Welsh Rarebit

A sale on Marble Rye at HyVee got me to thinking. This is not Lenten Fare in the strict sense of our Lent but it's meatless and delicious. From Alton Brown's recipe on Food Network this makes a weekend of mucking out the pond bearable. Even Ben ate some.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup porter beer
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces (approximately 1 1/2 cups) shredded Cheddar
• 2 drops hot sauce
• 4 slices toasted rye bread

Directions

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to brown the flour. Whisk in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add beer and whisk to combine. Pour in cream and whisk until well combined and smooth. Gradually add cheese, stirring constantly, until cheese melts and sauce is smooth; this will take 4 to 5 minutes. Add hot sauce. Pour over toast and serve immediately.

Tomato and cheese pie

Unfortunately, like my good friend Deb, we do not have a glut of tomatoes this year but I am making this pie none the less. Sliced beefsteaks with cheddar in a pie crust. What could be better?











Ingredients:

• 4 beefsteak tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 9 inch pie shell
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (1/2 cup was plenty)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch (skipped it)
• 1-1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• I also added 2 t sugar and 2 T cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and let stand 10 minutes; drain well on paper towels. Sprinkle pie crust with 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Layer tomatoes and green onion over cheese. In medium bowl, combine mayonnaise with cornstarch, Cheddar cheese, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, basil, and salt and pepper to taste; mix well.
Gently place dollops of the mayonnaise mixture over the tomatoes and spread to cover as much as possible. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until pie crust is golden brown and mayonnaise mixture starts to brown.

Did not have to worry about this one. The pie cut beautifully after it cooled for 30 minutes and was so good!

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

for the bechamel:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk
some grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 chicken bouillion cube (amount that you would dissolve in 1 cup water)
note: if you are using Knorr bouillion cubes, remember they are for 2 cups of water - just cut them in half)

Vegetables to roast (you can use anything you like)
I used a combination of zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, 3 garlic cloves and some chopped up fresh spinach

Lasagna noodles for one 13x9 inch baking pan
I don't recommend "no boil" noodles for this lasagna.

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

For the bechamel:
In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter.  Whisk in the flour and cook for just a minute or so.  Slowly add the milk and keep whisking.  Add the nutmeg, white pepper and bouillion cube and whisk.  Cook for a few minutes, whisking, until the bechamel has thickened slightly.  Set aside to cool.  Stir it once in a while so a skin doesn't form.

For the vegetables:
Chop vegetables uniformly.  Mince garlic.  Combine half the mixed vegetables on a baking sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast for several minutes at 400 degrees.  Stir.  Roast for several minutes more until vegetables are soft.  You can roast a little longer, if you like them to be slightly carmelized.  Repeat with remaining vegetables.  Set aside to cool slightly.

Cook lasagna noodles for 5 minutes, until soft.  Shock in a bowl of ice water, lay on towels to dry.

Spray a 13x9 baking pan with a little cooking spray.  Spoon some bechamel thinly on the bottom of the pan.  Start with a layer of noodles, a layer of bechamel, some vegetables, and then a layer of a little parmesan and mozzarella.  Repeat layers until you have 6 layers of noodles.  On top of the last layer, don't use any vegetables, just some bechamel and the remaining cheeses.  Cover tightly with foil.

 At this point, you can refrigerate this for a day if you want.  When you are ready to bake, bring to room temperature for an hour and then bake for 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Remove foil.  Bake for a little longer until top is slightly golden.  Let sit for 15 minutes before slicing.

I made this with a few modifications. I made a ricotta layer and only used noodles on the bottom and top. I think it came out really loose. Probably too much water from the veggies and the layer of zucchini slices I used for a noodle layer. It was really tasty but runny. What would I do differently? Probably dry the riccotta out a bit, and mix the roasted veggies with a few tbls of flour to tighten everything up. Perhaps if more noodle layers were added it would absorbed some of the liquid but we are low carb eaters so that's not an option. I also used two egg yolks and some cheese in the bechamel since that is how I learned to make it.

Stopped at Trader Joe's again to pick up more Mahi for the freezer. I also picked up a bag of Ciopino for a quick supper...maybe for Pre Sanctified Wednesday's?