Thanks to DWT for the first recipe of this fun thread:
UNINTENTIONAL LASAGNE
So. Dinner tonight is a new recipe - "Unintentional Lasagne"
First time I've made it, and most likely the last as well,
I HAD planned on stuffing cannelloni with spinach & ricotta, so I got set up for that.
The canelloni had no cooking instructions, so I went online and found a supposed chef who said "boil 8 to 10 minutes until Al Dente.
I looked at what he took out of the pot and Al Dente was not what I saw, so I decided to try six minutes.
Should have been four.
So, here I am with a spinach & ricotta mix, ready to stuff into cannelloni with all the spine of a snail, or a Republican congressman.
After a vain attempt to stuff the first (and a few foul words, sigh)I had a brainstorm, complete with thunder, ouch. I cut the cannelloni lengthwise and it looked suspiciously like lasagna noodles (leaving me to wonder if the first lasagna was an accident as well)
I'd already poured some roasted garlic pasta sauce into the baking dish to act as a base for the now-spineless pasta, so I laid out the now cut cannelloni over that, with a layer of ricotta & spinach and proceeded from there.
At the top layer, however, I ran out. Of ricotta, sauce, and patience.
So, I added the remainder of a jar of Herdez medium salsa, some extra sharp cheddar and about 1/2 pouch of 4 cheese Mexican blend.
It's all in the oven now, and I'm about to go look. . .
Not nearly done.
So now it is a race between my appetite for unintentional Lasagne and my appetite for cheap port wine.
So far, the wine is winning, but it did, after all, have a big headstart, as I was sipping it the whole time I was mismanaging my dinner cooking chores.
Warning! My pride tells me - "ReRead this and check for spelling, typos, etc." My port wine tells me, "Just POST the damn thing"
I am posting
Yum. How was it? Apart from Yum I mean?
ReplyDeleteIt actually turned out very well. Wish I'd had more ricotta, but the taste was excellent.
ReplyDeleteMy son Gus ate a batch last night and another before leaving for his job this afternoon
Yay!
DeleteMmm...that sounds SO good DWT! My favorite kind of cooking is inventing recipes with what I have on hand. I've come up with some great meals, and a few stinkers as well. :))
DeleteI love this thread. Thanks everyone! And keep the recipes coming!
A few weeks ago on one of our many treks to the family doc (now that we live in the burbs the trek to the doc is substantial. We are loath to give up our place on their patient list as there are no family doctors taking new patients in our area). Anyhoo, we were a tad early for the appointment and rather hungry so we popped in to a place near by called Be Fresh. They have the most amazing, beautiful looking, healthy food at very reasonable prices. That day I had a bowl of Moroccan Chicken soup and instantly knew that I had to try to replicate it at home!
ReplyDeleteI am very pleased to say that I managed that and we had the most delicious soup for dinner today. If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know and I'll post it here.
Me!!! I'm interested! I love making soup. :)
DeletePost it, Fay, please! I'm always on the lookout, even though I usually only use recipes as inspiration.
ReplyDeleteHere is the soup recipe. As with any soup/stew recipe feel free to adjust, omit, add as you please. However the Ras el Hanout is non-negotiable!
ReplyDeleteMoroccan Chicken Soup
I large boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut in half if very large)
2 tbsps. olive oil
Black pepper
2 large carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
½ large sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 teasps. Ras el Hanout (Moroccan spice mixture)
4 cups chicken stock/broth
1 cup water
14-15 oz can crushed tomatoes
14-15 oz can white Cannellini beans
Juice from one lemon
Season chicken with salt & pepper and sauté both sides in 1 tbsp. olive oil until golden (about 4 to 5 mins.) Put chicken in slow cooker. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and saute the onions, carrots and celery until just starting to soften. Add vegetables to chicken. Add the garlic to the pan and sprinkle with the Ras el Hanout stir constantly until spices and garlic are browned (do not allow to burn). Add garlic/spice mixture to slow cooker. Pour about a cup of the stock/broth into the pan and scrape up any remaining garlic/spice mixture, add to slow cooker together with the remaining stock, water, and can of crushed tomatoes. Stir well. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. Add the beans during the final hour of cooking. Remove chicken and shred with two forks, return chicken to pot. Add lemon juice to taste and serve with crusty bread. Enjoy!
Hmm - wonder what is in that spice mixture? I have no place I know of within driving distance, to find such a thing
ReplyDeleteDances, here's the list of ingredients from my jar:
DeleteGinger, black pepper, fennel, coriander, mace, cardamom, allspice, turmeric, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne, nigella, Szechuan peppercorns, lavender, rose petals, saffron.
Available from Amazon.
Thanks fay - Interesting combination
DeleteOK - Another unusual recipe that I 'rediscovered' from my memory bank, and made last night.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually my second wife's creation, many years ago, and the best thing she ever cooked.
So of course I did not do it exactly the same way, but here it is:
Strangely Breaded Italian Roast Chicken
The nice thing about this is that it is really a method, rather than a recipe, and so could be done with nearly any number of other ingredients, as well.
The only necessities are boneless, skinless chicken, Italian salad dressing and Italian breadcrumbs.
The use of Italian dressing and bread crumbs pretty much removes any need for added seasoning, but. . .
It is simple.
Oil your baking dish, I used a spray olive oil.
Pour in some Italian bread crumbs to make an even layer about 1/2 inch deep on the bottom.
Last night I added Vitamin C by cutting a large yellow onion into thick slices and laying them over the crumbs, but as I said, anything, or nothing, would work there.
Lay out skinless, boneless chicken in a single layer on top of that.
Shake up your salad dressing and pour it gently over the chicken to marinate the chicken and soak the bread crumbs without washing any empty spaces into the layer. I used a whole (small) bottle for this.
Then add enough bread crumbs to cover the chicken.
Put into a 350 Degree oven (that's 177C for those handicapped by metrics) and wait.
The vinegar cooks off as it is roasting, the chicken stays amazingly tender and the oil & bread crumbs combine to form a nice crust.
I added some shaker Parmesan when serving, but as I said, you could do nearly anything with this.
In any case, it turned out well, and maybe I will try it with variations, such as different dressings, meat, etc.
It really is a method, instead of a recipe.
Haahaahaha, loved this story, Fay!
ReplyDeleteNo need to worry, you're such a wonderful cook. I often fix your recipes - roasted fryer with lemon & rosemary, yorkshire pudding, rosemary carrots...
Matt is a lucky man! Even with accidental lasagne :-)
Hi florrie, DWT gets all the glory for "Unintentional Lasagna" I just copied his story from his comment on another thread and made it into a thread of its own!
DeleteLMAO!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, leave it to me to get it wrong! When I remember something I've been trying to think of, Tom says "you hit on a live one" :-)
For full disclosure, I was awfully surprised that Fay would put salsa and cheddar cheese on anything Italian, heh, heh.
I was awfully surprised that Fay would put salsa and cheddar cheese on anything Italian, heh, heh....or "4 cheese Mexican blend", hee hee!
DeleteWe always give my older sister a hard time for bringing plain lemon jello to a family get together decades ago.
ReplyDeleteNow, if a one of us is planning something and she asks what she can bring, we say "how about some plain lemon jello?".
Hee, hee, she still loves us...
Love it florrie!
DeleteI only did it because I ran out of ricotta & roasted garlic pasta sauce, but really, the two cuisines are not that far apart in spicing, and it did turn out well
ReplyDeleteI'd probably do the same, Dances!
ReplyDeleteNo criticism meant at all. I enjoyed the post.
Have a very healthy & happy new year....