Honey and Oven-Dried Tomato Bruschettas

Hello again! Rachel is back thanks to not having student teaching any more and being unable to look for a summer job as yet.

So for class this week we were asked to bring in food for a potluck. Katie (Missouri one...yes, Bordo there is another Katie in my life :-P) and I were super excited to get to make food. She wants to start a pastry shop too. Anyways, I immediately decided on the Bruschettas in this post because well, they are like crack for me, and, wait for it...they get me to eat tomatoes! Katie made this wonderful smoked salmon dip, even though we ate it tonight instead of last night at class. Still delicious! And super easy...so Lien, I will reiterate how to make that at the end of this post too.

For the Bruschettas though, here we go. (Lien you can improvise this if you want with pre-bought sun-dried tomatoes.)

1 lb of grape or cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons of honey plus more for drizzling
2 tablespoons of olive oil (I always eyeball this...so maybe a little more?)
1 teaspoon of thyme
a few dashes of salt

Fresh chopped basil
Fresh sliced mozzarella cheese (the baby kind in the milky-looking liquid)
Fresh Baguette, sliced

Olive oil for brushing

Honey for drizzling
Balsamic Vinegar for Drizzling

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Cut the tomatoes in half, length wise and stick in to a large bowl. Add the next ingredients, through the salt and mix. I always like my tomatoes to be really coated, mostly because when you cook the tomatoes the liquid gets all syrupy and caramelized on the bottom and is delicious! Anyways, add more honey and olive oil as you see fit. Lien, this does not mean add A LOT, but add another teaspoon if you think it is needed.

3. On a parchment lined baking pan pour your tomatoes. The parchment isn't THAT necessary, it just mostly makes clean up a heck of a lot easier. Line all your tomatoes up, so they are cut side facing up. Put them in the oven and let them cook for about 1 hour and a half. I usually do an hour an 40 minutes but it depends on your oven. The tomatoes should be just starting to brown. Take them out and let them cool to room temperature. They can be kept in a container in the fridge for a few days as well. Bring them back to room temperature to serve.

4. Turn your oven up to 450 degrees for the bread. Cut the bread into thin slices for the bruschettas. They should be about 1/2 thick. Then put them on a baking sheet and brush them with olive oil on both sides. Put them in the oven and cook for about 3 minutes, until they are just starting to brown as well and get crispy.

5. Meanwhile take out your mozzarella and begin to slice thinly. Once the bread is done place three to four mozzarella slices on top. Then add the tomatoes, chopped basil, and drizzle all of them with honey and balsamic vinegar. Then enjoy!

And then for Katie's fabulous salmon dip. She said, if I remember correctly:  get one container of sour cream, a block of cream cheese, a pallet (one thing of Trader Joe's size) lox (so the smoked salmon you put on BAGELS, not the flaky cured stuff), some sprigs of fresh dill, and the juice of one lemon. Put that all together in a food processor/Cuisinart and blend it all together. Then serve with crackers.

Now I want to have an appetizer party. I'll keep you posted on that one...

Ragu

So I was watching TV and I saw a recipe for ragu. I've never made ragu before, but it looked interesting and look good on TV. This recipe is complicated and long, which is why I wanted to try it out. In the end, I thought it tasted good but was not worth the effort, haha.

Ragu: serves 10-12
From foodnetwork.com

6 ounces bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces (About 5 strips)
2 onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 whole cloves
1 whole star anise
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
1 1/4 cups white wine
3/4 cup evaporated milk (not to be confused with condensed milk, the sweet stuff)
3 cups beef broth
1 ounce dried mushroom, chopped
56 ounces diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried majoram
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauces
1 1/3 cups parmesean cheese


1. Cook the bacon on medium low in a big pot. Remove the bacon from the pot and add the onions, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are carmelized, about 30 minutes. Place the anise and cloves in a spice ball, cheesecloth, or cotton sachet, and add to the pot.


2. Add the celery and garlic, and cook until the celery is soft, about 20 minutes. Remove the spices.



3. Meanwhile, brown the meat in a separate pan. Cook the meat in batches otherwise your meat might get soggy. Drain as much of the oil as you can, and add the meat to the big pot. Add 1/2 cup white wine to the pan you cooked the meat in and scrape any brown bits off. Add the wine/scrapings into the pot.

4. Add 1/2 cup white wine, the chopped mushroom, evaporated milk, and beef broth. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for a total of three hours.


So, at this point, something happened to my sauce. It seems like the evaporated milk curdled, because I saw white flecks in there. Other people who have tried out this recipe said the same thing. So in the end the sauce didn't look appetizing but it tasted okay.

5. While the big pot is simmering, heat oil in the other pan you were using or a medium pot. Add in the sliced garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add the canned chopped tomatoes and spices. Let the water cook off of the tomatoes, about 30 minutes.

6. Add 1/4 cup white wine, the tomato paste, ketchup, and Worchestershire sauce. Cook the tomatoes for an additional 25 minutes to caramelize the sugars. Stir occasionally. Then add the tomatoes to the big pot.


Serve with bread or spaghetti!

Lasagna

Hey, it's Tammy! I made this lasagna a few days ago with Lionel and my sisters. It's a lasagna with meat sauce and spinach-ricotta layers. This lasagna takes a while, but you have a lot helpers, the prep work takes about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
9 - 12 lasagna noodles (depending on how many layers you want)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella

Spinach-ricotta mixture:
2 eggs
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces of frozen, chopped spinach that has been thawed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Meat sauce:
3/4 - 1 pound ground beef or turkey
32 ounces canned tomato sauce (or puree)
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili flake (optional)
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

To make the meat sauce:

1. Chop the onion. Here are some step by step photos on one way to chop an onion:






2. Heat a pot on high or medium heat. Add olive oil. When you can feel the heat with the back of your hand, add in the onions. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to spread the onions evenly. Stir the onions around every minute or so, until it browns.
3. Add your meat. In this case, turkey. Once the meat is in, break it up into smaller pieces. Every minute or so, stir the meat around until browned.


4. Add your tomato sauce or puree. Stir to combine everything, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate any yummy browned stuff into the sauce.

5. Season the sauce. If you don't have all of those spices on hand, it would probably still taste good with just salt, pepper, and sugar.

6. Let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes to let all of the flavors mix. Keep a lid on the pot, but tilt it slightly so that steam can escape. There's your meat sauce! You could also use this to have plain spaghetti, or dip with bread.

7. At this time, you can shred the mozzarella if you bought block cheese.


8. Start a pot of water for the lasagna noodles. I grab a large pot, fill it 2/3 of the way, and add salt. The pasta will absorb the salt while it is cooking, which enhances the flavor. I keep the lid on until the water is rapidly boiling, then I add in the lasagna noodles. Since these are long noodles, you have to stir it for a while until all of the noodles are submerged. Then, leave the lid off and cook for about 10 minutes. Test the noodle too see if it is nearly cooked. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven. (Sorry to hear you don't have an oven Lien!)
Preheat to 350 sometime around here.

To make the spinach-ricotta mixture:

1. Squeeze excess water from the thawed spinach.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the two eggs.

3. Add the remaining ingredients.


Assembly:

1. Place a small amount of sauce at the bottom of your baking dish to keep the noodles from sticking.
2. Add your first layer of lasagna noodles.
3. My next layer was the spinach cheese. I added all of the spinach in this layer, but it's probably better if you split it in half. Add some mozzarella cheese.



4. Add more lasagna noodles, then half of your sauce, then some mozzarella cheese. Continue to layer your lasagna, alternating between meat sauce and spinach-ricotta.


5. Top the lasagna with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. Lionel seasoned the top with black pepper and salt.

6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until it bubbles. Then, change your oven to broil and brown the top for 5-8 minutes.


All done! This makes for a great meal by itself. All that you're missing is a piece of fruit to balance the meal (that's the nurse in me, haha).