "cream" the soup by blending the soup at the end to make it thick and creamy. Worked like a charm and my soup was delicious!

Here's my recipe, pictures are below:

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large vidalia onion, finely diced
2 leeks, white part only, finely diced
20 oz (two 10 oz packages) crimini mushrooms, finely diced
1 pound shitake mushrooms, finely diced
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp fresh thyme
4 cups mushroom (or other) broth
6 oz fat free yogurt
chives, to taste (1/2 tsp per serving)

Directions:
Chop onion and leeks into a very small dice. Heat olive oil and add onions/leeks, add 1/2 tsp salt and stir. Cover and cook over medium heat until soft, about 15 minutes.

While the onions/leeks are cooking down, clean and chop mushrooms. Chop them into as small a dice as you can. After onion mixture is soft, add mushrooms and sprinkle flour over (to thicken final soup), add thyme and rest of salt (1 tsp or to taste), stir well. Cover and cook about 10 minutes more until mushrooms are soft.

Add 4 cups of broth. I used mushroom broth for a deeper mushroom flavor, but any broth is fine. Cover and increase heat to high. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for about 5 more minutes.

Turn off heat, remove cover and let cool for about 5 minutes before adding yogurt. Stir well to incorporate yogurt.

At this point you can leave as is for a more broth-like soup with chunks of mushrooms, or you can use an immersion blender to "cream" the soup a little, or you can go full "bisque" and use a blender to completely cream the soup. If you use a blender, do it in small batches so the hot soup doesn't explode up and burn you.

I used my immersion blender to cream the soup a little so my soup ended up thick and "creamy" but still had the chunks of mushrooms.

Serve while hot and snip some chives over the top. Yum!

Makes at least 8 1-cup servings.

mise en place

mushrooms added to the cooked onions

thyme - my favorite herb

gorgeous soup

a close up

yum!

Bye for now...

A Light Supper: Insalata Caprese and a Mushroom, Onion and Goat Cheese Tart

During my Christmas Cookie Decorating party I served a light supper of a delicious Insalata Caprese and a Mushroom, Onion and Goat Cheese Tart. I wanted something light but tasty to help everyone try to avoid a complete and utter sugar overload.

I got the tart recipe from Martha Stewart and added some thyme to add a little bit of flavor. It was delicious! It was very easy to make and was something that you could do several hours or even a day in advance (make the filling ahead and then assemble and bake the day of).

The Caprese salad was also incredible and the presentation is so pretty. The combination of flavors with the fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato just can't be beat. Add some crusty bread, red wine and that's my idea of a perfect meal. Yum!

mise en place for the Mushroom, Onion and Goat Cheese Tart

for the salad: tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella cheese

then add some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and voila

the finished insalata caprese...Delizioso!

mushrooms, spinach and onions cooked and ready to be layered onto the prepared puff pastry

hot out of the oven

the finished tart...delicious!

Bye for now...

Homemade Pizzas: Mushroom & Eggplant-Pepperoni

Who doesn't love pizza? Pizza is one of my favorite foods and it's perfect in so many ways. It's warm and comforting and yet still delicious served cold the next day and the toppings are endless. How many foods fit that description?! And, as a cheese lover, I don't think I could turn down something covered in melted cheese.

One of my favorite local pizza places is Za Restaurant in Arlington, MA. They have really unique combinations on the menu, or you can just order whatever toppings you like. My favorite pizza combo is onions, mushrooms, garlic and bacon. Delicious!

I realized a couple of months back that I should try to make my own pizza. It seemed like it would be a fun stay-at-home date night or great for a party. I made my first two pies by buying the frozen pizza dough from Whole Foods and adding the tomato sauce, cheese and toppings, but that wasn't really as satisfying as doing it all myself. So, after searching around on google, I settled on this basic pizza dough recipe on an Italian cooking site. I tried to mix the dough on my counter-top and wow, what hilarity ensued when I added the water to my little flour well. I felt like I was on an episode of I Love Lucy! Next time I'll mix the dough in a bowl.

Here is the ingredient list (the linked-to site above includes a video if you need a walkthrough). The dough was very easy (and fun!) to pull together but was a little bland so next time I think I'll add a bit of honey to give it a little more depth.

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 1/2 cups (500 g) flour
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
pinch of salt
[my change for next time: replace 1 T of water with honey]

yeast is proofed, and a small well is made in the flour

after a bit of panic I was able to corral the
water-yeast mixture back to my flour pile and mixed up my dough

oiled, scored and into a bowl to rise

nice!

"punched" down and turned out onto my bench

then divided into thirds and rolled out into pizza shape.
I froze one third to use another time and made up two pizzas

At this point I kind of diverged from the directions and just baked it on a sheet pan. I didn't worry about using a special pizza pan or pizza stone...and? Came out perfectly!

the first pizza was eggplant and pepperoni

the eggplant was a little dry (next time I'll cook it first) but overall, it was great

molto bene!

next up: mushroom

look at all that yummy cheese...

delizioso!

Bye for now...

Spaghetti with garlicy-mushroom sauce

For dinner last night I made some sauteed mushrooms to go over pasta. It was delicious!

Ingredients for the "sauce"
1 Tbls. olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
3 portobello mushrooms, sliced in half and then across into thin slices
8 oz of white button mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 c. red wine
salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbls. jarred spaghetti sauce
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated, to taste

In a large frying pan, sautee the garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat for a minute or so. Add the portobello mushrooms to the pan, then add the button mushrooms. Give everything a good stir so the garlic doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.

Let the mushrooms cook down slightly, stirring occasionally. Add the wine and spaghetti sauce and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the liquid has reduced and thickened.

cooking down the mushrooms

While the mushrooms are cooking down, cook your pasta. I used whole wheat pasta so it took a bit longer than spaghetti made with white flour.

getting hungry now

While I'm waiting for things to finish, I'll grate some cheese to top off my spaghetti.

hmmm, that may be a bit too much

When the pasta is cooked to the package's directions, drain it and add to the frying pan, mix well with tongs  to coat all of the spaghetti with the sauce. Then plate, add your cheese, and it's dinner time!

delicious!

Bye for now...