Apr 19

Roasted butternut squash and shallot lasagne

Recipes 1 Comment


Butternut squash lasagne

Butternut squash lasagne


This is not a quick recipe, however compared to some other lasagne recipes, it is rather low maintenance. The bulk of the work is in preparing the squash for roasting. I remember one lasagne I made with some friends, when we grilled all the vegetables, including onion, on a small George Forman grill. Then we made the sauce, grated the cheese, and compiled it all into one fabulous lasagne. It was a great way to spend the day with friends, but not necessarily always feasible. I also wanted a change from the typical tomato sauce based lasagne. So I decided on a butternut squash lasagne.

This lasagne turned out really well, full of the lovely flavours of butternut squash. Most of the sauce was absorbed by the no-cook lasagne noodles. So if you want it to be a saucy lasagne, add more milk to the sauce. Also, if you have fresh lasagne noodles, you would want to remove at least 1 cup of the milk from the sauce, so it is not too milky.

Ingredients:
1 medium to large butternut squash
5 shallots
2 tsp brown sugar
300g Ricotta cheese
2 cloves garlic, diced
3 cups milk
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp dried sage
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
sage leaves
salt
pepper

Roasting the squash and shallots

Roasting the squash and shallots

For the filling:
Peel the squash, and slice into thick slices. Peel the shallots, but leave the shallots whole if they are small or cut in half if they are larger shallots. Then roast the squash and shallots in a roasting pan, with the brown sugar sprinkled over top, in the oven for 1 hour, at 200C. After one hour they should be soft. Once cool enough to handle, dice into 4cmx4cm cubes and slice the shallots into small rings. Mix the shallots and cubed squash pieces together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

For the sauce:
Place butter, sage and 2 cloves garlic in the sauce pan over low heat so the garlic doesn’t burn. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and mix thoroughly into a paste. Then add the milk, slowly so all flour is incorporated into the milk so there are no clumps. Once all the milk has been added, slowly bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil the temperature can be reduced so the sauce can thicken. Season with salt and pepper.

The ricotta cheese could be added to the sauce to create a thicker, richer sauce. However I used it as a layer underneath the squash. It likely doesn’t make too much of a difference, but to make things easier, adding the ricotta cheese to the sauce would take away a step or two.

Bringing it together:
Place enough sauce on the bottom of the lasagne pan to coat the bottom. Lay the first layer of lasagne noodles on top. On these noodles, spread the ricotta cheese, then add a layer of the butternut squash and shallot filling. On top of the filling, add another layer of lasagne noodles and pour over the sauce, ensure you leave enough to coat the third layer of noodles. Repeat these steps for the next layer.

On the top layer of noodles, pour the remaining sauce over, top with grated parmesan cheese, and a few small sage leaves.

Apr 19

Learning to be a wine lover

Ramble 3 Comments

2008 South African Chardonnay

2008 South African Chardonnay


I have decided now is as good a time as any to start learning more about wines, and to stop feeling so lost when choosing a wine. I would love to be able to sip a wine, and comment on the soft My plan is to start paying attention to the wines I’m drinking, and work my way through there. There have been many wines I’ve had which I enjoyed, but I forget which they were. I know I like Riesling. I know white wine is served cold, red is served at room temperature.

A friend of mine just gave me the book ‘Understanding Wine – A guide to wine tasting and wine appreciation’ by Michael Schuster. So I’ll use this, along with the internet and my own opinions and go from there.

So, where will I start today? I purchased a 2008 South African Chardonnay to drink with dinner. Why this wine? Well… I like white wine… Sainsbury’s gave it a rating of 2/7 in their dry/sweetness and I like dry white wines. It was also listed as on a half price sale, so it was 4 pounds instead of 8 pounds. But I also tend not to believe those signs – it was likely only ever sold for 5 pounds. However, why not start with a wine that’s supposed to be 8 pounds, but fits into my cheap budget.
My budget is slim, but luckily being in the UK right now rather than Canada wine is much affordable here. Dinner tonight consists of a butternut squash lasagne with a creamy ricotta sauce. It’s creamy and cheesy, but there’s no red meat nor other heavy ingredients. Red or white wine? My guess was white.

According to Wine Lovers Page I’m doing alright -

On pastas – “If it’s a cheese sauce like Fettuccine Alfredo, consider Chardonnay.”
On cheese – “Ripe, creamy cheeses like Camembert and Brie: Rich, buttery Chardonnay. Or for a change of pace, try them with Champagne. ”

Though they also say this about vegetarians, “Frankly, it’s hard to be a serious wine lover and shun meat.” …hmm…and yet popcorn stands alone as a category for wine matching.

Onto the wine.

According to my new, handy, understanding wine book, Chardonnay is one of the least distinguishable wines. ‘full and round, with a moderate acidity’ and is only distinguishable through elimination. One with an established palate would know it’s Chardonnay because it’s not Mascadet, Sauvignon, Riesling, etc… Could I tell that? No.. (Or, not yet, I shall say). In order to keep track of which wines I like, and to deepen my understanding of tastes, I’ve started to take notes of each wine – as seen below.

Chardonnay Review

Chardonnay Review


My handy book also tells me sometimes the oak comes through in the flavour, though in this Chardonnay I’m not tasting the oak. Ultimately, on it’s own, I don’t care too much for this wine. It’s acidic, doesn’t have much depth, and … [insert more descriptive wine words here]. However it is nice with cheese – the cheese seems to cut the harsh acidit taste. Would I buy this particular bottle of Chardonnay again? No. Would I try another Chardonnay? Sure, but I’ll do some research first so that the next bottle I buy is a fair representative of what Chardonnay should taste like.

Mar 23

Polenta squares with sundried tomato and parmaesan

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Polenta Squares

Polenta Squares

My first few attempts at polenta was by making the more traditional, creamy and cheesy, mushy polenta. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped, but I knew there was potential. This recipe appeals much more to my taste, and is also more visually appealing.

These polenta sqaures work nicely as an appetizer, or along side a salad for a light dinner.

Ingredients:
2 cups coarse cornmeal (polenta)
4 cups water or vegetable stock
6-8 diced sundried tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup parmaesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 tsp herb de provence
1 tbsp butter

To make the polenta, bring the water to a boil, add the cornmeal and turn the heat off. Stir in sundried tomatoes, parmaesan cheese, butter, garlic, and herbs. Once the cornmeal has fully absorbed the water, pour the mixture into a lightly greased large cake pan. (I think the first time I made these I didn’t grease the pan and they still came out fine, but to be safe I lightly greased it the second time).

Allow the polenta to set for at least 1 hour, until cooled. I usually make it up to this stage a day ahead and let it sit overnight.

Once the polenta has set, cut it into rectangles. Preheat a frying pan, add a little butter or olive oil, and fry polenta squares until crisp on the outside. Flip as necessary.

Another option would be to place these under the broiler until they begin to brown on top.
Mar 17

Pear scones & garlic cheese scones

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Scones

Scones

I was looking for a breakfast recipe which didn’t involve more than one egg, and ended up deciding on scones – which don’t have any eggs. This worked perfectly as we bought self-rising flour, and didn’t know what to do with it. I’m also often conflicted between sweet and savoury so I chose not to choose, by making both.

Using the below recipe, I halved it and made half a batch of sweet scones, and half a batch of savoury scones. For the sweet scones, I added shredded pear and sprinkled sugar on top. For the savoury scones I grated half a cup of cheddar cheese and a clove of garlic into the recipe.

The flavour of the pear did not come through too strongly. Perhaps next time I will try a different type of pear (this was an Asian pear, not too sweet naturally). The cheese was nice, but the garlic wasn’t noticeable.

Main ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk

In addition:
For the sweet scones -
1/2 shredded pear
1/8 cup flour (as needed, see below)

For the savoury scones -
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 clove garlic, grated

Mix the main ingredients together, then divide ingredients into two bowls – one for the savoury, one for the sweet.

Add the shredded pear to one bowl, and add as much flour as is needed to keep the dough from being sticky.

Mix the cheese and garlic into the other bowl for the savory scones.

Roll out each batch of dough thickly (about 1.5inches) and cut into rounds (I used a glass as my cutter).

Bake 425F/220C for 17 minutes, keeping a close eye.

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