Oh So Saucesome

Hey there!

Yes, it's been a reeeaaaalllly long time since I've updated in here. Don't worry, I have in fact eaten since then. I've even cooked since then, just nothing from the project. To those who faithfully checked this thing each week (Mom?), I apologize. But here it is, an update!

Tonight I made "Spinach and Mushroom Ravioli" from the stuffed pasta section of the "Everyday Pasta, Polenta, and Risotto" chapter. I had some help with this one from a certain someone named Ryan who made all the multi-tasking much more manageable. He's also just nice to have around in general. Anyhow, here's how it all went down.

We started by dicing up some mushrooms and sauteing them with some EVOO spray. Then we threw in some spinach and let it cook a couple more minutes. As this all happened, I was laying out won ton wrappers like it was my job (and I suppose it was at that moment) to make the ravioli from "scratch."

This recipe actually has you use the won ton method unlike the pumpkin ravioli. I find this odd considering the spinach and mushroom would be much easier to find in a grocery store than the pumpkin ravioli. Just sayin'.....

Once the mushrooms and spinach were sauteed to our liking, we removed them from the heat and let them cool (and I used this time to switch over my laundry that had slowly taken over my walk-in closet of a room). The next step allowed me to use one of my new gadgets, a food processor!! Yes, I received a food processor for my 21st birthday and I was ECSTATIC. We put the mixture into the food processor and pulsed it until it was a coarse texture. It actually kind of came out looking like bright green hummus. I was supposed to stir in some mascarpone cheese along with Parmesan next, but I've grown tired of buying containers of mascarpone, using a tablespoon of it, and then having it go bad in my fridge. Therefore, I improvised with two wedges of garlic and herb Laughing Cow cheese. Similar? Taste-wise, not really. Texture-wise, certainly.

Before filling the won tons with the spinachy goodness, I brushed them with a egg wash (which they needed because apparently when you let won ton wrappers sit out for any given amount of time, they sort of dry out. Oops!). Then I put one heaping teaspoon of filling onto each, sealed it around the center, and pressed the edges with a fork. I still don't own a ravioli cutter, but did not attempt to make cool edges on these ones. I've learned that butter knives literally don't cut it when it comes to designs.

And now, for more multitasking. First, we got a pot of water boiling to cook the raviolis. As I assembled the pasta, Ryan sauteed more mushrooms for the sauce. We cooked about four raviolis at a time so they wouldn't stick together (even though they still did) and it took about three minutes for each batch. We added some sauce from a jar (what?!?!?!?!) to the sauteed mushrooms and served it over the raviolis.

It was pretty good overall, but we both agreed that there was something missing from the filling. I think it was my use of Laughing Cow over mascarpone. I'll have to work out the kinks on that one. I do have a lot of filling left over that I think will be a good dip for chips or crackers, or perhaps a good topping for toasted Italian bread? Hmmm....

The next recipe will be from the "Everyday Entrees" chapter and to be honest, I don't know when I will be tackling that one. Check back every so often and you may just be lucky enough to see something new :)

More Lasagna I Say!!

Tonight was quite the successful dinner if I do say so myself. I made Classic Italian Lasagna...with a few tweaks of course. But it did come out great! We had a roommate dinner tonight and the lasagna was my contribution and THIS is how I did it.

I started by cooking the lasagna noodles. Fortunately I had a pot that was big enough to fit the noodles (believe me, this was a big concern. I was actually thinking about it all day). I had to cook them until ALMOST al dente, or approximately six minutes. I went for the six minutes because I'm not really sure what point is close enough to al dente. After they were at this point, I drained them, rinsed them with cold water, and covered them with a damp paper towel. Giada says to cook them in the water with some vegetable oil so they don't stick together, but my mother told me long ago not to do that since NOTHING will stick to them afterward. Lasagna has a hard enough time staying together, I didn't want to make it anymore difficult.

After the pasta had been transferred to a different bowl, I used my colander to strain my spinach. Spinach is a pain to strain (no rhyme intended). I had to push out the water by using another bowl on top of it which dirtied another dish. Anyway, next, I browned the ground beef.

Whenever I have to defrost a frozen item, I try to be a good little chef and put it in the fridge to thaw. However, this takes an eternity. So my meat was still slightly frozen when I threw it in the hot pan. This concerned me a bit, but hot pans have a way of defrosting things quite quickly, and all was fine.

The next step after the meat was browned was mixing the ricotta with some eggs. This step would have been less difficult if I had used a bigger bowl. I had to whisk the mixture VERY carefully rather than my usual vigorous method.

And now, for the assembly!! The lasagna was supposed to be assembled in a 13 x 9 pan, but I only have an 8 x 8. Needless to say, this was a tightly packed lasagna. I started by putting some marinara sauce (which I had made the night before. It may have been my best batch yet) in the bottom of a dish that was sprayed with canola spray. I then put about four noodles over this. Next came the ricotta mixture topped with the spinach. After that I layered more noodles and topped that with the ground beef and more marinara sauce. Then came some mozzarella cheese and more noodles topped with the last of the marinara. The very top was more mozzarella and a bit of Parmesan.

I brought this concoction up to the kitchen (because after the raw potato casserole incident, I wasn't about to take any chances) and baked it for about 45 minutes. Some other residents shared the oven and I think they had some sort of lasagna too. The kitchen smelled like melted mozzarella and you really can't go wrong with that.

After it was done, I brought it back down to the room to serve with some salad and appetizers. I definitely enjoyed it and my roommate told me it was really good. Not too bad for my first shot at making lasagna!

I probably won't be cooking for the first part of next week since I have finals and I don't want to buy too much food before going on Christmas break. I will try to make up for lost time once I'm home the second part of the week (and this time, I promise I WILL actually cook while home!) Check back in about a week :)