Being the planner that I am, I wantd to make a dinner ahead of time for a post-wine country evening. I know how a long and hard a day in Napa can be. You come home and the last thing that you want to do is think about cooking, and execute on cooking. Sure, going out to dinner may be the easiest route, but there's something nice about just being able to kick your feet up and relax after your brain has been busy all day deciphering between wine notes and finishes and mouth feel...
What came to mind while thinking about a comforting, tasty, make-ahead dish was Lasagna. A dish that Derek and I rarely make because it isn't miuch of a two person dish. It could be adapted to be a two person dish, but with the amount of work that goes into it, better to just make the whole beast.
As always, I searched and searched the Internet for the "perfect" lasagna dish to please the meat eater guest palate but to not tip over the scales TOO TOO much with an overabundance of cheese and meaty goodness. My search came up dry. If it were me, I'd do my traditional Roasted Vegetable Lasagna that I've made on a few different occassions. Void of meat, ricotta (not my favorite) and inclusive of some vegetables so it looks like a somewhat balanced meal. Wanting to "impress" or satisfy our guests, however, I opted for the meaty version and decided to simply "wing it" by going to my favorite grocery store and picking out whatever caught my eye.
The result: Buffalo Lasagna with Mushrooms and Spinach
a true Derek/Katie creation
serves 6-8 (for us, 6)
Ingredients:
2/3 lb. ground bison
1/3 lb. ground pork
1 T. fresh thyme
salt
2.5 cups of homemade marinara sauce (or good quality store bought sauce)
1.5 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic (about 2 tsp.)
1 T. EVOO
1.5-2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
4-5 cups spinach
pinch red chili pepper flakes
2 T. dry vermouth
2 t. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 cup freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese
6-7 lasagna noodles (flat)
Step 1: Brown the ground pison and pork in a large pan until no longer pink. Add the thyme a sprinkle of salt to the meat for direct flavor absorption. Stir in marinara sauce and let simmer for about 10 minutes on a low temperature to incorporate the flavors. Set aside.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, nutmeg, and parsley. Set aside.
Step 3: In a saute pan, heat the EVOO. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to give off their liquid (about 5 minutes). Add salt, pepper, red chili pepper flakes. Add spinach, dry vermouth and red wine vinegar and cook until spinach is wilted.
Step 4: Assembly! The following is the order that we layered our lasagna:
9x9 Pan
Layer of Meat Sauce (1/3 of batch)
Noodles
Layer of Meat Sauce
Ricotta Mixture (1/2)
Fresh Marjoram (1 tsp.)
Spinach/Mushrooms (1/2)
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Noodles
Layer of Meat Sauce
Ricotta Mixtures (1/2)
Spinach/Mushrooms (1/2)
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Noodles
Plain Marinara Sauce (or meat if leftover) - 1/2 cup
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Pecorino-Romano
Step 5: Bake at 375 degrees with foil over the pan for 45 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes and serve!
Step 6: Spoon a little heated up marinara over the top - bon appetit!
We served this with a green salad with Easter egg radish and carrots with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
Notes: You could probably use a little more meat if you wanted. I liked it as an accent rather than a full-on meaty dish. The reason why I added some pork into the mix was that the bison is so super lean, the pork adds the necessary fat into the dish.
It was so nice to be able to just pop this in the oven when we got home. I had frozen the lasagna on Friday night after we made it and then took it out on Sunday to thaw out. It was perfect by the time we got home Sunday night. Derek and I agreed that the dish felt "light" but not skimping. It was a great meld of flavors. You can beef it up more if you wish but for me, it's something that I wouldn't feel badly having the leftovers again - a good ending to wine country...enjoyed with, what else, wine! (A Zinfindel from Milat Winery in Napa)
What came to mind while thinking about a comforting, tasty, make-ahead dish was Lasagna. A dish that Derek and I rarely make because it isn't miuch of a two person dish. It could be adapted to be a two person dish, but with the amount of work that goes into it, better to just make the whole beast.
As always, I searched and searched the Internet for the "perfect" lasagna dish to please the meat eater guest palate but to not tip over the scales TOO TOO much with an overabundance of cheese and meaty goodness. My search came up dry. If it were me, I'd do my traditional Roasted Vegetable Lasagna that I've made on a few different occassions. Void of meat, ricotta (not my favorite) and inclusive of some vegetables so it looks like a somewhat balanced meal. Wanting to "impress" or satisfy our guests, however, I opted for the meaty version and decided to simply "wing it" by going to my favorite grocery store and picking out whatever caught my eye.
The result: Buffalo Lasagna with Mushrooms and Spinach
a true Derek/Katie creation
serves 6-8 (for us, 6)
Ingredients:
2/3 lb. ground bison
1/3 lb. ground pork
1 T. fresh thyme
salt
2.5 cups of homemade marinara sauce (or good quality store bought sauce)
1.5 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic (about 2 tsp.)
1 T. EVOO
1.5-2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
4-5 cups spinach
pinch red chili pepper flakes
2 T. dry vermouth
2 t. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 cup freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese
6-7 lasagna noodles (flat)
Step 1: Brown the ground pison and pork in a large pan until no longer pink. Add the thyme a sprinkle of salt to the meat for direct flavor absorption. Stir in marinara sauce and let simmer for about 10 minutes on a low temperature to incorporate the flavors. Set aside.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, nutmeg, and parsley. Set aside.
Step 3: In a saute pan, heat the EVOO. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to give off their liquid (about 5 minutes). Add salt, pepper, red chili pepper flakes. Add spinach, dry vermouth and red wine vinegar and cook until spinach is wilted.
Step 4: Assembly! The following is the order that we layered our lasagna:
9x9 Pan
Layer of Meat Sauce (1/3 of batch)
Noodles
Layer of Meat Sauce
Ricotta Mixture (1/2)
Fresh Marjoram (1 tsp.)
Spinach/Mushrooms (1/2)
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Noodles
Layer of Meat Sauce
Ricotta Mixtures (1/2)
Spinach/Mushrooms (1/2)
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Noodles
Plain Marinara Sauce (or meat if leftover) - 1/2 cup
Mozzarella (1/3 cup)
Pecorino-Romano
Step 5: Bake at 375 degrees with foil over the pan for 45 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes and serve!
Step 6: Spoon a little heated up marinara over the top - bon appetit!
We served this with a green salad with Easter egg radish and carrots with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
Notes: You could probably use a little more meat if you wanted. I liked it as an accent rather than a full-on meaty dish. The reason why I added some pork into the mix was that the bison is so super lean, the pork adds the necessary fat into the dish.
It was so nice to be able to just pop this in the oven when we got home. I had frozen the lasagna on Friday night after we made it and then took it out on Sunday to thaw out. It was perfect by the time we got home Sunday night. Derek and I agreed that the dish felt "light" but not skimping. It was a great meld of flavors. You can beef it up more if you wish but for me, it's something that I wouldn't feel badly having the leftovers again - a good ending to wine country...enjoyed with, what else, wine! (A Zinfindel from Milat Winery in Napa)
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