Classic Lasagna with a Side of Roasted Vegetables

I think this is perfect for an indulgent and filling weeknight meal. For me, indulgent weeknight meals are those which COOK ON THEIR OWN! Where you have to let something simmer for 45 minutes, let it bake for an hour... roast it for two.. That way you've cooked, you have a good meal, and you have time to do other things while it cooks on its own.

The following is a classic lasagna served with roasted potatoes and carrots a la herb (yeah I invented that last bit).

I love the messy, splattered effect you get when you bake something big like this. Such a homey feel.

Classic Lasagna


Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
30g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
500g lamb mince
2 tablespoons tomato paste
400g can diced tomatoes
250ml cranberry juice
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
One packet instant lasagna sheets
60g butter
40g plain flour
560ml milk
100g grated Parmesan cheese


Procedure
-Heat the oil and butter in a heavy based pan and cook the onion, carrot, and celery over medium heat until softened, stirring constantly. Increase the heat, add the mince and brown well, breaking up any lumps of fat. Add the tomato paste, can tomatoes, juice, and parsley and season to taste. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
- To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a medium pan over low heat. Add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the milk. Return to heat and stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens. Simmer for another minute. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper, to taste. Place a piece of plastic wrap on surface of sauce.
-Preheat the oven to 180C.
-Take a large, ovenproof dish and place a thin layer of the meat mixture over the base, top with bechamel sauce and layer the lasagna sheets over that. Repeat the process until all the ingredients have been used up and the final layer is bechamel.
-Spread the grated Parmesan cheese on top and bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until top is golden and cheese has melted.

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots with Fresh and Dried Herbs


Ingredients
2tbsp olive oil
Two medium potatoes, roughly chopped
Two medium carrots, cut into chunks
30g butter
Salt and pepper
1tbsp mixed dried herbs such as basil and chives.
2tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

Procedure
Grease an overproof dish with half the olive oil.
Arrange the cut potato and carrot chunks onto the dish and drizzle with remaining olive oil.
Cut the butter into chunks and scatter around the dish.
Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with dried herbs.
Bake in an 180C oven for one hour or until vegetables have softened and cooked through.
Before serving, scatter coriander over dish.

Mushroom, Leek, Basil, and Pine Nut Risotto

Lately, I've been going to the vegetable aisle in supermarkets to stare at it for inspiration. I did that yesterday at Waitrose and came up with this. It's really light and summery. Before that, I came up with a corn, asparagus, and capsicum risotto recipe but I can't exactly remember what else went into it.

I haven't used carnaroli rice much- only about twice before and twice now- and I find that it takes much longer to cook than arborio.


Ingredients
4 cups chicken stock + 2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 medium sized leek, sliced thinly

1 cup carnaroli rice
0.5 cup button mushrooms, quartered
Freshly grated zest and juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons fresh basil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
30g parmigiano reggiano

Procedure
Put the stock and water to simmer on low heat.
In another pot, heat the butter until melted. Add onion, garlic, and leeks, stirring until translucent. Add the carnaroli rice and stir for 1 minute to lightly "toast" the rice. Add 1 cup of stock/water mixture and stir constantly until absorbed.
Add the mushrooms and one more cup of water and stir. Keep on stirring until almost all the water gets absorbed. Once water is absorbed, add another cup of water.
Check the rice once in a while to make sure it's cooked. If the rice is still not fully cooked and the water has run out, add some boiling water from the kettle and stir. Repeat the process until rice is fully cooked.
Remove from heat, stir in lemon zest and juice, basil, and pine nuts. Garnish with parmigiano reggiano.

Quick Canapes

I was walking home yesterday and happened to look at the window in the building to my left- and there was a guy in his kitchen, chopping some basil leaves and frying some tomatoes in a pan. I actually stopped and stared and had this intense yearning to go cook something. Sigh. I miss cooking up meals. I love those times when you just have to make do with what's the in the fridge. It fuels creativity. And so today, I created two little bites that would be perfect for a snack- or a canape (I feel like being fancy).

First one is crackers with marmalade and feta cheese. I was so tempted to try the marmalade and feta combination and Yasmin at Red Panda Bakes said she has them all the time! And so I piled them on top of little crackers and bit into them.

Marmalade and Feta Cheese Crackers
Ingredients
1 packet cream crackers
1 jar orange marmalade
40g crumbly feta cheese

Procedure
Spoon a generous teaspoon of marmalade over the cracker and top with crumbled feta cheese. That's it!

Next, I made bruschetta. I was GOING to make risotto and bought all the ingredients for it.. BUT, ended up forgetting the onion and garlic. And right now I'm not bothered to go down to the Tesco Express and buy any. And so I sliced up a mini baguette and spread some basil pesto on each slice. I topped each with a piece of sundried tomato and some feta. I thought the whole thing was going to be rather salty but surprisingly it wasn't!

And they looked pretty cute.. If I may say so.

Basil Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato, and Feta Cheese Bruschetta
Ingredients
1 baguette
1 jar basil pesto
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes
20g crumbly feta

Procedure
Slice the baguette.
Spread a teaspoon of the basil pesto.
Top with one sundried tomato slice
Add some feta.
Eat.

Yes, eating is part of the procedure.

http://redpandabakes.blogspot.com/

A Mediterranean-infused baking break.

On no, I still love cakes. But I thought that it was about time I fed myself something other than sugar. And what better detoxifying food than tomato? Tomato is known for its amazing anti-oxidant capabilities. And I'm still coming to terms with the fact that it's actually a fruit. And so, tonight I made tomato bruschetta and roasted capsicum with tomato, olive, and tofu. Yes, that tofu does seem a bit odd in the rest of the Mediterranean set-up doesn't it? But trust me, it's goood.

The bruschetta was very simple to make and the best part is that you don't even need to cook anything. Except for the baguette.. which can be toasted.

Tomato Bruschetta
Ingredients: 
1 French baguette
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsps dried oregano
1/3 cup fresh basil
2-4 tbsps olive oil.
1tbsp pine nuts

Cut the baguette into even slices and place in a toaster or grill pan until crisp.
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.
Arrange the baguette slices on a platter and spoon equal, generous amounts of the tomato mixture on top of each slice.

Me attempting to create abstract art with balsamic vinegar...

Now is that easy or what?

*

Roasted capsicum with tomato, olive, and tofu


Ingredients:
2 red capsicums, cut in half and deseeded
1/3 cup sliced black olives
2tsps dried oregano
2tsps dried coriander
2tsps dried chives
1/4 cup tomato paste
2tbsp olive oil 
2 cloves garlic, chopped
100g tofu, cut in cubes
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half


Place the halved capsicums on a baking tray lined with foil and roast in the oven at 200C for 10 minutes.
Place the olives, oregano, coriander, chives, tomato paste, olive oil, and garlic in a food processor and blend until a thick paste is formed. Be careful not to blend the olives completely.
In a large bowl, mix together the olive and tomato mixture with the cherry tomatoes and chopped tofu.
Spoon equal amounts of the combined mixture into the capsicums and place in the oven at 180C for 15 minutes. Enjoy warm.

Forever Nigella: Ciao Italia

Nigella's shows are extremely fun to watch. And up until today, I didn't know how extremely fun it would be to make her recipes..

I'm taking part in Maison Cupcake's Monthy Blog Challenge called "Forever Nigella". The theme for this month was "Ciao Italia" - to make anything Italianish from Nigella's recipes.

I found this love one called "Italian Chicken and Pasta" at Nigella.com and decided to use that. Partly because apparently the it had all the colours of the Italian flag. And since, Italy's 150th birthday was a few days ago, why not celebrate one's patriotism. (No I'm not Italian no matter how much I'd like to be). It also reminded me of a triple layer sandwich that we make at home.. which reminds me of the Italian flag.

I changed some things around from the original recipe. Here's my version:

Boil 150g of pasta.

Fry half a red capsicum, and half a green capsicum in olive oil.

Add tomato pasta sauce (as much as you'd like!) and stir well. Allow for the mixture to boil.

Toss in some whole black olives.

Add the pasta and stir well with a handful (yes!) of chilli flakes.

Garnish with chopped coriander and mozzarella cheese and serve!

I didn't use any chicken because I thought I had some boiled chicken leftover from lunch.. which I didn't.. And instead of bechamel sauce I used tomato pasta sauce because I'm trying to be healthier.

It tasted really good and was very, very light.

Restaurant Review: Toscana

Name Toscana

Address Madinat Souk
Specialties The heavenly grilled and baked fish, as well as the pizza.

Special Gimmicks Before, they used to place a lit candle in an empty glass bottle on every table. It would look beautiful as the candle wax melted around the bottle. If you sit indoors at night, it feels very much like an old tavern.

Ambience Bustle, noise, people, the clattering of cutlery on plates, amazing weather outdoors, dim lights indoors, perfect!

Favourite table Outside of course! Weather permitting, that is.. Otherwise, inside by a wall.

Cuisine Italian

Attire Casual

Prices Moderate-high.

Occasion Dinner

What I ordered Pumpkin and gorgonzola risotto with arugula leaves.

What others had Penne Arrabiatta

Usual crowd Tourists usually

Rating:
bread entree 10/10, warm bread, good variety, and lovely balsamic vinegar. The bruschetta is also heavenly!

waiting area horrible! nothing! They're usually so crowded around this time of year that if you want a table outdoors you have to wait around an hour and just walk around the Souk till then. Or you could have some drinks on a couple of their stools outdoors.. if those are available!

entertainment Nothing in particular.. people-watching maybe?

atmosphere 10/10

cleanliness 10/10

portion size 8/10

servers 10/10

salad 7/10

service 8/10

crowd 9/10

parking Madinat Souk parking. What I usually do though is that I give the car to valet at Mina Al Salam, just remember to get your slip signed at the Mina Al Salam, you might have to show your restaurant bill.
Overall 9/10

Once again, I apologize for the poor picture quality! It was night and it was a phone camera!

Tomato and Herb Pasta

This afternoon while at university, I decided that I really needed a cooking session to unwind. I wasn't in the mood for anything complicated though so I chose to make pasta. Easy, simple, tastes good, and guaranteed results. I made a spaghetti with tomato, walnuts, breadcrumbs, and coriander. I'm thinking that perhaps rigatoni, fusilli, or penne would have worked better with this, though... just cause there wasn't so much of a sauce in this pasta.

Iftar Cooking with my Girls

Two of my really good friends came over this afternoon to cook for Iftar.

They let me choose the menu and so it looked like this:

Starter- Tomato and Basil Soup

Main Course- Chicken Chilli Stirfry and Lemon, Mushroom, and Spinach Risotto, Vegetable Couscous

Dessert- Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream

Drinks: Lemon and Mint Spritzer

These were all some of my tried and tested recipes as we wanted a nice, fun, relaxing time to cook and not a crisis situation in which the stock overflows from the pot... (which it did!)

Here are some pictures of the food-in-the-making:

The vegetables for the couscous

Stirfrying the vegetables for the stirfry! Yes, that blurry thing is a hand!
Our little joke.
The vegetables all cut up and ready to be used!
My attempt of an artistic shot of the vegetables.

What the table looked like! Red, orange, and white!

The risotto!
Stirfry

Chocolate Selfsaucing Pudding! Looks messy, doesn't it?

Vegetable couscous

Chocolate self saucing pudding.

These last three pictures courtesy to F & A. :D

Lots of love,

Spontaneous Euphoria

xx

Food

baby potatoes that I boiled. Cut them open and stuffed them with sour cream and mayo. I just realized they look like Pac Mans.

Tomato bruschetta! Enough said!

Up next, English trifle... custard with berries really. Then, a dish that I cannot remember the name of! I can't even decipher what's in it by looking at this photo.. Aaaand a calzone... the first thing I cooked in 2009. Stuffed pizza.. heaven..