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.]

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

I stumbled upon a version of this recipe a couple years ago and it has become regular fare in our house. I usually make these once a week. They are easy, healthy, cheap, hearty, and really quite good. There is tons of room for variation here. Other than the ratio of liquid to beans, you can change this recipe based on what you like or what you have on hand. For example, I leave the bell peppers out in the winter when bell peppers are shipped from far away and are expensive. It takes about 15 or 20 minutes to put the dish together in the morning, and it should cook for at least 7 hours, but will be fine in the crock pot all day. Dustin and I can eat almost the whole pot when this is all we have for a hearty dinner, but it makes four big bowls, so I suppose that's four servings. If serving four, cornbread on the side would be a nice way to make this a more complete meal. The leftovers are great. This recipe fills my full-size crock pot, so if you have one of those small ones, you'll need to halve it.

Soup Ingredients:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
1 med red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
1 med green bell pepper, chopped (optional)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped (optional, leave it out if you don't like heat, or just don't have one on hand.)
Salt
1 Tbs chipotle flakes (optional, but very good, adds smokiness)
4 tsps ground cumin
2 tsps chili powder (optional)
1 16oz package dry black beans
7 cups hot chicken stock (or broth), vegetable stock, or water, or a mix (stock = more flavor).

Topping options:
fresh lime juice
cilantro
plain yogurt
sour cream
cheddar or jack cheese
slices of jarred jalapenos

1. Sauté all of the vegetables in olive oil with a couple pinches of salt. Once the veggies soften, make a little space in the pan and toast the spices for about 30 seconds, then stir into the vegetables.

2. Place the beans in the bottom of the slow cooker. Top with the sautéed vegetables. Top it all with 7 cups hot liquid. If using homemade stock or water, add a half tsp of salt. If you are using store bought stock or broth, it's probably salty enough.

3. Cook on high for at least 7 hours.

4. If you want a thicker soup, you can give it a few buzzes with an immersion blender or put two cups of the soup in a blender, blend, and then add them back to the pot. I usually just eat it as is, with the whole beans.

5. Top as you like and enjoy.

Stove-top BBQ Pork Chops (and BBQ sauce)

So, I'm trying to eat healthier and lower on the food chain, but sometimes you need a splurge. The Dupont Circle farmer's market has some great local pork producers, and this recipe is my favorite way to use good pork chops. I use thick-cut bone-in chops, and they work great. This recipe is adapted (with only very slight changes) from America's Test Kitchen's "Skillet-Barbecued Pork Chops," from their current season. You can see the original recipe with nice pictures for free at
http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=4517&iSeason=8.

They suggest a 30 minute brine, but I have always skipped that step and still ended up with juicy chops. This recipe leaves a little pink in the pork, which I like, but if you want really cooked through totally white pork, you'll need to cook it to a higher temp. I cook in an apartment kitchen with a very weak vent, and I love this recipe because it produces a grilled taste without resulting in a kitchen full of smoke. This is a tasty homemade sauce, you should use it on other non-pork dishes too.

This recipe is for 4 chops. I cut it in half, though sometimes make all the sauce for the sake of having extra BBQ sauce around. It takes about 30 minutes or so. You will need an instant-read thermometer, which is a worthwhile investment if you cook any meat at all. Last night we had these along side thick-cut oven fries, broccoli and carrot slaw, and a bottle of Dustin's favorite American micro brew for the moment, Hop Rod Rye by Bear Republic. It was a very satisfying meal.

For the chops:
4 bone-in pork chops.
kosher salt
vegetable oil
non-stick spray (or more oil)

For the spice rub:
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsps ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper

BBQ Sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup
3 Tbs molasses
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 Tbs Cider vinegar (or half as much, but I like a tangy sauce)
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp liquid smoke or 1 tsp chipoltle flakes or a couple chipotles(all add smokey flavor)
Hot sauce to taste, just a few shakes for me
2 tsps of the spice rub (if you have it around, not mandatory if just making the sauce)

1. Make the spice rub. Put two tsps aside for the sauce.

2. Whisk all the sauce ingredients together in a small non-stick sauce pan and leave on low heat, stirring occasionally.

3. Begin heating a Tbs vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle some salt on the pork chops, on both sides. Then press the spice rub onto both sides of all chops. By this time the oil should just be smoking. Place the chops in the pan, careful to arrange so they all fit. Leave in the pan without moving them around for 5-8 minutes, until bottom begins to char. Flip the chops and cook until second side begins to char in spots, and the internal temperature of the center of the largest chop registers 130 degrees on an instant read thermometer, 4-8 minutes.

4. Remove chops from the skillet to a plate, and the coat top side with sauce. Then quickly rinse out the pan and dry with paper towels. Spray the pan with non-stick spray (or a coat of veg oil) and return to medium heat. Place the chops sauce side down in the pan, and cook until sauce begins to caramelize and char in spots, about one minute, and meanwhile brush the other side with sauce. Turn the chops over and cook until second side gets a char and the center of the largest chop registers 140 degrees, about 1 or 2 minutes. Remove chops from pan and tent lightly with foil until the internal temperature comes to 145 degrees.

5. Serve chops with extra sauce, yum.

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.

Quick Spicy Black Beans

These are an absolute staple in our kitchen. Today I whipped up a batch because I'm having dinner at a friend's and wanted Dustin to have something easy in the fridge for dinner. I'm trying to move to using dried beans more than canned, but canned beans are so great for quick cooking. These spicy beans have a thick consistency that makes them perfect for filling tacos or quesadillas or layering in huevos rancheros. They are also great on their own as a hearty side dish or chip dip. They are fine in the fridge for days, so make a big batch and enjoy the leftovers. This recipe makes enough for tacos for two and enough leftovers to have heuvos for breakfast, but if I had more cans of beans in the house, I would have made more.

This is a very flexible recipe. For the sake of those who like the certainty of measurements, I'm trying to be specific, but you can make this very basic recipe your own. If you don't love spice, you'll want to decrease the amounts of jalapenos. For a more complex spicy flavor, add some pickled jalapenos.

Takes about 15min.

Tsp oil (olive or vegetable/canola, etc)
Half of a red onion, chopped.
3 garlic cloves, minced.
1 lrg jalapeno, deseeded, deveined, and diced.
2 cans black beans
juice of 1.5 limes
juice of one orange (or tangerine)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder

1. Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan, preferably non stick, sweat the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in the pan for just a few minutes, add a generous pinch of salt until they start to soften.

2. Drain and rinse both cans of beans and add to the pan. Add lime juice, orange juice, cumin and chili powder. Cook on medium heat, on a very low simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are soft and the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick.

3. Take off the heat and enjoy.