Stuffed Manicotti with Fresh Tomatoes

I decided this morning that today was as good a day as any to reorganize our cabinets. I like to collect glass jars to use for storage, rather using than plastic containers that seep BPAs and chemical flavors into foods. It’s also a good way to reuse perfectly good glass jars and keep them from becoming the stuff of landfills. So, I went though and put any unsealed items into jars. It looks pretty spiffy now actually (see pic). Thought I’d share my eco-friendly frugal tip as nod to good ol’ Earth Day.

While I was reorganizing the cabinets, I came across a box of manicotti shells that I had apparently forgotten. There had originally been 14 shells in the box and there were 5 left. Not sure why I would have used only 9 at one point, but these things happen. This recipe calls for 5 manicotti shells, but you can always double or triple the recipe to stuff more.

Manicotti are great for a main dish, or for an opener served one by one. Rather than making sauce, I like to up the freshness factor by simply dicing tomatoes, tossing them with olive oil, salt and oregano, and covering the manicotti. The tomatoes cook in the oven with the manicotti and everyone’s happy.

Stuffed Manicotti with Fresh Tomatoes – makes 5 manicotti

5 manicotti shells
2 C chopped tomato
1 T oregano
2 T olive oil
1 C ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1/2 t salt

Boil the shells 6 minutes. Drain and cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine tomatoes, oregano, olive oil and salt to taste.

In another bowl, combine ricotta, eggs, half of the Parmesan and salt. Spoon this mixture into a pastry bag or a plastic zip-top bag with a corner snipped.

Stuff the shells with the ricotta mixture by pressing it through the bag.

Arrange the shells in a shallow baking dish. Top with tomato mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Top with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake 10 minutes more.

Ingredient origins: Manicotti – Italy, tomatoes – Maine; oregano – Unknown; olive oil – Italy; ricotta – Wisconsin; eggs – New Hampshire; Parmesan Cheese – Italy; sea salt – Italy

Gruyere Strata

Strata is a savory bread pudding, made with eggs, milk and cheese. It also makes good use of yesterday’s baguette or any other thick-crusted bread that’s past its prime.

The important thing is to use a good strong bread and not wimpy sandwich bread, which will turn to goo when combined with liquid. Bread with a hard crust results in a pleasant, varied texture of soft custard, combined with toothsome morsels.

Gruyere lends its pungent flavor and aroma, making this strata reminiscent of fondue.

Gruyere Strata - serves 4

2 C milk
2 large eggs
6 C cubed thick-crusted French bread
1 1/2 C Gruyere cheese
1 t dry ground mustard
1/2 t salt

In a large bowl, toss the bread with two thirds of the shredded cheese. Pour into a greased casserole dish.

Beat the eggs with the milk, salt and mustard in a small bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the bread and cheese.

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove from refrigerator and press down on the bread with the back of a spoon or spatula to submerge the bread. Top with the last third of the cheese.

Bake for 35 – 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Ingredient origins: Milk – Vermont; Eggs – New Hampshire; Bread – Massachusetts; Gruyere – France; Ground Mustard – Maryland; Sea Salt – Italy

Mushroom Spinach Quiche

Quiche is the every-meal. The any-time-of-day item that tends to show up in odd places. Brunch buffets, bridal showers, cafeterias, airport lunch counters. And in many cases, it’s not particularly great. I think the problem is that too often, especially in institutional settings, quiche is served pre-plated and cold, which is just a smack in the face to what is, or can be a really good thing. Quiche is best served hot and fresh out of the oven. Freshly grated cheese also makes a difference, as pre-grated cheese usually comes coated in cornstarch which tends to dry out the custard.

The use of sour cream makes this quiche fluffy and light, with just enough vegetable goodness to make you feel like you’re having something relatively nutritious. The spinach fortifies the dish with added folate and vitamin A and the mushrooms take on an almost escargot quality as they steam, tucked away inside the egg mixture.

Coarsely grated, the Gruyere shows up in ostentatiously flowing strands from time to time, making this quiche the opposite of the dry, last resort cafeteria item and more the all-around crave-worthy star that it really should be.

And be sure to serve it hot and fresh, for goodness sake!

Mushroom Spinach Quiche – serves 8

1/2 recipe for pie crust (seen here)
5 oz spinach
1/4 C water
8 shiitake mushrooms, finely diced
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, finely diced
1 T butter
1 C Gruyere cheese
4 eggs
1 1/2 C sour cream
1/2 t salt

Make the pie crust dough, roll out and spread in an 8 inch pie plate. Form the edges as desired. Refrigerate 10 minutes while the oven heats to 350 degrees.

Fill the pie crust with pastry weights and bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large covered skillet, steam the spinach in the water over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat when wilted, drain and press out any moisture. Allow to cool and finely chop.

Melt butter in a skillet. Add mushrooms and cook, covered for 5 minutes over medium heat. Remove cover and continue to cook 10 more minutes until moisture is almost evaporated. Allow to cool.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in sour cream. Add spinach, cheese and mushrooms and mix well.

Pour filling into the pie crust.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until the center has lost its gloss. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Ingredient origins: Spinach – California; Organic shiitakes – Pennsylvania; Organic baby bellas – Pennsylvania; Butter – Maine; Eggs – New Hampshire; Sour Cream – Vermont; Salt – Maine

Vegetarian Lasagna

Making lasagna is like planning a wedding. There are thousands of varying traditions and just as many ways to go about it. Some say location and food are most important, others say music and color scheme. In the end, you just need to decide what’s most important to you.

Some prefer their lasagna with lots of veggies, others like it with beef. I like lasagna to be really saucy and cheesy – stuffed with ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella and basil.

After years of trying various recipes, and never getting the cheesy result that I wanted – always too noodley, too saucy, too vegetabley – I finally decided to set out on my own. Another thing (and then I promise to get off my lasagna recipe roasting soap box) is that every recipe I’ve ever tried calls for either too many or too few lasagna noodles. Too many and you then have to scramble to mix up more ricotta to make a second batch in whatever other baking pan you have lying around. Too few and you end up with a soupy lasagna.

My lasagna uses a count of twelve 12″ lasagna noodles (you’ll end up with a few in the cabinet later, but it’s a small price to pay for a good lasagna). This recipe also uses more ricotta cheese than most, as well as a good amount of Bechemel. The result is that rich, thick lasagna that you’d find in a good Italian-American restaurant. Great for winter when fresh veggies aren’t available, because the sauce can be made with either fresh or canned tomatoes.

Vegetarian Lasagna – serves 12

12 – 12″ lasagna noodles (this length is pretty standard)
3 cups tomato sauce (see recipe below)
3 cups Bechemel sauce (see recipe below)
1 – 32 oz tub of Ricotta Cheese (I prefer full fat over skim which can become chalky)
1/4 C fresh chopped basil
2 eggs
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 t salt
1 lb fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
2 T olive oil

Start off by make the sauces (instructions below).

While the tomato sauce simmers and the Bechemel gradually thickens over a very low heat, cook the lasagna noodles about 2 minutes less than instructed and be sure to not allow the water to get to a rolling boil. This ensures that the pasta does not over cook and the decorative ruffles stays intact. Drain and rinse.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the ricotta, Parmesan cheese, basil, parsley and salt.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin the layers by spreading the bottom of a 13×9 inch lasagna pan with half of the Bechemel sauce. Arrange lasagna noodles at the bottom of the pan so that they overlap – 4 per layer. It’s okay if the noodles are a little short. Just center them and they will continue to grow as they cook and absorb more liquid.

Spread one half of the ricotta mixture over the lasagna noodles. Top with half of the tomato sauce. Cover with another layer of lasagna noodles.

Arrange half of the mozzarella slices over the noodles. Cover with the rest of the Bechemel and then ricotta mixture. Top with the last four lasagna noodles.

Finally, cover the top with the rest of the tomato sauce and artfully arrange the rest of the mozzarella slices. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Bake for 45 minutes. Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Bechemel Sauce – makes about 2 1/2 cups

1/4 cup salted butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it bubbles, add flour. Stir over medium heat to form a golden paste. Lower heat and gradually add milk 1/2 cup at a time, whisking each addition until smooth. Keep on very low heat, as you prepare the other lasagna ingredients, whisking occasionally to keep from separating or turning lumpy. Raise heat and whisk to thicken just before assembling the lasagna.

Yankee Cook’s Quick Tomato Sauce – makes about 4 cups
1 T olive oil
1/4 C chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed or smashed and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 T tomato paste
1/3 C vegetable or chicken stock
1 pinch of chili pepper flakes (optional)
1 t dried oregano
1 t sugar
1- 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

Heat olive oil in a 2 quart saucepan over a medium flame. Add onions and cook until transparent, but not browned. Add garlic and carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and allow to heat for 2 minutes. Stir in stock, chili flakes, oregano and sugar. Add tomatoes and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Give it a quick mash with a potato masher.

Ingredient origins – Lasagna Noodles – Italy, Canned organic tomatoes – California; Olive oil – Italy, Organic onion – unknown; Garlic – Chile; Carrot – unknown; Tomato paste – unknown; Vegetable stock – my own; Sugar – Florida; Butter – Maine; Flour – Vermont; Milk – Vermont; Ricotta – Wisconsin; Basil – Massachusetts; Eggs – New Hampshire; Parmesan Cheese – Italy; Mozzarella – Vermont

French Onion Soup

French onion soup can be either really great or really not so great and it all depends on the quality of ingredients. Imagine how hollow it could be if the stock was made from a bullion cube, the bread was a slice of HFCS laden supermarket “French bread” and the whole thing was topped with a waxy, mass-produced domestic “Swiss” cheese (I’m going to sound like a total cheese snob here, but there are hundreds of different types of cheese that come from Switzerland. There is not just one “Swiss Cheese”. There. I said it.), rather than an authentic Gruyere? The soup would be thin and over-salted, the bread would turn to an algae-like substance and the cheese would form a tough skin when broiled, rather than melting and mingling.

Fortunately, it’s not prohibitively expensive or difficult to find quality ingredients for French Onion soup, and it makes a world of difference in the end result.

This recipe calls for homemade beef stock, a good baguette with a thick crisp crust and open crumb, and a good authentic Gruyere cheese. If you live in an area with good artisan cheese makers, you may be able to find an local equivalent to Gruyere, but be sure to test it out first to see if it works. Sometimes cheeses can become stringy when added to soup and that makes for a less appetizing appearance and texture.

To get a light essence of garlic into the soup, burnish the bowl and toast with a halved piece of garlic. This combined with dry white wine, good cheese and French bread makes this soup reminiscent of a good fondue.

French Onion Soup – Serves 2

3 yellow onions, quartered and sliced
2 T butter
1 dash of salt (or 3 grinds from salt grinder)
1 t brown sugar
1 T flour
1/2 C dry white wine
4 C beef stock
2 – 4 thick (1/2 – 1 inch) slices of French bread
1 clove of garlic, peeled and cut in half
4-6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Melt butter in a large stockpot. Add onions and cook over medium-low heat until creamy and softened, about 10 minutes. Add brown sugar and continue cooking until golden brown, 20 more minutes on medium-low. Stir in flour, being sure to evenly coat the onions and cook 10 minutes, still on medium-low heat.

Increase heat to medium-high and add wine. Stir to blend the wine with the onion and flour paste, scraping up the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Stir in beef stock and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. Occasionally skim any foam from the top and stir.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toast the pieces of bread – depending on the thickness of the baguette, you may need two toasts per bowl. Rub the toasts and oven-proof soup crocks with raw garlic.

Divide the finished soup into two crocks, float toast on top and cover with grated Gruyere. Place soup crocks in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until cheese reaches desired level of meltiness. This could range from just bubbling to browned.