National Garlic Day

April 19 is the day we set aside to celebrate all things garlic.

I don't know what the big deal is, we go through at least 5 cloves of the stuff a day. I have no apologies. The health claims for eating garlic are getting stronger as more and more scientific studies are being performed on this herb.

So this Thursday, uncork a bottle of your favorite red and smash a few cloves. It will do your heart good! Here is a meal that you may want to try for just such an occasion.

Vegetarian Lasagna with Garlic Bread

 I was going to start with just pasta sauce, but then I decided to make homemade noodles, and then I remembered that I had French bread. So, this is a whole meal recipe. You can use any part of this meal on its own, but it sure is yummy together! The pasta sauce is a great starter recipe since it is fool-proof, you can easily adapt it to use any veggies on hand (with the exception of tomatoes, those are important), and you don't need any fancy knife skills.

Pasta Sauce

Preservative and added-sugar free!

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs. fresh tomatoes (any kind will do)
1 onion
3 (or more) garlic cloves
½ tbs. dried Italian herb
½ tbs. crushed red pepper flakes
Any oil (like Olive, Sunflower, Canola)
Dry red wine (optional but recommended)
Salt & Pepper
Any other veggie you might want to add like:
- Bell Peppers
- Spinach
- Mushrooms
- Carrots

Preheat your oven to 400º F.

Leave your tomatoes whole (unless they are huge, then cut them in half). Slice up the other vegetation. Don't chop them too small. I leave my onions in half moons and other veggies in 1-2 in. chunks. If they are too small, they may burn. Place all your veggies in a baking dish. Add 1/8 cup oil, 1/8 cup wine, the dried herbs, crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper. I started with ½ tbs. salt and ~ 4 grinds of black pepper. Stir to coat all the veggies and pop that bad boy (uncovered) in the oven.

After about 35 minutes

Let it go for about 25-30 minutes before you take it out to stir. After that check on it after every 10-15 minute interval. You will see the tomatoes start to burst and the onions start to brown a bit. The longer you can keep it going, the more the flavors will develop but once things start to brown, you are done.

Just before processing, about an hour in the oven

Take it out of the oven and pick one of these options:
- Add it to your blender/food processor
- Get out your immersion blender
- Get out your potato masher



CAREFULLY (this stuff is hot!) blend/processes/mash your sauce to your desired consistency.

Now comes the fun part. Taste it. What do you think? This is where you make any changes you want.
- If it tastes flat, add a little bit more oil and salt. Fat is not bad people. You need it to bring out fat-soluble flavors in your sauce. Salt is needed to get ions moving when the food hits your tongue. Without these things, those flavors will just pass on through to your stomach without you realizing it. Now where is the fun in that?

- Want more spice? Add more pepper and/or crushed red pepper.

- No matter what, I recommend adding another 1/8 cup of wine. Tomatoes have alcohol soluble compounds. Without a little booze to unlock those compounds, they too would just skip past your tongue. You can use any alcohol that you like (Vodka sauce anyone?) but wine and pasta were made for each other.

If you want it thicker, pop it back in the oven until you are happy with the consistency. Once you are, use it immediately or jar and refrigerate it.


Congrats-you just made pasta sauce that an Italian grandmother would envy. Use it any way you would use that inferior jarred stuff.

Do a happy dance! Your house smells fantastic and everyone that tastes this sauce will sing your praises.

Homemade Noodles

This was my first time making noodles and it was surprisingly easy. I used a recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It takes about 40 minutes, but if you want to use store-bought noodles, go right ahead. At some point though, try this, you will impress yourself!

Ingredients:

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
½ c. hot water
2 tbs. oil

I used my food processor and a rolling pin. You do not need a food processor, but it makes things very quick and easy.

This is good. Clean sides with the dough in a ball.

Add the flour and salt to your processor and pulse a couple times. Add the oil and water through the feed tube until the dough comes together in a ball. If you add too much water where things slosh around and a film is on the side, add a bit of flour. If you need to add more water, do so, but only a couple drops at a time.

Take it out, sprinkle a little flour on it, and cover it with plastic wrap or a clean cloth for about half an hour.

If you have a pasta roller, use it. If you don't (like me) get out your rolling pin. Always rolling from the middle, roll the dough out to a thin sheet (~¼ in. thick). Use your pizza cutter to cut out the noodles into any shape you want. I went with shaped loosely based on lasagna.

You can use them immediately or hang to dry.

If you try this, you can add flavors to the dough using fresh herbs, garlic, pepper, or pretty much anything else you can dream up.

Lasagna

Now it is time to put things together for a meal.

Ingredients:

At least 2 c. of your pasta sauce
Lasagna noodles (if using store bought, prepare according to box instructions)
15 oz. ricotta (just shy of 2 c.)
Mozzarella
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
Oil
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Nutmeg (optional, but recommended if you use spinach)
Any veggies that you desire. I went with spinach, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and broccoli for this round.

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

In a pan, add a little oil.  Add garlic and all your veggies. Saute until everything is softened and extra liquid is removed.


In a bowl, add your ricotta. Add any flavors that you might want here. I used a few grinds of black pepper, a pinch of red pepper flake, and a few grinds of nutmeg. Do not add salt. Ricotta is salty enough as is.


 Oil your baking dish. Add the layers in this order:
-1/3 c. of sauce
-Layer of noodle
-1/3 c. of sauce
-1/4 of your ricotta mixture
- 1/3 of your veggie mixture
Repeat 2 more times. After adding the last of the veggies, add another layer of noodles. Top with the last of the sauce and ricotta. Finish with a layer of mozzarella.

I promise, those are not marshmallows.

 Pop in the oven until the mozzarella is melted and bubbly, about 30-45 minutes.

Take out and let cool for about 10-15 minutes. If you don't do this you will burn your mouth and all that hard work will be lost since you won't be able to taste anything!








Since you have to wait anyway to eat it, you might as well make some garlic bread.

Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

French or Italian bread (French actually works better)
2 whole garlic cloves
Oil
Cheese (I use hard Italian cheeses like Pecorino Romano, but you can use any type of cheese you like or none at all)


Move oven rack near broiler. Turn broiler on.

Slice your bread in 1-2 inch slices. It is easier to eat if you cut diagonally. Lightly oil one side and place on a baking sheet.

Place the baking sheet under the broiler until the bread is golden. This will happen quickly (~1 minute). Take out and using a clean cloth to protect your hands, pick up the bread and rub it with the garlic. The garlic will melt into the bread. Flip the bread over and repeat on the other side.

After the second side has been garlicked, add your cheese. Put back under the broiler until your cheese is melted. It should be noted that hard cheese don't actually melt, but they do something like melting.









There you go. I think it took longer to write this than it did to cook. I promise, this is an easy meal that will make you look like an Italian  rockstar- and keep those obnoxious vampires away.

He wants it so bad. No garlic for you!

What is this?

Greetings all! Looks like I just started a blog-hopefully I don't make a fool of myself while on here. 

This is where I plan on posting all those recipes that people keep asking for. Some recipes I have created and some I have altered to my liking. I should mention that I use the term recipe lightly. Cooking is a hobby of mine and I rarely use measuring utensils. I will put estimations of spices, herbs, oil, salt, and the like but your best tool in the kitchen is your tongue (OK, maybe your second best tool-hands are pretty important too). Tasting as you go is important because ingredients (and your tastes) vary. 

Examples:

- Limes and lemons are added for acidity. If your particular citrus is very acidic, you may want less salt-if it is less acidic, you may want more salt.

- The type of salt you use will make a significant difference. I use sea and kosher salt. I have fine and coarse ground. If you use iodized and add the same amount that I have in a recipe-you may be bummed with the outcome (unless you are Rick-he can't get enough of the briny stuff).

- Spice. I LOVE IT. You may just like it. I will try to be conservative with my measurements, but if you know you are not a heat-seeker then start low and add more once you taste test. Side note: If you are not familiar with fresh jalapenos, know they vary from bell pepper hot (i.e. not hot at all) to still-feeling-it-the-next-day-why-didn't-I-listen-to-Angela hot. More on that later.

As you become more comfortable in the kitchen, you will keep the measuring spoons in the drawer as well. As Rick would say, "Less dishes to clean!".

A few more things:

- I am a vegetarian. Therefore, all the recipes on here will be veg. I am not vegan but most of my recipes can easily be adapted if you are. I don't like to cook with that fake meat stuff. I'll have a Boca burger or two at a BBQ, but that fake ground beef stuff is not for me.  My husband (the previously mentioned, Rick) is not veg but he loves my cooking. I am not being boastful, a plot of his eating of my cooking and his weight gain shows a positive correlation.

- You may have guessed from that last statement that I am a scientist (maybe not, but normal people do not plot...well, anything). Cooking is a hobby-science is a passion. I will try to limit scientific explanations for things, but sometimes I just can't resist. If you don't like it-scroll past it. Knowledge is power.

- I don't pretend to be a writer or have a perfect mastery of the English language. Everything may not be grammatically correct, but it will be legible. If you take issue with this, this position of proofreader is available. I can pay you in cookies.

- I will add photos with all recipes that I post. I know pictures help when venturing into the unknown. This is a good and bad thing since right now I do not have any photos to post so... no recipe today.

If you are bummed about the lack of photos, here is a random photo of me from 2010 on our roadtrip to Memphis. I just noticed that the ruler to the left has me pegged at less than 5 ft. I am short but not that short.