Gluten-free Lasagna

I was at my family dinner on the weekend and made gluten-free lasagna. By request from Stephanie, here is the recipe!

(First thing you need to do is thaw a package of chopped spinach...)

about 450 grams ground chicken (or one package of ground chicken)
1 onion

Dice the onion and add it to a pan with the raw chicken. Cook until no longer pink and the onion is soft. (the pan should be big enough (deep enough) to hold at least 1 - 1.5 liters of sauce.)

Add 1 can of your favorite gluten-free pre-made sauce (like Classico roasted garlic and tomato for example http://www.classico.com/red-sauces/fire-roasted-tomato-and-garlic-pasta-sauce.aspx) and 1 large can of plain tomato sauce.

Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Also add some wine (1/4 cup) if you have it. I usually use the wine to get all of the pasta sauce out of the jar.

Let that cook on simmer. Don't cover.

Boil enough water to cook lasagna noodles. I use an entire box of lasagna noodles from Tinkyada http://www.glutenfree.com/index.cfm/manufacturer/Tinkyada/954019-___-Lasagna.html

Boil them for about 10 minutes - you don't want them to be overcooked. Then rinse them in cold water. I had some stick together this time, so I might suggest laying out the noodles right away on wax paper or something so that they don't stick together like mine did...

While the noodles are boiling take out a medium sized bowl. Empty a 500 ml container of ricotta cheese into the bowl. (You can use cottage cheese if you like.) Add 2 eggs and the thawed, drained chopped spinach. Add one dash of nutmeg and two dashes of cinnamon to this mixture. Mix well.

Grate 500-700 grams of mozzarella cheese and set aside.

In a lasagna pan - about 9 by 13 (had to look that up!), place about 1 cup of sauce. Spread it around so it loosely covers the bottom of the pan. You want the sauce first so the noodles don't adhere to the bottom of the pan.

Next layer on the noodles - side by side and you might need one across the bottom. Don't worry if the lasagna noodles are ripped - you just line them up and nobody will know when it is served. Next, layer in all of the cheese and spinach mixture. Gently spread the mixture around so that it covers all the noodles.

Next layer on the noodles.
Layer on at least half of the remaining sauce.
Add a small layer of mozzarella cheese (about 1/3 of the cheese)
Next layer on the noodles (final layer)
Add the remaining sauce.
Add the remaining cheese on top of that.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour
You may want to put a pan under it so that it does not boil over and mess up your oven.

When it is done, remove from the oven and let it sit for at least 25 minutes. It needs to "set" before you cut it otherwise it will run all over the place when you cut into it.

Enjoy!

Ingredient list

package frozen chopped spinach
package ground chicken
1 onion
1 jar Classico style premade sauce
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 package of gf lasagna noodles
750 grams mozzarella cheese
500 ml of ricotta or cottage cheese
salt, pepper
cinnamon, nutmeg
2 eggs

Pasta sauce with chicken

So I took out too many chicken thighs for dinner and have to use them up...

Brown chicken thighs in a bit of olive oil.
Add in one large chopped shallot
Add in as much garlic as you like - prefer freshly pressed (I used about 6 large cloves)
saute together for about 5 minutes

Add in 1 can plain tomato sauce, 1 large can tomatoes (whole is best), and one can prepared sauce. I use one can of prepared sauce like the organic tomato and basil that you can buy at Costco here in Calgary.

Add 1/4 cup (or more) of red wine. Use stuff that you would drink yourself - not old or yucky wine.

mix it all together and let simmer for 20-30 minutes until the chicken is done. I removed the skin from the chicken. I may also remove the chicken from the bone - not sure yet - but know that this is an option if you don't have enough chicken for everyone that is going to be eating the pasta.

Enjoy over some GF pasta - my favorite is wild rice pasta from Rizopia http://www.rizopia.com/M1Sel2.htm

It is really tasty.

All gluten-free all the time!

Chicken with Fennell and Leeks

I grew leeks this summer in pots on my front porch. They were very small as I did not divide them properly; they grew in small clumps and ended up more like green onions. Determined not to let them go to waste this is the recipe that I made.

heat one tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in a large open pot (that has a lid, I used my new Le Creuset cast iron casserole, which I love - this is the colour I have http://www.lecreuset.com/en-us/Products/Enameled-Cast-Iron/French-Ovens/)
brown 6 chicken thighs with bones (or more/less) - I also put a bit of salt and pepper on them...
remove them from the pan and set aside

In the same pan, add a bunch of cut up leeks, at least two normal leeks cut into 1/2 cm slices.
Add 1/2 fennell bulb (or a small whole one), sliced into 1/2 cm slices.
saute until soft-ish

Add 1/4 cup of white wine
Add juice of one orange (about 1/3 cup juice)
Add rind of one orange (don't worry if you don't have the rind)

Stir.

Place the chicken thighs on top of this entire mixture.
Place the lid on your pot and turn down to simmer.
Look at it again in 20 - 25 minutes and check the chicken to see if it is done.

Then remove the chicken and fire up the heat to reduce the sauce by 30% or so.

Serve with mashed potatoes. Yum.

All gluten-free all the time!

Spicy Mexican Squash Stew - Moosewood recipe

I found a recipe on the Moosewood Restaurant site and tried it the other night. Everyone ate it up! I served it with plain yogurt. I also added a can of Romano Beans to add a bit of protein.

I am puzzled by "spicy" in the title as it was quite mild. I might add another jalapeno pepper next time. Enjoy.

http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes_archive.html#60

This recipe is from their book: Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Moosewood-Restaurant-Daily-Special-More-Moosewood-Collective/9780609802427-item.html?ikwid=moosewood+restaurant+daily+special&ikwsec=Home

Moosewood Pumpkin Cheesecake

My favourite cookbook for desserts is: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Moosewood-Restaurant-Book-of-Desserts-Moosewood-Collective/9780517884935-item.html

Every item I have made in this book turns out incredibly perfect. And, I always make them gluten-free - their recipes with my substitutions.

Tonight I am making the pumpkin cheesecake on page 158. I used the Mi-Del brand ginger snaps (about 20 of them) for the crust.
http://www.midelcookies.com/gluten_free/ginger_snaps.shtml
Be careful if you buy these - they make non gluten-free stuff too and I once got the packages mixed up.

Check out the Moosewood website - they have quite a few recipes posted here: http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/

I can smell the cheesecake cooking - wow.

Stuffed Pumpkin

My Mother-in-law brought an amazing stuffed pumpkin to our dinner party last night. It was truly outstanding! Here is the recipe from the National Post. I think this will be a must have for years to come.
We put this right in the centre of the table - it was a beautiful dish as well as extremely tasty.

NOTE for people who eat gluten-free: My Mother-in-law made this gluten-free by substituting cooked rice (Basmati I think) for the bread.

DORIE GREENSPAN’S PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH EVERYTHING GOOD
Around My French Table is author Dorie Greenspan’s culinary memoir of 30 years of cooking the French food she loves so much. It also shows the transformation of French cooking from an intimidating cuisine to something approachable and easy to cook at home. This yummy recipe uses small pie or sugar pumpkins, which are ideal for cooking (save the larger ones for jack-o’-lanterns).
• 1 3 lb (1.5 kg) pumpkin
• salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 4 oz (125 g) stale bread, sliced and cut into ½-inch (1 cm) cubes
• 4 oz (125 g) cubed Gruyère, Emmenthal or Cheddar cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped (or one head roasted garlic)
• 4 strips bacon, cooked crisp, drained and chopped
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped chives or green onions
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) fresh thyme leaves
• ½ cup (125 mL) whipping cream
• freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh parsley
1. Cut top off pumpkin and scoop out insides. Season inside generously.
2. Toss bread, cheese, garlic, bacon and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper and salt only if necessary. Spoon into pumpkin. It should be well-filled. Stir cream with nutmeg (and some salt and pepper if necessary) and spoon into pumpkin. Add more cream if necessary to moisten filling. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Put cap back on and bake 1½ hours in a preheated 350F (180C) oven. Remove top and bake 20 to 30 minutes longer until crusty on top. Sprinkle with parsley. Carefully transfer to a serving platter, bring to the table whole and cut into wedges to serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings

Read more: http://life.nationalpost.com/2010/10/01/bonnie-stern-this-year-turkey-can-be-the-side-dish/#ixzz12096Lc7x

Gluten-free Thanksgiving Stuffing / Dressing

Last night I made Thanksgiving Dinner for our family and some friends. I wanted to share some of the dishes that we had...

Wild Rice and Fennel Dressing (my husband calls it stuffing, I call it dressing for some reason)

1 cup of uncooked wild rice (cook this following the directions on the package) - can be prepared ahead
1 fennel bulb - thinly sliced and then chopped up into pieces (not too small)
1/2 onion chopped into small pieces
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 and 1/2 cups of cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (or use a 2 teaspoons of poultry spice (or ground sage) if you don't have fresh sage)

saute the onion and the fennel in about a tablespoon of olive oil until soft
add garlic continue to saute for about a minute
add salt and pepper (couple of dashes /grinds of each)

In an oven proof casserole combine the rice, fennel mixture, cranberries, sage and almonds. Mix well and heat through just prior to serving. I heated mine at 300 for about 35 minutes.

This is a nice nutty alternative to bread stuffing. GF (Gluten-free) bread stuffing sometimes turns to mush so I just cook this outside the turkey in a casserole dish.