Sweet Potato and Spinach Lasagna

I know what some of you are thinking, because I've heard it before: "I don't do lasagna." I understand the sentiment. Lasagna has many different steps and seems rather labor intensive for what ends up as essentially a casserole. But, this version is so healthy, so tasty, so inexpensive, and freezes so well, that I do think it is worthwhile. There are a few steps, but some can be done ahead of time, and the whole process makes for a pleasant morning of cooking and a totally stress free dinner party when you are ready to just bake and serve.

This recipe is a spin-off of a Cooking Light recipe for "Parmesan and Root Vegetable Lasagna," you can see the original here: http://tiny.cc/zEIX6. I make the sauce exactly according to their directions. I thought this vegetable lasagna was a great idea, but frankly, I think my version is better. And even though the original came from Cooking Light, mine leaves out the mozzarella (which I couldn't taste when I made the original), and adds spinach, so it should be lighter.

I've made this recipe to fit two 8x8 baking dishes, because that's the perfect size for my freezer and I have two 8x8 baking dishes with snap-on lids. I make one for now and one for later; each one is four generous servings. This recipe also works for one 9x13 pan (though you would need only 9 instead of 12 lasagna sheets). If you've got the room in your freezer, you could double this recipe and make one 9x13 pan-full to feed a big group now (8 servings), and put two 8x8s in the freezer. Having one of these in the freezer is great for impromptu entertaining. I have a tendency to casually invite people over for lunch or dinner tomorrow, and then look in the fridge and realize that to pull off even a casual meal for more than two people, I need to go to the store. If I've got one of these in the freezer, all I have to do is move it to the fridge the day before to thaw. A green salad on the side makes this a refreshing meal, and I've usually got enough veggies in the house to whip up a decent salad. Cooking Light recommends serving this with a pinot noir or sangiovese, and I like it with a pinot noir.

Ingredients:

• About 4 pounds sweet potatoes (or yams, or butternut squash, or a mix thereof), peeled, sliced long ways into about ½ inch thick slices
  
• Cooking spray or 2 Tbs oil
  
• 4 cups 1% milk
  
• I cup onion, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  
• ½ tsp salt, plus more for sprinkling
  
• ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
  
• 1¼ cups grated Parmesan cheese
  
• 1 Tbs olive oil
  
• 2 shallots or ½ a red onion, diced
  
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
  
• 20oz (1.25lbs) Fresh spinach (not baby), washed [This amount is flexible, I buy my spinach in 10oz packages, so 20oz is convenient for me]
  
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (usually one package)
  

Step 1: Roast the Sweet Potatoes (can be done a day ahead of other steps). Preheat oven to 450°. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray and spread out sweet potato slices in a single layer, sprinkle with a few pinches of salt. Roast 45 minutes, or until tender. You can do this a day or two ahead, while you have something else (perhaps more sweet potatoes), in the oven for dinner. If cooking ahead, store the slices in Tupperware or zip bags in the fridge.

Step 2: Make the White Sauce. Combine onion, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay leaf in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat; bring to a simmer. Remove from heat; let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve over a bowl to remove the solids. Discard the solids. Return milk mixture to the pan. Add flour, ½ tsp salt, and pepper to milk mixture, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently with a whisk for 10 minutes, until sauce is thick. Remove from heat, stir in Parmesan. Set aside.

Step 3: Sauté the Spinach (you can do this as while the sauce rests in Step 2). In large sauté pan sweat the shallots (or red onion) and garlic in the olive oil, with a generous pinch of salt, over medium heat. Once they start to soften, start adding the spinach, as much as will fit, and add a generous pinch of salt. As the spinach wilts and makes room for more, add the rest of the spinach and a pinch of salt. Keep going until all the spinach is just wilted. Remove from heat and place spinach in a strainer and let excess moisture drain out while you begin to assemble the lasagna.

Step 4: Assemble. Warning: This recipe makes just enough sauce for two 8x8 dishes, so use somewhat sparingly as you go.

Spray the interior of an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Line the interior of the dish you intend to freeze with foil, and then spray the foil with cooking spray.

For each dish:

A) Spread a thin layer of sauce in the baking dish, and top with 2 lasagna noodles. It's ok if they overlap slightly. (In a 9x13 pan you would have room for 3 noodles side by side.)

B) Spread a thin layer of sauce on the noodles. Spread a layer of spinach on top of this sauce, and then top the spinach with a layer of sweet potato slices, and top this with a thin layer of sauce.

C) Make a second layer by placing two noodles, topping them with a thin layer of sauce, topping that with spinach, then sweet potatoes, and then sauce.

D) Top the whole thing with two more noodles and a more generous layer of sauce. Cover with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Step 5: Bake. When ready to bake (you can leave the assembled lasagna in the fridge overnight, or all day), preheat oven to 375°, bake for 30 minutes covered with the foil. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, and serve.

Step 6: Freezing, Thawing, and Baking the second lasagna. Freeze the assembled lasagna covered tightly. You can leave this in the freezer for weeks. If you have warning a day ahead, thaw the lasagna in the fridge overnight, then follow the baking instructions in Step 5. If you need to go straight from freezer to oven, put the lasagna (still covered with foil) in the cold oven, then bring oven to 375°temp. Bake covered for about 90 minutes (or until center is warm), and then remove foil and bake for 20 more minutes. [Warning: of course only do this if your baking dish is something safe like Pyrex that will not shatter when it goes from frozen to hot.]

Chorizo Mussels

This is one of my favorite recipes. It's great for entertaining, but also a really comfy winter meal for two. It was originally inspired by a recipe for chorizo and mussel soup, but I think I've changed it enough over many attempts to now call it my own. I started cooking mussels in Paris because they had such prominent displays in all of the market fish stands, and they seemed like something that I could easily prep in my small kitchen. This recipe makes me think of dinner shopping at the Rue Daguerre market: mussels from the seafood store, produce from a couple different stands, chorizo sec from any one of the many butchers, cream fraiche and a large slice of comte vieux from the fromager, and last but not least a fresh crusty baguette. I've been very happy to discover that though the atmosphere isn't the same, I can get most of these same ingredients at Eastern Market in DC. For those of you without a local seafood store, I noticed some good looking mussels at Whole Foods today, so maybe you can find them there.

Steamed mussels are traditionally served with fries, and it's a great combo. But, I think making good fries would turn this very simple almost fool-proof meal into a much more complicated one. I serve these mussels with plenty of good French bread to soak up the broth, and hunks of sharp firm cheese, like a comte, gruyere, or even a good sharp cheddar on the side. These are definitely best with a good Belgian style beer, like a trippel or flavorful white.

This is enough for a very hearty dinner for two. Depending on how long it takes to clean your mussels, the whole process should take about 30 min. I try to give precise measurements, but the recipe is very flexible, I've never done it exactly the same way twice. You could add tomatoes, replace the onions with leaks, or leave out the fennel.

1 Tbs olive oil
6 oz dry chorizo (only dry cured chorizo really works here, don't use the fresh stuff), chopped to about quarter-inch squares.
2 medium carrots, diced
One small onion (I like red), diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
Half a bulb of fennel, diced
3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or a pinch dried thyme)
1 scant tsp paprika
optional pinch cayenne pepper to taste
1.5 pounds mussels
2 cups white wine
1/4 cup cream or creme fraiche

1. Clean the mussels. Rinse the whole batch, then scrub away anything clinging to the outside, and remove the beards if they have them (pull the little fuzzy thing sticking out of the mussel). I've found that mussels I've bought in the US have come nearly perfectly cleaned, while in France there was a lot of work to do. Your mussels should be tightly closed. If any are open, give them a little squeeze. If they don't respond by closing, then they aren't alive, throw them out. Also throw out any that have broken shells exposing the inside. Set the batch of clean mussels aside.

2. Make the broth. In a large pan that you can serve out of (I like to use my non-stick wok), begin to render the chorizo in the oil over medium high heat. Once the oil begins to turn red and the chorizo is fragrant, add the vegetables and a generous pinch of salt. Cook over medium-high heat until the veg begins to soften. Add the broth, thyme, and paprika. Simmer for around 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and the broth tastes like chorizo. If you think it needs more spice, add some cayenne, sparingly.

3. Meanwhile, steam the mussels. Put the wine and mussels in a wide shallow pan with a tight fitting lid. steam on medium-high heat for about 6 minutes, until all mussels have just opened widely. Then remove from heat, don't over cook.

4. Add cream and combine. Add the cream to the broth and stir, taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Then, using tongs, place the mussels in the broth. Throw out any mussels that did not open. Do not add the steaming liquid from the mussels pan. Serve immediately with bread, cheese, an extra bowl for shells, lots of napkins, and a chilled Belgian beer. Dig in.