A Birthday/Lasagne Dinner Party: Two Sausage & Collard Greens Lasagne

Continuing my birthday lasagne post from a few weeks ago, here is the recipe for the other lasagne I made for my party last summer, a Two Sausage & Collard Greens Lasagne (see here for the first lasagne: Roasted Portobello, Bacon & Kale Lasagne).

meaty, cheesy, delicious

looks and smells delicious!

Here is my recipe for Two Sausage & Collard Greens Lasagne (adapted this Bon Appetit recipe):

Ingredients
Sausage & Collard Greens Filling:
2 T. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 small bunch collard greens (or kale)
approx. 2 pounds of sausage casings removed (I used half sweet Italian pork sausage and half chicken chorizo sausage)
5-6 large garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced (+/- cloves, depending on how you feel about garlic)
salt & pepper
1/2 c. dry white wine
2 28-oz cans whole peeled tomatoes with the puree
1 c fresh basil, chopped then divided
1 T fresh thyme, roughly chopped
1/2 T dried oregano (or 1 T fresh oregano, chopped)

1 15-oz container whole-milk ricotta cheese
12 oz whole-milk mozzarella cheese, grated on the large holes (about 3 c. packed)
1 1/4 c. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated on the large holes, divided into 1 c. and 1/4 c.

1 pound lasagne noodles (16-20 noodles), slightly under-cooked as they will finish cooking when you bake the lasagne, set aside

ingredients for the lasagne filling

I used two different sausages - sweet Italian and a chicken chorizo

use fresh basil for the best flavor - so gorgeous and fragrant!

I cooked my lasagne noodles way in advance and then rubbed them in olive oil
and set them aside while I prepped the ingredients and made the filling

Method
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Set aside a 13x9" glass baking dish or a large roasting pan (I used my large All-Clad roaster).

Cut the collard greens into a chiffonade (see picture below), set aside.

cutting the collards into a chiffonade. This will help them cook in the sauce.

Heat the 2 T. olive oil in a very large heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, and saute about 5 minutes. Add the collard greens and cook an additional 5 or so minutes until the collards are bright green and beginning to wilt.

cooking down the onions and collard greens

Remove the sausage from the casings and add to the pan. Use a large spoon to break the sausage into bite-sized pieces. Add the garlic and stir; season with pepper and a little more salt, stir. Saute until the sausage is fully cooked, about 8 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil, cook for 1 minute (to burn off the alcohol).

Using your hands to break them apart, add the whole tomatoes to the pan (see picture below).

use your hands to break the tomatoes into chunks as you add them to the pan

Add the remaining tomato puree from the 2 cans, stir, then add 1/2 of the chopped basil, the chopped thyme and the dried oregano.

add the tomato puree and herbs

Give the mixture a good stir to combine everything. Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, 1 c. Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the other 1/2 c. of basil; stir well to blend. Season with a little salt and pepper.

the cheese filling

Assembling the lasagne
You'll make four layers in total and will want some sauce leftover for the top. If your layers are messy - no problem! - they will all blend together when the lasagne bakes.

Spread approx. 1 c. of sauce over the bottom of the pan. Cover with 4 noodles, slightly overlapping them if need be (if you are using the glass baking dish, only 3 noodles will fit). Drop 1/4 of the cheese mixture by spoonfuls over the noodles; spread as best you can.

Repeat the layering: spread 1 c. of sauce, layer 4 noodles, spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture; then again a third time, then a fourth time. There should some sauce left, so spread that over the last cheese layer.

ending with the remaining sauce spread over the fourth layer

After the remaining sauce is spread over the final cheese layer, sprinkle the remaining 1/4 c. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese evenly over the top.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 50-55 minutes, until heated through and the cheese is melted and golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

baked to a golden brown

time to try a bite...yum

Bye for now...

Lentil & Split Pea Stew

Toward my effort at healthy eating, here is a Lentil & Split Pea Stew I made a few months ago. I was kind of winging it - a few carrots, a few onions, lots of garlic, some herbs, broth, salt and pepper. Very simple, but tasty.

I normally like to cook with French lentils because they cook really fast and are delicious, but these red lentils were great too (and fast cooking). The split peas however took much longer (I didn't soak them first), so I probably wouldn't combine them again. I started out by sauteing the onions and carrots in olive oil and then just added the remaining ingredients, gave it a quick stir, then added the vegetable broth, and cooked until the beans were soft.

The stew turned out to be rather thick because I had to keep cooking it because of the split peas. I served it with some crostini...delicious!

all of the ingredients combined

add a several cups of vegetable broth

cover and cook over low heat

served with french bread crostini

yum!

Bye for now...

Mixed Vegetable & Red Quinoa Stew

I get a weekly delivery from Boston Organics so I've been trying to find - or make up - recipes to use the contents of my boxes. Sometimes it can be difficult and I wind up with tons of potatoes or kiwis or something. But, for the most part I really love getting fresh fruit and vegetables delivered right to my door, and having the surprise of not knowing exactly what I'll get.

Here is a vegetable and red quinoa stew I made recently. I made up the recipe based on what I had in the delivery: carrots, kale (or any other green would work), onions, zucchini, summer squash, and garlic; olive oil, salt and pepper, and some hot sauce, with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice added at the end complete the dish.

ingredients - use what you like!

cooking down the carrots and onions in some olive oil

while the carrots and onions cook, I started the quinoa.
I love quinoa - so easy and very healthy!

the chopped garlic and kale are added to the carrots and onions mixture

after the kale softens, add the zucchini and summer squash
which don't need to cook for too long

done! How easy was that?

the quinoa is done when the germ (the yellow spiral bit) separates from the germ

mix the vegetables and quinoa together, squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the top...
and voila!

time to enjoy a bowl

delicious!

Bye for now...

Cannellini Bean & Caper Crostini

This recipe for Cannellini Bean & Caper Crostini is one of my favorites. You can get the complete recipe from Martha Stewart's website. This recipe is perfect for a party (easy to make ahead the crostini and the topping then assemble last minute) or just serve with a salad for a light lunch. The combination of the beans, capers, onions, olive oil and white wine vinegar is just perfect and the recipe is easily doubled. I highly recommend this one.

If you've never made crostini before, it's very easy - just thinly slice a baguette (a day old baguette works wonderfully), brush both sides lightly with olive oil and sprinkle a little salt and pepper on each slice. Arrange the slices on a sheet pan and bake at 375 until lightly golden/toasted. The crostini is delicious on its own, with a salad, topped with a bit of goat cheese and tomato...or with this Cannellini Bean & Caper mixture!

mise en place: beans, capers, red onion, olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper - easy!

1/4 of the onion is finely diced and then everything is mixed together

as you mix, crush the beans a little to create a cremier sauce

cooling my freshly made crostini - yum!

I served this at a party and let guests make their own

so delicious!

Bye for now...

Flakey Pie Crust...filled two ways

I love making pies - especially the crust. I always make my pie crusts by hand and I love the satisfaction when they come out perfectly flaky. I also love that you can fill a pie crust with so many different things - meat, veg, fruit, nuts, chocolate...savory or sweet, it's your choice!

Here are two pies I made recently with an all-butter crust - an onion, bacon and cheddar quiche and a blueberry pie. Both were scrumptious!

cutting in the cold butter by hand using my old trusty pastry cutter

keep going until the mixture is about the size of peas
(although you do want some variation in the size of the butter pieces)

add ice cold water, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix gently with a fork

It's okay that there is still some dry flour as you can see below. In my opinion it's better to be on the dry side rather than the wet side at this stage. The dry flour will be absorbed during the kneading and resting. If the dough is too wet you will end up adding more flour which will end up making your dough tough.

turned out onto my bench for kneading

At this point, you want to knead the dough as little as possible as you form it into a solid mass. Once you add the water (or any liquid) to the flour, too much kneading will overwork the gluten in the flour which will make your dough tough. Over-kneading will also incorporate the butter into the dough more than you want, which will result in a less flaky dough. You want the little butter pieces to stay intact because this helps your crust flake when you bake it (the water in the butter turns into steam and creates separate layers in the finished crust).

So, always try to quit a bit before you think you should! I try to knead my pie (and scone) dough no more than 15-17 times. My granddaddy - the best baker in our family - says 17 times for his scone recipe but sometimes I can get away with 15.

stop as soon as the dough comes together
as you can see, all of the dry flour has now been incorporated

this recipe makes enough for two crusts

oh how I love making pie crusts - beautiful!

flatten each half into a round disk (will help you roll it out more easily)
and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes - an hour or two is better
the cold rest period both re-chills the butter rests the gluten

I like to roll my crusts ot between two pieces of wax paper. This way you need very little extra flour and it is much less likely to stick to the bench or your rolling pin. It also makes it easy to transfer to the pie plate. If using this method, after every few rolls, lift the wax paper off the dough (on both top and bottom). This will keep the dough from stretching and also from sticking to the wax paper. If you find the dough does start to stick, leave it in between the wax paper, slide it onto a sheet pan and pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes to re-chill the butter. Also remember to turn your rotate the dough a little after every roll or two so you can keep it as round as possible.

rolling out my dough

done!

Place your rolled out dough over the pie plate and gently lift and settle it into the corners of the pie plate. You don't want to stretch it here or it will just retreat when you bake it (as you can see my quiche crust did a little!). Trim the edge so you are left with about 1 inch of overhanging dough around the whole thing. Then, tuck the overhanging dough underneath so you are left with a nice thick edge. This will make it easier to crimp or flute.

tuck the overhanging dough underneath to form the edge

flute the edges (as I did for the blueberry pie)
or leave plain (as I did for the quiche)

After fitting the dough into the pie plates, put them back in the fridge for another period of chilling and relaxing. About 20 minutes should do it.

For the quiche filling, I followed Julia Child's base recipe for quiche. Simply put 3 eggs in a measuring cup and then fill to 1 1/2 cups with heavy cream or whole milk (or a combination of the two). Super easy, right?

Nutmeg goes really well with egg dishes so I also like to add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg to my quiche.

my eggs and milk mixture

I love onions - the more the merrier!

grated Irish cheddar went in first, then the caramelized onions, then the bacon
and finally the egg and milk mixture is poured over the top

baked to a golden brown
(about 55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean)

delicious!

For the second pie I made blueberry. My mom and I had been experimenting with making a blueberry pie that would still have a nice bottom crust; we decided that using frozen blueberries - and not thawing them before you bake - was the best way to keep the bottom crust crispy. We mixed frozen blueberries, a bit of sugar, a bit of flour (to thicken the juices), lemon juice, lemon zest and a sprinkle of spices (cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg). Dot the top with butter and you are done.

mix all the ingredients in a bowl...can't get much easier than that

pour into the crust and dot with butter

top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy

Bye for now...