Pastitsio

This is a sort of Greek lasagna type dish that I made for our "Palentine's" dinner last week, it's an Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) recipe on Food Network that sounded good and let me tell you, it's fabulous!! There are a few steps and I know some of you are going to be intimidated by that but trust me - it's worth it. So good that Ron and Janis had leftovers for dinner the next night (I said "how did you resist until dinnertime? I ate some for breakfast the next morning"!!) - it was just as good reheated the following day. Mmmmm...this is a keeper. Since I'm crediting Ina and Food Network I'm not going to retype - just copy and pasting the recipe straight from them (hopefully that's allowed, don't narc on  me...!).  You can watch a video of Ina making this at Foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients

For the Tomato Meat Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound lean ground lamb
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 large cloves)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel:

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
• 2 extra-large eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
• 3/4 pound small shells
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Directions

  For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

  For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

  Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don't over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.

  Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.
  
  
  
  

  2009, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  

  It might sound like a lot of dishes but this is all it took - I don't think that's too bad...although I did have a "helper" ;)

Pot Roast with Tomato Sauce

We had friends over for dinner and I found this pot roast recipe from Ina Garten that sounded good - so once again I experimented on my unsuspecting friends and made it along with baked parmesan risotto, and roasted veggies. The actual meat was just so-so, but the sauce is so-SO good that I'm sharing the entire recipe just so you can try this sauce. Maybe I just got a not-great roast because there's no reason for the meat to not have been good! Unfortunately (or maybe it was fortunate) I left the meat in a pan on the stove to keep it warm if anyone wanted seconds and forgot about it. Man, I'm still soaking that burned pan! So I had to throw (and scrape) out the meat but since this makes so much sauce I had plenty of extra to serve over gnocchi the next night - and it was even more delicious than the first night!


Company Pot Roast (Ina Garten, Food Network)

• 1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour
• Good olive oil
• 2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
• 2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
• 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)
• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
• 2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
• 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 3 branches fresh thyme
• 2 branches fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
  
  
  
  

  Directions:

  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

  Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.

  

  Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.

  
  Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.
  
  
  
  

  2008, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, All Rights Reserved
  
  
  
  

Note: instead of transferring half the sauce to a blender or food processor I just stuck my immersion blender in the pot and whisked things up until it was a nice consistency - chunky with the liquid part smooth and thick. I did not need to add flour and butter to thicken the sauce up, it did it on it's own.

Leeks can be really dirty on the inside - to easily clean them I cut off the top and bottom and slice about half way thru (the long way). Then hold it under running water and rinse, sort of fan the inside of the leak apart to get between all the layers.

Triple Berry Muffins

Brooke and I made these muffins so my sister (and her houseful) would have an easy wedding morning breakfast - I was planning to make a big breakfast casserole but then realized no one was going to eat that so muffins seemed perfect. I had some frozen blueberries and raspberries in the freezer so googled for muffin recipes using berries, found this Ina Garten recipe that sounded good and yep, it is. I made double berry muffins instead but otherwise followed the recipe - she adds the sugar to the berries instead of to the batter, and for some reason that makes the muffins almost have a crunchy top sort of like if you put streusel on them...yum. Really really good!

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1-1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1-1/4 cups milk
• 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
• 1-1/2 cups sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl.  Stir with your hand to be sure the ingredients are combined.  In another bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and melted butter.  Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until just combined.  There will be some lumps but don’t overmix the batter!  Add the blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and sugar and stir gently to combine.

Using a 2¼-inch ice cream scoop, spoon the batter into the muffin cups to fill the liners.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are nicely browned.  

Copyright 2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, All Rights Reserved