Moussaka

Pronouced "moo-sah-KAH", it's Greek for "lasagne".  Not really, but it's like Greek lasagne.  It's a meat-and-eggplant layered casserole with cheese souffle on top, but no pasta, and it is exquisite.

I first experienced this dish in Greece on a high school Classics Club trip (yeah, Latin nerd right here), later at Primo's in Alexandria, VA, the Trojan Horse in Bloomington, IN and the Greek Fest in Boca Raton, FL and have cooked it from the Frugal Gourmet's Three Ancient Cuisines recipe since.  I count moussaka among the first "real" dishes I learned to cook, and it has never disappointed.

You can make your own homemade tomato sauce (I don't) or use store-bought spaghetti sauce (I do).  The Frug's recipe for "Greek Tomato Sauce" calls for allspice which most spaghetti sauces don't use, so I simmer the moussaka meat sauce with a few allspice berries to incorporate that flavor.

Like all layered casseroles, you can build this recipe in a variety of sizes: 1 13x9 or 2 8x8 or 4 8x4 pans.

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Roasted Red Pepper Lasagne

This is a recipe liberally adapted from a recipe published in the Washington Post a million years ago for "Subanik", a traditional Costa Rican dish of meats simmered in a spicy red pepper sauce and served over rice.  Many of the ingredients are the same, but I've layered the Latin American flavors onto the Italian lasagne structure. 

You can shorten up your work time by buying red pepper spaghetti sauce (many brands have a "roasted red pepper" flavor), but if you were playing Mystery Dish at home and roasted your red peppers already, now's the time to pull them out of the freezer.

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Mushroom lasagne

Prep intensive, but delicious!  I know I say that a lot, but really this time.  To scale back the prep work, you could make this a red lasagne instead of a white lasagne and use store-bought spaghetti saucefor the leek bechamel sauce .  I substituted roasted whole mushrooms for one layer of lasagne noodles for dietary reasons, but you could also use 3 layers of noodles and save yourself the prepwork on the whole mushrooms. 

Nutritional info reflects whole wheat pasta, part-skim ricotta, whole milk, about 2 tsp of salt added and full fat gouda.

Lastly, if you're wondering how much of the leek you should use, get rid of any parts that feel like you could never finish chewing them.  Or just cut it like this:

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BBQ Lasagne with low-carb barbecue sauce & Minced pork platter

First of all, I think this is pure genius, though I also doubt I'm the first person to think of it.  All the delicious, drippy goodness of a pulled pork bbq sandwich in a casserole.  Hellah good stuff. 

In case all the low-carb talk
disturbs you, focus here!

Since I'm preparing the lasagne for someone who has a medical need to significantly limit carb intake, I've done a thing or two I might not ordinarily do (and feel free to undo them, if you choose).  I made my own low-carb bbq sauce because I wasn't happy with how much sugar commercial barbecue sauces contain.  If you have a favorite bbq sauce recipe or product, by all means use that.  But my low-carb recipe follows. 

My low-carb sauce is a hybridization of two recipes--Better Homes & Gardens and South Beach--that reduce sugar by different means, one with artificial sweeteners (in the form of commercial low-carb ketchup) and the other with unsweetened tomato puree.  The two recipes are comparable in terms of calories and carbs per serving.  The ketchup-based recipe, however, is far higher in sodium than the puree-based recipe, but was also determined to have far better bbq sauce flavor by an Expert Jury of Tasters (my and my hubbie).  So a mash-up it is.

I also replaced one layer of lasagne noodles out of the usual three with a shredded cabbage/carrot mix, that is, undressed coleslaw.  This is actually a great idea for making lasagne more nutritionally dense and getting more veg into one's day.  Roasted slices of eggplant or zucchini work great for many lasagnes, but I kept with the barbecue theme and picked coleslaw.  If you prefer, use a full box of lasagne and make the middle layer noodles.

For the minced pork, I oven-braised a 2 lb. uncured pork leg roast ("fresh ham"), minced it in the food processor, served half for dinner with some of the aforementioned sauce and reserved the other half for this recipe.  The recipe for that dish will follow as well.  You could also use pulled pork shoulder ("pork butt") or finely chopped pork loin.  If you wish to serve the low-carb bbq sauce with the minced pork platter supper, make an additional half-recipe of the sauce.

Lastly, nutritional info calculated using Sparkrecipes.com for the lasagne follows the recipe.  And I forgot to take pictures...sorry!...but you all have seen a lasagne before, right? ;-)

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Asparagus Potato Lasagne

A neat trick to freezing lasagne without it drying out is to freeze a small amount of liquid like stock or wine in ice cubes and put one at each corner of the pan so that as it thaws and cooks, there's a bit of a steam room effect keeping the noodles and filling nice and moist.
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White Seafood Lasagne

This is possibly the most labor-intensive lasagne I make.  You cook the sauce, you cook the protein, you make a special filling...believe me, it's worth it!!  You invest a little more time on the front end (when you *choose* to cook), put less time on the back end (when you *need* to cook), and get a knock-your-socks-off dinner...this is exactly what Dinner Done Yesterday is about.

There are food allergies in our extended cookery household, so shrimp is a no-no.  Feel free to use shrimp, or any other seafood, if you prefer.  In this recipe, I used half whole wheat noodles and half white noodles because that's what I had in the pantry.

White Seafood Lasagne
Makes 1 9x13 pan

Boilables:
1 lb. lasagne
1/2 bunch kale, stems trimmed, or 10 oz. box frozen greens

Scallops:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. bay scallops

Bechamel:
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
2 1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper

Filling:
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
3 tsp Italian seasoning
pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Heat a 4 quart pot of water to boiling.  Add kale and boil 10 minutes.  Lift out of the water with tongs and drain.  Chop coarsely when cooled (if using frozen greens, thaw and drain thoroughly, then chop).

Add lasagne noodles to the same pot of boiling water (topping up if necessary) and cook 10 minutes.  Drain and lay flat to cool.  Insure that you have 15 whole noodles.

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat and saute onions and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add scallops and cook until opaque, about 3 minutes.  Drain any liquid in the pan and reserve.

To make bechamel sauce, in a saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour.  Cook 1 minute.  Slowly stir in milk until completely incorporated.  Increase heat to medium-high until simmering.  Reduce heat to medium and whisk occasionally until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.

To make filling, combine ricotta, parmesan, egg, spices, chopped greens, scallop mixture and 6 tbsp of bechamel sauce.

To assemble lasagne...divide filling mixture into 15 portions (about 1/4-1/3 cup each).  Spread each portion on one lasagne noodle.  Roll noodle lengthwise and place seam-side down in lasagne pan. 

Repeat for remaining noodles. 

Pour bechamel sauce over noodles, making sure to cover all surfaces.  Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese over top.  Wrap in foil and plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate.

When ready to cook, thaw lasagne.  Cook at 400F for 30 minutes, or until heated through. Pin It

Mexican Lasagne

Corn tortillas stand in for pasta, enchilada sauce for pasta sauce, Mexican blend shredded cheese and queso fresco for mozzarella, parm and ricotta.  If you are looking to get the last little bit of sauce out of your jar, add a swish of beer and pour over the top of the finished lasagne--the extra liquid will help keep the dish from getting too dry in the low-humidity freezer.

 

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