Tag: ricotta

Vegetable Lasagna

This is a great way to get some veggies into your kids. They may not notice all the greens while they enjoy the yummy noodles, cheese and sauce. Eliminate the pancetta if you want to keep it vegetarian. If not then it is great way to infuse some great flavor without adding a lot of meat.

9 to 12 lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup pancetta, chopped (eliminate if making vegetarian)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 10 ounces Cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 10 ounces Shiitaki mushrooms, sliced
4 cups mixed greens (I used a combination of kale, green cabbage, red cabbage & Brussels sprouts), shredded
1 cup ricotta
2 garlic cloves, grated
½ cup parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano, divided
½ cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 cups fresh tomato sauce, preferable homemade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the lasagna noodles until they are soft and pliable, about 6 to 7 minutes. Remove the pasta and lay flat on a sheet tray to cool.

Add olive oil and pancetta to a large frying pan. Saute on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and continue to sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté on high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the greens and cook for another 5 minutes until they are wilted. Check for seasonings and turn heat off and let cool.

In a small bowl, add the ricotta, garlic, parsley, salt, egg, and ½ cup of cheese. Mix well and keep aside.

In the bottom of a 8 by 8 baking dish, add a half cup of sauce. Spread evenly. Arrange three to four noodles to completely cover the sauce. Spread ½ of the ricotta mixture over the pasta. Add ½ of the mushroom mixture and spread evenly. Repeat with noodles, sauce, ricotta and mixture. Finally add the last batch of noodles and cover with sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmigiano and all of mozzarella on top. Cover with foil. Place the lasagna on a baking sheet and bake in oven for an hour 15 minutes, removing the foil for the last 15 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

Cheesy Meatballs

As you may know I love making burgers and meatballs.. this recipe like yesterdays included ricotta cheese… very delicious!

1 pound ground turkey
1 medium shallot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup ricotta cheese
½ cup shredded cheese (I used a mixture of mozzarella and parmigiano)
1 teaspoons salt
1 egg, beaten
½ cup panko crumbs soaked in ¼ cup milk
4 cups marinara sauce

Transfer turkey, shallot, garlic, ricotta, shredded cheese, salt and egg into a medium bowl. Mix well and let it sit for 2 to 3 hours. Add the panko crumbs and mix well. In the meantime, add the tomato sauce to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Form the meatballs and add to the simmering tomato sauce. Cook the meatballs covered with a lid for about 20 minutes. Take the lid off and check for seasonings. Serve with whole wheat spaghetti.

A Homemade Pizza Recipe with Store Bought Dough- Plain and White with Spinach

plain-pizza Pizza is a staple in our house. I remember when my daughter, Sia was about two years and change- she was quite picky. She had no problem eating mushy food and didn’t want any texture at all. I slowly got her into the habit of eating adult food- pizza played a big roll in the process. We ran into our neighbors with their daughters around that time at a local pizzeria. Sia saw them eating pizza with olives- and that is what started her love of pizza- with olives! She must have eaten cups and cups of olives in the last four years. The people working at the place knew as soon as we walked in- a slice of olive pizza for Sia with a cup of olives on the side. I even looked up the nutritional value for olives- not too much. Since then, she has graduated to mushroom pizza. She loves it! She is very particular about the mushrooms though- turns out some places use canned mushrooms and they taste very different than the fresh ones. Well, she only likes the fresh ones- so we stick to our favorite pizzeria, Arturos.

I am always trying to make things she likes at home healthier so I don’t feel guilty about giving them to her more often. We have tried many different ways of making pizza at home over the years but nothing has been very delicious and authentic. What I like about making pizza at home is that I can control all the ingredients. I use my basic marinara sauce for the pizza sauce. I usually buy low-fat mozzarella cheese- although in this case I couldn’t find any so I used full fat- but I didn’t use too much of it.

I was making two pizzas that day- a plain one for the kids and a white one with spinach for the adults. I made the marinara sauce the morning of and kept it aside. I bought shredded low moisture mozzarella cheese to make my life easier. The plain one was quite simple to put together. I did add some olive oil to the crust before cooking it on the grill. The oil gives the dough a nice sheen and a crusty top. For the white one I mixed ricotta cheese with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. I added garlic powder and salt to season the cheese sauce. I sautéed frozen, chopped spinach with fresh garlic for extra flavor. Both adults and kids enjoyed the pizzas. I made a nectarine salad for the adults- the recipe will be up tomorrow. I served the apricot kuchen as dessert and of course some wine- we ended up opening two bottles!

To read more about pizza making at home, please read my post in New York Times blog, The Local. It will be out Wednesday, June 24th.