Adventures in cooking.
Adventures in cooking. I had two butternut squash left from the ones purchased this fall at the farmer's market. Decided to make butternut squash lasagna, kind of like a deconstructed butternut squash ravioli.
Cut up squash and simmered with chicken broth, sage, clove. Mashed.
Carmelized moderately one large, minced shallot and two thinly sliced garlic cloves in olive oil. Low and slow. Added to one small (about 15 oz.) container part-skim ricotta, mixed with one whole egg, nutmeg, black pepper.
Made bechamel. Usual thing - flour and butter roux, milk, simmer, thicken, add nutmeg. (4c milk, 1/4c flour, 4T butter)
Tried whole wheat lasagna noodles. Turn out dryer, crack more easily, texture is chewier. Useful experiment but wouldn't use 'em again.
Layered sauce, noodles, squash, cheese, repeat. Finish with noodles, sauce, layer of crushed amaretti. Baked.
Came out really well. Because I wanted my dad to be able to eat it, I limited the amount of sauce and cheese. Meds and illness limit his dairy product tolerance. I would use twice as much cheese and sauce, otherwise. The squash was super sweet and tasty on its own, but I know squash varies, so while I didn't have to sweeten or adjust for that, I suppose it's a possible issue. Also, these were not the oversized frankenveggies that seem to populate the world, so it was a more tender, less fibrous squash to begin with, making texture easy.
I was under-impressed with the whole wheat pasta, as noted. Shame. Nothing wrong with pretense to healthy eating. Not that the bechamel alone wouldn't blow that out of the water. Added amaretti because apricot pit flavored cookies are delicious and they added some crunch. And because I wanted something nice as a brownable topping, since I wasn't using all the usual sauce and cheese. Couldn't believe how hard it was to find some, but now I know where there's this cute little Italian grocery. Anybody want to attempt to cook actual salt cod (bacalao)? They've got you covered.
So, yeah. This worked out really well and even though it's a bit of work, I would totally do it again.
Cut up squash and simmered with chicken broth, sage, clove. Mashed.
Carmelized moderately one large, minced shallot and two thinly sliced garlic cloves in olive oil. Low and slow. Added to one small (about 15 oz.) container part-skim ricotta, mixed with one whole egg, nutmeg, black pepper.
Made bechamel. Usual thing - flour and butter roux, milk, simmer, thicken, add nutmeg. (4c milk, 1/4c flour, 4T butter)
Tried whole wheat lasagna noodles. Turn out dryer, crack more easily, texture is chewier. Useful experiment but wouldn't use 'em again.
Layered sauce, noodles, squash, cheese, repeat. Finish with noodles, sauce, layer of crushed amaretti. Baked.
Came out really well. Because I wanted my dad to be able to eat it, I limited the amount of sauce and cheese. Meds and illness limit his dairy product tolerance. I would use twice as much cheese and sauce, otherwise. The squash was super sweet and tasty on its own, but I know squash varies, so while I didn't have to sweeten or adjust for that, I suppose it's a possible issue. Also, these were not the oversized frankenveggies that seem to populate the world, so it was a more tender, less fibrous squash to begin with, making texture easy.
I was under-impressed with the whole wheat pasta, as noted. Shame. Nothing wrong with pretense to healthy eating. Not that the bechamel alone wouldn't blow that out of the water. Added amaretti because apricot pit flavored cookies are delicious and they added some crunch. And because I wanted something nice as a brownable topping, since I wasn't using all the usual sauce and cheese. Couldn't believe how hard it was to find some, but now I know where there's this cute little Italian grocery. Anybody want to attempt to cook actual salt cod (bacalao)? They've got you covered.
So, yeah. This worked out really well and even though it's a bit of work, I would totally do it again.
That sounds utterly delicious.
ReplyDeleteThat's super yummy looking and sounding
ReplyDelete