Tag: Italian

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Turkey, Roasted Butternut Squash & Spinach Lasagne

I haven’t written a blog for a little while because I have been writing and in the process of publishing a cookbook. This is a book I wrote many years ago and I decided to republish it adding some new recipes all enhanced by a professionally taken photographs.

Im in the process of starting a second book, and the recipe that follows is one that I developed recently and I thought I would like to share it with you

We are in the season of pumpkins and squash and being a lover of butternut squash, I had a inkling to give it a whirl in a lasagne dish. Looking to make this firm family favourite into something quite special, I opted for ground turkey instead of beef. Excellent served with a lovely tossed salad and garlic bread.

I would highly recommend buying fresh lasagne noodles (most supermarkets now sell them). It saves a great deal of time. I remember in the good ol’days we used to have to boil the noodles first, strain, run cold water over them and then you were ready to get started. Buying freshly made noodles saves a great deal of time. I hope you enjoy this dish and your comments are very appreciated. Please take the time to subscribe to my blog by placing your email address in the subscription box.

INGREDIENTS

3 tbsp olive oil

1 finely chopped red onion, 1 finely chopped carrot, 1 finely chopped red chilli, 1 cup of sliced mushrooms, 3 garlic cloves

1 Roasted Butternut Squash (after roasting scoop out the flesh)

1 cup ricotta Cheese, 1 bag spinach, 2 cups grated mozzarella

2 lbs Ground Turkey (mince)

3 ozs tomato paste, 15 ozs chopped tomatoes, 3ozs red wine, 1 vegetable stock cube, 1 tbsp mixed herbs, 1 bay leaf, sea salt & pepper

METHOD

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add onion, carrot, chilli & mushrooms and sauce for 10 minutes. Add the turkey and gently brown mixing the vegetables through the meat. Once brown add the tomato paste and combine into meat mixture. Add tomatoes, red wine, herbs, bay leaf, vegetable stock cube, season with sea salt & pepper to taste. Saute for 20 minutes.

CHEESE SAUCE

2 ozs. butter, 3 tbsp plain flour (or tapioca starch), 16 ozs milk, 1 cup cheddar cheese

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add flour and whisk into butter. Slowly add milk and continue to whisk on a medium heat. Once the milk thickens up add the cheese. This sauce you will use in the middle of the layers of lasagne and to top it.

Start by using a deep oven proof dish (8″X 12″) brush dish with olive oil. Put your first layer of lasagne noodles. Cover this with 1/2 the meat mixture, cover that with fresh spinach leaves, sprinkle a handful of mozzarella, drizzle some of the cheese sauce. Mix half the butternut squash with the ricotta cheese. Put another layer of noodles. Add the other half meat mixture, then top with ricotta and squash mixture (spread evenly over meat) add some more fresh spinach leaves, mozzarella, drizzle of cheese sauce, top with another layer of noodles, spread the remainder of squash and cover with spinach, then drizzle with cheese sauce, add another layer of noodles (be sure to press layers down. Top the last layer with the rest of the cheese sauce. I like to slice a tomato and add that to the top and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil

Bake in a preheated oven – 350F 180C Gas Mark 4 and bake 45 mins to one hour (until top is nicely browned. Remove foil 15 minutes before cooking is finished. If you would like to see a video of me constructing this dish, go to www.facebook.com/marypremiercru.

Why not visit Mary’s Kitchen for more delicious recipes on www.facebook.com/marypremiercru or Instagram on Mary_premiercru.

Your comments are always welcome. Please take a moment and subscribe to my blog by adding your email address in subscription box.

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Thank you for stopping by.

Mary Joan Calder

 

 

 

 

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LET’S MAKE PESTO

 

LET’S MAKE HOMEMADE PESTO

There is nothing easier to make than pesto providing you get all your ingredients together before you start.  I have made a short video on You Tube (Mary PremierCru) for you so you can see just how easy it is to prepare.  There are a number of variations to my recipe which  I will also share with you.

Pesto did not become popular in the North Americas until the 1980’s.  It was traditionally made with a Pestal & Mortar – the Italian verb Pestare means to pound or crush.  But nowadays,  we have it easy in that we have all sorts of different styles of blenders to do the hard work for us.  I prefer a hand blender to make my Pesto but you can use a large food processor as well.

LET’S GET STARTED                                         

2 cups of of fresh Basil Leaves (you can use 1/2 basil and 1/2 spinach as well)

1/3 cup of Pine Nuts (or you can use walnuts)

1/2 cup Parmesan Reggiano (or you can use Pecorino or Romano) basically any hard Italian Cheese

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup olive oil or more to get consistency correct

1 lemon (optional) Italians love using lemons and if you enjoy the taste of lemon – go on and give your pesto a squeeze.

METHOD

Tear the basil into pieces including stems and place in blender along with pine nuts.  Give it a whirl to break up the basil and pine nuts.  Scrape down the sides of blender then add garlic, parmesan and olive oil.  If necessary add more olive oil until you get the right consistency to mix through your cooked pasta.

VARIATIONS

Use walnuts instead of pine nuts and also you can run some whole pine nuts or  crushed walnuts through your pasta to give some extra nuttiness.

Use Parmesan Reggiano, Pecorino or Romano cheese

Instead of using all Basil – do 1/2 spinach and 1/2 basil.

There you have it.  Your pesto will keep for one week in a sealed container in the fridge.  Or you can freeze it in ice cube trays and once frozen put it into freezer bags and this will keep for six months.

TIPSTER

What a great hostess gift this would make.  Put it in a lovely jar, decorate the lid with some fabric and ribbon and give the gift of love.

I hope you enjoy this true Italian flavour.  If you would like to receive more clean and healthy eating recipes, please fill out your email address just to the right – subscribe to my blog.

Thank you and come back soon.