1. Broccoli and Bacon Salad
  2. Deli-Style Pasta Salad
  3. Avacado Corn Salad

I’ve been happily eating these leftovers from our picnic on Sunday the last few days, eyeing the dwindling stock of salads sadly, knowing that I have to share with everyone else who has access to the fridge upstairs (which at the moment is at least 4 other adults). They last quite well, except for the everyone eating them before me part.

I love recipes with lots of colorful vegetables and a nice mix of flavors and textures. Anything that can be made ahead is also great for events like this, especially if they involve enough ingredients to make the chopping & mixing take a little bit longer.

The only one here with points off for easy make-ahead prep work is the Avacado salad, which has the base mixed up early and then you chop & add the avacados shortly before eating.

For picnics, I try to avoid having anything with much mayonnaise so I don’t need to worry about leaving it out. The broccoli salad fails on that level, but the NY Times says that the vinegar in mayo makes it safe and this salad has extra vinegar, so it must be fine?

One of these recipes – the Broccoli Salad with Bacon – is a favorite from my Mom, copied down after a potluck with friends years ago and made regularly for events with family, friends, or our church ever since.

The Deli Style Pasta Salad and Avacado Corn Salad are copied from Taste of Home magazines I subscribed to in the 90s, carefully organized and taped together when they’ve been too well loved.

Last summer I posted recipes for two of my other favorite summer salads, which also succeed in all of these markers:

Tropical Fruit Salad with Honey-Mint Dressing	Black Bean Corn Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Broccoli Bacon Salad

This version makes about 12-16 servings, depending on how hungry people are or how many salads you made for the event.

salad:

• 2 lbs. raw broccoli flowerets, separated into bite-size pieces
• 1-2 large red onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins (or dried cranberries, if you like)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 3/4 cup chopped crispy bacon or bacon bits

dressing:

• 1 1/2 c. light mayonnaise
• 3/4 cup vinegar (red wine or apple cider, preferably)
• 3/4 cup sugar

Mix together salad ingredients. Stir dressing ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Pour dressing over salad and stir together. Refrigerate a few hours to let flavors blend. The longer you keep it in the dressing, the softer the broccoli and raisins will be.

I like it soft, but if that isn’t appealing to you you can wait to add the dressing until closer to serving. I also use more dressing because I like it soft – if you prefer it crunchy,  you can reduce the dressing and reduce the least healthy aspects of this.

Ingredients	Dressing Mixture	Slicing Bacon	Salad Mix

Deli-Style Pasta Salad

From the June/July issue of Taste of Home, recipe from Joyce McLennan of Algonac, Michigan – adjusted for a larger batch (12 meal size servings or 16-20 regular servings)

salad ingredients:

• 1 package (12 oz.) tricolor pasta
• 8 oz. sliced salami
• 8 oz. provolone cheese, cubed
• 1 6 oz. can ripe olives, sliced
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 medium red pepper, chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

dressing ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground mustard
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• dash of pepper

Cook pasta, being sure not to let it get too soft. Drain immediately and rinse in cold water. Mix in the rest of the prepared salad ingredients (the prep work on this can take a little bit, so give yourself enough time or recruit a helper). Mix together the dressing and pour over the salad. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight to give the flavors time to soak into the pasta. Garnish with tomatoes, if desired.

Ingredients	Chopped Fillings
Dressing Ingredients	Mixed Salad

Avocado Corn Salad

I didn’t think I needed another corn salad beyond the one I’ve developed with black beans, limes, and lots of cilantro. But this one uses avocados, olives, and a bit of oregano and is delicious. Good for people who don’t like cilantro! Can also be eaten as a chunky salsa with chips, if you like to have finger-food options.

Makes about 7 cups – from Taste of Home October/November 1997, recipe from Susan Vandermeer of Ogden, Utah

salad ingredients:

• 1 package (16 oz.) frozen corn, thawed
• 1 can (6 oz.) ripe olives, sliced
• 1 medium red pepper, sliced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 medium ripe avocados (kept for last)

dressing ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. cider or white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine all salad ingredients except avocados. Combine dressing ingredients and stir into corn mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving, chop avocados and stir into salad.

Salad Ingredients	Dressing Ingredients

This is the second year we’ve planned a picnic for Mother’s Day. As usual, we may have gone a bit overboard with the menu planning. But how would sticking to the basics be any fun?

Any event in honor of our mother is a chance to represent our whole family in the menu. We find ourselves returning to some of her favorites and some of ours, adding a few new things too each time. For her birthday last year we had 2 big meals and 3 birthday cakes. And that’s nothing compared to her 60th birthday party (all of these were homemade):

As we put together the menu, I realized I should post several of these separately because we’ve made them for so many summer birthday events now.

I’ll work on that next, since I’ve made them enough times to have all the photos I need. I’ll add links back to this post later, since we still need to go on our picnic now.

Finger Food:

• Tortilla chips with Mango-Peach Salsa
• Pita chips with homemade hummus (Mom’s favorite)
• Watermelon
• Green Grapes
• Strawberries

Sandwiches:

• Cucumber with Lemon-Chive butter (from my 30th birthday, my sister’s birthday, last Mother’s Day)
• Ham & Cheese on Pretzel Buns
• Roast Chicken on Garlic Bread with Pepperjack cheese & baby kale
• Egg Salad with smoked tea eggs
• Nutella & Apple sandwiches

Salads:

• Broccoli Salad (Mom’s favorite)
• Deli-Style Pasta Salad (from my birthday)
• Avocado Corn Salad (new favorite!)

Recipes posted here: Favorite Picnic Salads

Desserts:

• Citrus Swedish Springerle
• Lemon-Blueberry Muffins (from my brother’s birthday)

Beverages:

• Lemonade
• Strawberry-Rhubarb Hibiscus Iced Tea
• Goose Island Root Beer
• Izze Sodas

All that remained after dinner, since we served it immediately. This is about 3 servings here.

I’ve had my eye on this Brazilian recipe since I got my Latin American cookbook several years ago, but hadn’t found a chance to make it until last night. It was very popular, though people weren’t quite sure what the difference was until I mentioned the sweet potato was one of the main ingredients in the cake batter.

The rest of the batter is primarily eggs and ground walnuts, so it is very rich and moist. Add in the walnut and custard filling and chocolate over the top and you will definitely want to serve this in small slices. Yet somehow with all those rich ingredients it still doesn’t overwhelm your mouth the way many flourless chocolate cakes do. With some gluten-free substitution for the small amount of bread crumbs, this could work well for people with that sort of food restriction.

This has almost 3 cups of walnuts in it, given the ground nuts in the batter and the chopped ones in filling, so I was happy to have fresh ones brought back by a friend from her family’s farm in Oregon. A worthy use for them, I think!

Torta de Batata Doce

Sweet Potato Chocolate Torte

Assembled Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 large sweet potatoes (at least 1 lb. worth)
• 5 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar (plus 2 Tbsp, also separated)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c. ground walnuts (this will take at least 2 cups of whole/chopped ones and is best done in a food processor or blender)
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs (or gluten-free alternative)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 large egg yolks
• 6 Tbsp. sugar

Chocolate Glaze:

• 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

Cook the sweet potatoes first – in a covered dish in the microwave this takes about 6 minutes, but baking them until soft would probably take up to an hour in the oven. Leave the skins on, cook them until you can prod them and see they’re soft, then let them cool before removing the center and mashing it up for the cake batter.

To start on the cake batter, separate the eggs carefully, making sure first sure you’re working with clean, grease-free bowl and beaters for your mixer. Beat up the egg whites until frothy, then add the 2 tbsp. sugar slowly and beat until stiff (they’ll fit in a smaller mixer bowl, but just barely) and set them to the side. Now you don’t have to worry about getting fat on anything else and deflating them before you’re done. Work on the yolks and sugar next, beating them until they are a very light, thick, sticky mixture that has increased in volume.

That’s basically the tricky part of this recipe, but if you have a clean mixer and are careful separating the eggs it will be very easy.

Next, mix the rest of the cake ingredients into the egg yolk sticky mixture: sweet potatoes, vanilla, ground walnuts, and bread crumbs. You should now have two bowls, one with a thick sticky batter and one with the fluffy, stiff egg whites. Mixing these two together without deflating them is just a matter of being gentle – use a spatula and fold them together using a slow, vertical stir that folds the two mixtures together without mashing down all the bubbles in the egg whites.

When you have your batter ready, get your pans ready. This is a pretty sticky batter with all those eggs and you want it to come out easily, so butter the pans thoroughly then line them with parchment paper or wax kitchen paper to get them out quickly and neatly. Butter the paper too, so you can remove it from the cake without tearing it up. Spread the batter into the pans as neatly as you can – without any other leavening than the eggs, this won’t rise and smooth out later.

Bake at 325 for 40 minutes, then let cool in the pans. Very, very carefully run a thin knife around the edges (the cake tears easily), then remove the cakes from the pans and peel off the paper. Set on wire racks to cool completely.

The filling & topping don’t take very long to put together, but you should leave the chocolate glaze until you’re ready to assemble the cake so it will still be soft enough to spread. I don’t have any photos of these steps because I did them quickly while people were finishing up dinner, but I’ve already been asked to make it again for one of my friends soon, so perhaps I’ll come back and illustrate this fully when that happens.

Filling: Cook the walnuts in the water and simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavor soak out. Mix in the egg yolks and sugar and cook, stirring carefully to keep it from burning. It should thicken rather quickly, but it doesn’t need to be set, just thick enough to spread. Remove from the pan and let it cool.

Glaze: When you’re ready to assemble it, carefully melt the butter and chocolate together and stir in the corn syrup – again, keep the heat rather low since this could burn quickly. Assemble the cake and filling on the serving pan, then spread a thin layer of chocolate glaze over the cake. Cut into thin slices (1″ or less, it’s rich!) to serve!

They have buttery, tender crusts with yuca mashed into it and a rich filling that balances the flavors of garlic and shrimp, coconut and chillies, lime and cilantro so none of them overpower the rest.

This recipe has a few “exotic” ingredients you won’t find in every American grocery store. But the roots are from Brazil through African influences, so if you have access to either African or Latin American groceries, you may be able to get your hands on them.

I keep the yuca in the freezer and the the oil is pantry stuff, so that I can make these rather easily. And I’ve taken to using frozen cooked shrimp because it’s easier too.

Pasteos de Aipim e Camarão

Yuca Shrimp Turnovers

Masa (dough)

• 8 oz. trimmed fresh or frozen yuca, cooked
• 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) softened unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt

Relleno (filling)

• 1 lb. small shrimp, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. red palm oil (dende)

Ingredient note: This was the first time I was able to make them with the red palm oil (which I found in an African grocery store in Chicago) and I loved the difference it made in the color of the filling. The flavor might have been slightly different but not so strong you couldn’t substitute something else. If you want to get the bright yellow color and can’t find the dende oil (as it’s called in my Latin American cookbook) you could see if Annatto oil is more possible (fry annatto seeds in olive oil, then strain out the seeds). Or just use olive oil, they’ll still be delicious.

• 1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 c. coconut milk
• 1 jalapeno, seeded & minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. finely minced cilantro
• 1 egg, beaten with a bit of water

Dough:

Ingredient Note: Fresh yuca or yucca (sometimes marked as cassava) is a time-consuming veggie to cook – very hard, with waxy covers that have to be chopped at to be removed, then slow to cook and having lots of long fibers down the middle you need to remove before you can use it. Not impossible stuff, but time consuming. I was very happy when I started using frozen yuca instead – easier to microwave, already peeled, not may fibers left in it.

Don’t use a food processor to mash the yucca – anything too vigorous will make it gummy. A fork or potato masher is fine, but keep a light hand with it. It’s ok to have to pick a few chunks of veggie out of the dough later but still have a tender dough.

When you have the yuca mashed, then cream the butter in a mixer and add in the flour with the mashed yuca to get a soft, smooth dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes or put it in the fridge – but don’t try to use it chilled. It will need to be room temperature to roll out because it has so much butter in it.

Filling:

Mix together the lime juice and chopped shrimp while you get the rest of the filling ingredients together – let it sit for about 15 minutes. Cook the onion & garlic in the oil (see the ingredient note for substitutions, if needed) and cook until tender. Add in the shrimp and sprinkle on the flour to begin thickening the filling (I forgot and added it after the coconut milk, which worked but not as quickly). Saute until well mixed, than add the coconut milk and stir until it begins to form a thickened gravy. Add in the jalapeno, salt, and cilantro and set off the heat to cool.

The main challenge is not eating it before you get to the assembly stage

Assembly

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Roll out the dough to an even 1/8″ thickness – it will need to be room temperature to roll easily and you may need to pick out chunks of yuca or patch it as it tears because it is so tender. You can easily re-roll the remainder after you cut the 3″ squares. Try to keep track of how may you’ve made as you go so you don’t forget and let the dough get so thick you don’t have enough to use with the filling.

When you have the squares cut, add 1 Tablespoon filling to the squares and fold over to seal. Brush with mixture of egg and water to get a lovely golden gleam to them and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

Should make 24!

Yummy!

The cookbook notes you can also place them on a cookie sheet before you bake them and freeze them until solid, then remove and place in a bag for later baking if you want to make them ahead, you’ll just need to cook them 5 min. longer. This is a great cookbook, which I have recommended before: Maria Baez Kijac’s The South American Table

I love how simple and flavorful both of these salads are – they both have a mixture of great textures, too. Both mix a bit of creamy (avocado or feta) with crunchy (celery or walnuts) and bright fruit flavors (pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries).  There’s nothing wrong with a standard spinach & strawberry salad with balsamic vinaigrette too, but these will bit a bit more memorable.

The avacado salad is from Chile and the cookbook I found it in – Maria Baez Kijac’s excellent The South American Table – notes that it is traditionally served at Christmas with turkey and most people put walnuts in it but the author likes fresh pomegranate seeds for their bright color and crunch.

The kale salad is known in our family as “Denise’s salad” and looked for at potlucks, where we know it’s namesake will bring it and make sure it’s made with the best possible ingredients. Many people who’ve never really tried kale before love it when they try this salad and they often request the recipe later.

We also make it ourselves frequently for special dinners, though I admit we sometimes cheat and use purchased raspberry vinaigrette ourselves, if we are running short on time. Look for a dressing with a high ratio of raspberry puree if you’re buying it at the store.

Chilean Christmas Avacado Salad

• 3 ripe Haas avacados, cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 3 cups celery, cut into 1/4″ slices
• 1 fresh pomegranate, seeded

Dressing:

• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• pinch of sugar

Mix together celery and avocado in a medium bowl. Mix together dressing ingredients and beat until well mixed. Stir dressing into veggies and toss well. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle top with pomegranate seeds.

(I like more pomegranate seeds than the original recipe calls for, so I mix some in with the dressing and keep a portion to the side to put on top)

Denise’s Kale Salad with Dried Cranberries

This is more of a “grab a few ingredients at the store & mix to taste” kind of recipe:

Yummy bright red pomegranate seeds

There’s a little over 2 oz. of rum per serving, which is on the light side for a cocktail this size. Still, you might not taste it with the fruit flavors masking it, so keep that in mind if you have any lightweights about.

still green, just buried in the first snowfall

I’ve been bringing this to my friends’ annual Thanksmas party for a few years now – if  December has been mild enough I can often grab the last mint out of the garden for the fresh herbal flavor.

But if I don’t have mint or something else on hand, I like that I can also stop by a grocery store and pick up all the fixing on my way to the party just as easily.

Cranberry Mojitos

(6 servings)

• 1 bunch fresh mint (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3-4 fresh limes, quartered (or 1/4 cup lime juice)
• 1 3/4 cup light rum
• 3/4 cup frozen cranberry concentrate
• 2 10 oz. bottles club soda.
• 6 cups ice

Trim the smaller leaves off the ends of the mint sprigs to use for garnish and place the larger leaves in the bottom of a large pitcher. Add in the sugar and fresh limes, if you have them.

Using a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon, mash 1 bunch trimmed fresh mint (about 1 cup) with sugar and fresh limes in bottom of large pitcher until the limes are juiced and the leaves are bruised.

Stir in light rum (and lime juice, if you don’t have fresh limes) until sugar is dissolved  Mix in 3/4 cup thawed frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate and two 10-ounce bottles of chilled sparkling water. Mix in 6 cups ice.

Serve with small slices of lime and sprigs of mint to garnish:

Original Source: Andrew Knowlton, Bon Appetit

To make this many gingerbread houses year after year without hating the process you really need a system. And a few good recipes. It took failed attempts year after year before we got this down but I think it’s pretty much foolproof now. The instructions below are written in much more detail than most of my recipes, but I figure it’s better to include the stuff I’ve learned by trial and error.

The system: think about the size of the houses so you don’t get tired of decorating them halfway through. Here’s one of my patterns Gingerbread House Pattern (it’s a pdf you can print out). This version makes several (3-4) houses about 6″ tall with decorations, depending on factors like how thin you roll the dough and if you trim the cookie pieces after baking them.

After all our early attempts had roofs that aways slid off  we realized the icing is actually the most important part to the puzzle. You’ll need to get meringue powder - the rest is pretty simple. You could totally use graham crackers if you wanted to and skip the baking, but you’ve got to have the frosting. We’ve done the graham cracker approach once, though involved using a dremel to carve out crenellations.

For the dough, I also found a recipe for the batter that is easy to remix multiple times – which means less waste – and dries very hard very quickly without requiring very many expensive ingredients. It also smells great, though if you decide to eat it you might want to put it in a ziplock bag with a few apple slices to try to soften it up a bit (it works!). Otherwise the tendency to be rock-hard is very advantageous for “sugar architects” as some of our frequent guests at these events like to style themselves.

Gingerbread Dough:

• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 cup shortening

You’re not reading that wrong – there’s no liquid in this recipe except for the molasses. But you do liquify the shortening by mixing this up on the stovetop. Add a bit more shortening if you see the dough get very crumbly, but microwaving the dough with a small sprinkling of water often does the same trick if it starts to cool down.

Measure flour carefully so you don’t “pack” it in – the dough will be hard to work with if you’ve put in too much flour. Combine flour and other dry ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. Set aside. Combine sugar and molasses in another container. Set aside. In a large saucepan (a dutch oven works well) melt the shortening over medium heat. Stir in molasses and sugar, then add dry mixture a little at a time until completely mixed. Turn down the heat if you notice it sticking to the bottom of the pan at all.

It is very easy to roll out this dough while it’s hot, but it’s also sticky while it’s hot. Try not to add flour – it will show up on the pieces since it’s a dark dough. Also, it can be hard to pick up the pieces when they’re soft, so sometimes I just roll it out on the cookie sheet directly, then cut out the shapes and remove the extra dough from the cookie sheet. You do NOT have to grease the sheets. That’s the easiest way to make sure they don’t get stretched out of the right shape.

You can use a sheet of waxed paper over the dough can help keep it from sticking to your rolling pin or hands (if it’s not so hot it will burn you). Aim to get it about 1/4″ thick, thicker for big houses and much thinner (1/8″ is fine) for cookies.

As the dough cools, it will get firmer. To get it soft again, put it in a ziplock bag and microwave it for 20-30 seconds with a small sprinkling of water – I just run my hand under the faucet ad sprinkle and sprinkle it over the dough, then knead it together while it’s hot. You shouldn’t ever have to add any more flour.

If you make fairly small simple houses this can make about 4 houses. I’m attaching a sample pattern, but you can obviously do whatever you like with the dough. This size makes a house about 5″ tall, depending on how puffy your dough is and how thick you roll it out: Gingerbread House Pattern

I make a pattern out of stiffer paper and lay it on top of the dough, then cut around them using a butter knife. Leave at least an inch between each piece of dough, because it does puff a bit as it bakes. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-15 minutes (how long depends on the size – watch until it gets a little bit darker at the edges and doesn’t look as wet in the center. Bigger pieces might still be a little soft when they come out, so be careful taking them off the sheets.

If they puffed a lot, you might want to trim a small bit (1/4″-1/2″) off the rounded edges with a sharp knife while it’s warm so they’ll be easier to connect and they’ll all be even. Let them cool completely before you start to assemble them and they’ll get nice and hard.

Royal Frosting Recipe:

• 3 level tablespoons meringue powder
• 4 cups (1 lb.) sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 5-6 tablespoons lukewarm water

Measure the powdered sugar carefully – you want it to look soft but not runny when you first mix the ingredients together. Once everything is mixed, beat it on medium speed in a mixer for 5-10 minutes. It will get very fluffy and shiny. When you can swipe a finger in it and the frosting stays standing up, it’s done.

I use small ziplock bags to spread the frosting – turn the seal area inside out so it isn’t touching the frosting and put a cup or two in the bag at a time. Seal the bag, removing the extra air. Zip the bag, then use a twist-tie or string under the zipper to tie it tightly shut (this keeps the frosting from squeezing out the back as you go. Cut a 1/4″ off the tip of one corner and you’re ready to go!

Assembly:

It takes a little bit for the frosting to dry – at least 10-15 minutes. So I usually have the houses assembled and ready for our guests when they arrive. This has also taken some trial and error – feel free to experiment, but keep in mind the time involved will make this less fun if you have to wait with all that candy sitting out temptingly.

Start by getting a base ready the size you want people to be able to take home. I usually cut a piece of cardboard several inches wider than the “box” of the house and cover it in foil. A heavy paper plate will also work, but if it has ridges it may make it harder to get the icing around the bottom neatly when you’re decorating it.

If the frosting is fairly soft or you’re doing a big house, connect the front, back and sides and let it dry before you add the roof. Small houses can usually be done all at once. If you smoosh the frosting into the corners on the inside (gently) that can help the frosting really take hold. When the house is assembled, let it sit until the frosting dries before you start decorating it.

Not sure where to find the meringue powder? Here’s a link on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-oz-Meringue-Powder-Mix/dp/B0001DS5Z8

Here are some samples of what we’ve done over the years (before 2006 I didn’t have a film scanner so the pics are in boxes somewhere):

2006, a Master Craftsman at work:

2006, Witch’s House (at work):

2007, the year of the Dremel:

(the cats chewed off the carefully carved crenellations right away, alas)

2007, Mini Gingerbread Houses:

2007, Gingerbread Gift Box:

2008, friends at work:

2008, Gingerbread Beach House:

2009 – Big House & Smiley House:

2010, Sugar Architects at work:

2010, Gumdrop Piggy:

2011, Frilly Heart House

2011 – with Presents & Christmas Trees:

And MANY more pictures where those came from.

This is not a quick & easy recipe, but the flavor makes it worth the extra effort. The last time we made it, we made a triple batch so we could have a few extra to put in the freezer for instant dinner parties.

Since I clipped this recipe from a Better Homes & Garden’s feature on a family’s traditional recipes years ago, we’ve made this recipe so often that we always try to have a few extra bags of frozen roasted red peppers so we can make it easily at any time.

I suppose we could also just buy roasted peppers if we were in a hurry, but we’re cheap, so we buy them up when they’re on sale at the peak of their season in the fall and freeze them so the lasagna will have the best possible flavor.

Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna

• 5 md Red sweet peppers (3/4 lb. total)
• 1 1/2 Tbs  olive oil
• 3 14.5 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 2/3 cup parsley; Snipped
• 5 cloves  Garlic; minced
• 1 tsp     black pepper
• 2/3 cup   butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup    flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 3 1/4 cup milk
• 15-18 lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese; finely grated

1  For red pepper sauce, halve red peppers; remove stems, seeds, and membranes. Place peppers, cut side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake in a 425 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or till skin is bub

Note: at this point you can bag up the peppers, removing as much air as  possible, and put them in the freezer for later.

2  In a large saucepan cook red pepper in hot oil over medium heat for 1 minute. Stir in undrained tomatoes, parsley, garlic, and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring often. Set aside to cool.

3  For bechamel sauce, in a medium saucepan melt butter or margarine. Stir in flour, salt, and nutmeg till smooth. (This is called a “roux,” and is the first step for most white sauces, cream gravies, or cream soups). Add milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Set aside to cool.

4  To cook pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to boiling. (Add 1 teaspoon cooking oil to water, if desired, to prevent pasta from sticking.) Add a few strips of pasta to water; return to boiling. Cook, uncovered, 6 minutes or till just tender. Remove pasta with a slotted spoon and immediately immerse in cold water. Repeat with the remaining pasta. (Or, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; immerse in cold water.) Remove cooked pasta with a slotted spoon and place on a large towel to remove excess water; blot dry with another towel.

5  To assemble, grease the bottom of a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Cover bottom with about one-fourth of the pasta, trimming pasta as necessary. Spread about 1 1/4 cups of the red pepper sauce over the pasta. Drizzle about 3/4 cup of the bechamel sauce over the red pepper sauce; sprinkle with about 1/3 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat twice more with the pasta, red pepper sauce, bechamel sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Top with the remaining pasta and bechamel sauce; sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.

6  Bake, uncovered, in a 350 F oven 30 to 35 minutes or till bubbly and light brown on top. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with tomatoes and fresh herbs, if desired. Makes 8 main-dish servings. Make-ahead directions. Assemble lasagna as directed. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate up to 24 hours. To serve, remove plastic wrap and cover with foil. Bake in a 350-F oven 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes more or till bubbly.

Yield: 10-12 servings

I find the flavor of using chickpea flour more savory and satisfying than corn polenta, though both are delicious. Corn, of course, was not a native grain in Italy, so this is technically a more authentic recipe anyway.

I buy my garbanzo flour at Indian grocery stores, where it is sold as Gram Flour or Besan. It’s definitely gluten free, so if that’s a restriction for yourself or someone you feed, it the may be nice to have on hand. It’s not quite as easy to locate in America as cornmeal, but it’s worth having and will last just fine even if you  only use it to make this dish. Which is definitely worth repeat performances.

The recipe below is the product of some experimentation. I found the recipe in a “Frugal Gourmet” cookbook the first time, but it came out too salty and, when we fried the “cakes” as instructed, soft and oily and too much trouble for the effort. I thought it still had plenty of potential, so the next time I was more careful with the seasoning and worked out a to better way to make cooking them much less trouble and much more healthy.

Ceci (Garbanzo) Polenta

• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups garbanzo flour (or gram flour or besan)
• 1/2 tsp. thyme leaves
• 1 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• salt & pepper, to taste

Bring the water to a boil with the teaspoon of salt. Set off the oven and stir in the garbanzo flour quickly with a whisk, stirring quickly to prevent it from getting lumpy. If it thickens right away, you don’t need to cook it anymore. If it still seems thin, put it back on the stove and cook it until the spoon leaves a path in the batter. Mix in the herb and cheese, then mix in the salt and pepper gradually, tasting carefully. Too much salt can quickly overwhelm the other flavors and the cheese may make it salty enough for your taste anyway.

Pour the mixture into an oiled pan and cover it with plastic wrap. Chill it in the refrigerator until firm (overnight is usually more than enough). When you’re ready to cook it, prepare two foil-covered baking sheets (not too deep or it will make this trickier) and oil them lightly with spray oil.

Cut the polenta into 1/2″ slices and lay out on one of the prepared baking sheets. Put under the broiler and cook for 5-10 minutes on low if you have that option. If not, keep an eye on it to see if it starts to burn. When the tops are all golden and crispy, remove the sheet from the oven.

Take the second foil wrapped sheet and lay it foil side down on top of the polenta. Carefully, flip the two trays and peel the foil from the “top” of the polenta cakes and return to the broiler. Watch for it to be golden and crispy again – it may take less time since they are already warm. Or, if you want to, you can of course fry the slices in olive oil on the stovetop. I found that took a long time and they tended to fall apart a lot more than corn polenta cakes. Plus they absorbed a lot of oil pretty quickly, so they got a bit on the greasy side. But that’s the traditional method if you want it!

Yield: 6 side-dish servings.

Italy, like India and many other countries with drastic climate differences and a very long history, has a wide variety of regional cuisines. I do not claim any useful knowledge of these specifics, especially not for menu planning.

I try to pick recipes I think balance well and over time we’ve seen what dishes aren’t worth the bother, at least for a really big meal. In the future perhaps I’ll begin researching regional differences and develop my menus towards authenticity.

I’ve posted all the Italian menus (or Italianish ones) I can remember here. You can see from browsing down some recipes repeat over and over, others were not as successful.

I think the most recent menu was just about perfect. I might have added the lentils with salt pork back in for filler, but everything was great without being too much work.We had 2 days to plan, shop, and prep so we aimed for simplicity. Five  of the 7 things that needed to be made from scratch used 5 or so ingredients and 3 or fewer steps, sometimes with some make-ahead options.

Mom, 2012:

• Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna - awesome, takes some extra work, but worth it every time!
• Roasted Rosemary Chicken – so simple, so good
• Parmesan Garbanzo Polenta Cakes – also simple, really easy with a make-ahead step
• Kale Salad with Feta & Pomegranate seeds in a Raspberry vinagrette – so good!!
• Peaches – we freeze these when they’re in season 
• Italian Sodas - syrups + club soda
• Lemon Granita - like Italian Ice, easy to make with 10x the fresh lemon flavor
• Plum Kuchen - not at all Italian, but still great!

Brother #2, 2012:

• Insalata Caprese – simple ingredients, as pretty as you like
• Roasted Chicken with Juniper Berries - too fussy
• Garbanzo Polenta - good, tried again & improved
• Roasted Peppers - not worth the bother with tiny peppers
• Lentils with Salt Pork - so good, need to do again soon
• Broccoli - good to add some basic greens
• Lemon Granita - YUM! My new favorite thing from this meal
• Espresso Granita – Making a large batch took a HUGE quantity of espresso. Good thing Boyo works at SB!
• Mocha Cheesecake - not Italian, just suited to the boy

Brother #1, 2011:

• Roasted Rosemary Chicken – a frequent favorite, better hot
• Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna – again, family favorite
• Spanakopita (Greek) - not Italian
• Salad - not Italian, just good
• Pies (American!) - not Italian

Houseguest Birthday, March 2011:

• Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna - how many times will this one appear?
• Spinach Gnocchi – so good, but a bit fussy
• Garlic Toast - keeping it simple
• Fruit - keeping it simple
• Strawberry Lemon Cake – not Italian, her choice

Brother #2, 2011:

• Roasted Rosemary Chicken - sensing a theme?
• Stuffed Baked Fish – don’t actually remember this 
• Ravioli (purchased frozen)
• Mushroom Risotto - delicious, pretty fussy though
• Tomato Focaccia (purchased)
• Salad
• Italian Sodas

PostChristmas/PreNew Years 2010

(a way to celebrate with friends who couldn’t see us at either official holiday):

• Roasted Chicken with Fennel & Bacon - another great roast Chicken recipe, if fennel is to be had
• Pumpkin Ravioli – not worth the bother for this recipe
• Mushroom Risotto – another fussy dish, though delicious
• Roasted Rosemary Potatoes - delicious & simple!
• Insalata Caprese – a simple dish easy to make look very pretty
• Amaretto Semifreddo - good stuff, a bit on the fussy side
• Panettone (purchased)

Brother #2, 2009:

• Stuffed Pork Loin - we don’t usually go for big hunks of meat, but this was good
• Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna – hey, again!
• Blue Corn Polenta Cakes with Mushrooms – not worth the bother
• Roasted Rosemary Potatoes – always worth the time, very simple
• Bruschetta and bread - yum!
• Salad
• Pistachio Cake with White Chocolate frosting – a little on the dry side, but actually Italian, I think

Mom, 2008

• Roasted Chicken with Fennel & Bacon – so good!
• Red Pepper Lasagna - always delicious
• Salad
• Roasted Rosemary Potatoes - YUM
• Apple Kuchen - not as good as the plum kuchen

One menu I did that I did not photograph also had stuffed spinach shells and a pumpkin frozen dessert I thought was fairly fabulous. I know I did the roasted rosemary potatoes too.  And somewhere back there we did Italian for Christmas Eve. I don’t remember the menu and there are no photos, but I do remember the homemade cheese herb ravioli in sage butter was sublime!