Earth Hour

Last night was Earth Hour here in Denmark. All over the country there were concerts and get-togetherings to raise the awereness of Global Warming. We turned off the lights (and as much electrical equipment in the house possible; including the computer:-) and lit a candle - and well, a quite moment like that - it makes you think doesn't it - which is exactly the point. VOTE EARTH!

Operation Easter Joy

Today I recieved my Operation Easter Joy package. You may recall my previous mentioning of this event and now that someone else upheld the deal - I should get a move on myself. I have an idea of what to send to my mystery Easterbuddy but haven't quite decided yet. Until then I'll enjoy my new wonderful tea, sweets and Easter decorations. WOW how great is this:-)

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna - Daring Bakers March 2009 Challenge

I made it! Erhhmm, no, dear, not quite. So I wrote in my calender; posting date the 29th and then last night I saw that my fellow Daring Bakers had their post up on the 27th. And just when you think you're ready and up to speed - WAM! But I'm a posten' anyway:-)

I’ve made homemade ravioli before but never lasagne - and the whole experience has been a real pleasure. This isn’t difficult. Sure it takes time, there are stages and decisions to make along the way but all in all even though I’m a first-time lasagne maker it won’t be the last.

Here's the deal:

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.



I made a vegetarian version of lasagne and used only half of everything (of the original recipe). I threw the rest of the lasagne noodles in the freezer for another time. I ended up with 9 layers of pasta sheets, which is okay, I think - I read somewhere that there should be al least 6 layers for it to be a real lasagne.

Spinach pasta - Pasta Verde - 1 pound - what I used

2 large eggs (65g)
190 g. frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
350 g. all purpose unbleached (plain) flour

I left it in the fridge for two days, it was fine and easier than you'd think to roll the sheets thin with a rolling pin - no, I don't have a pastamaker-thingy. And it worked out fine.

Since it’s still wintery here in Denmark and definitely not tomato season I bought plum tomatoes (more flavour) and made a tomato sauce with a lot of orange juice. This is perfect, if you haven’t reached tomato season yet. This is a chunky version - if you wanted you could pass it through a sieve.

Tomato sauce 500 g.

500 g. fresh plum tomatoes, skinned, seeds removed and diced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
Juice from two oranges
A big handful of fresh basil, chopped
A little sugar, a little salt, a little pepper

Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Béchamel - (I didn’t use all of it)

40 g. unsalted butter
40 g. all purpose unbleached (plain) flour
400 ml. milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 1-2 minutes. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water with a little olive oil (so it doesn't stick) to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on a towel or paper towel. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 2 tablespoonful) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center. Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a very solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

Moroccan fennel soup

50 g. onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 red pepper, diced
1 ts harissa, chill sauce
1 ts cinnamon
1 ts cumin
1 ts. paprika
250 g. fennel, diced
200 g. potatoes, diced
200 g. tomatoes, diced
100 g. garbanzo beans, cooked
Juice form ½ a lemon
2 tbs mint, chopped
1 l. vegetable broth (made from water, celery, carrots, leeks, salt and pepper)

Sautee the garlic and onion, add red pepper and spices. Pour in vegetable broth and add fennel, potatoes and tomatoes. Let soup simmer for about 30 minutes. Now add the garbanzo beans and lemon juice, salt and pepper to your taste. Sprinkle soup with chopped mint before serving.

Torta Pasqualina

Torta Pasqualina means "Easter cake" in Italian. It's a traditional Easter dish from Liguria in the north-western part of Italy. I cheated a little since I used from-a-package puff pastry and the original recipe calls for homemade dough layered 33 times! Phyllo dough could be another easy alternative.




Ingredients:

450 g. spinach, if fresh; steam and chop 400 g. ricotta cheese, homemadeJ
100 g. onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs. olive oil
200 g. parmigiano, grated
5 eggs (two the the mixture and three for the small nests in the filling)
Nutmeg, salt and pepper

Steam and chop the spinach. Sautee garlic and onion in a little oil, add spinach, salt, ricotta, parmigiano, a pinch of pepper and nutmeg and two eggs, and mix well.Since I used a false-bottomed cake pan I rolled out the puff pastry so it covered the bottom and sides of the pan. I made a lid to put on top once the filling would be in place.

Now pour the filling on the dough. Make three nests in the filling, and break an egg in each of them. Try not to break the yolk, like I did:-) Put the puff pastry lid on top and try to assemble sides and lid so that it looks tolerable.

Preheat the oven at 200 C.

Place the pan on a baking sheet and place the sheet at the lower half of the oven. Bake for about 50 minutes.

Served cooled.

How to make your own ricotta cheese

This yields about 400 g. of ricotta

2½ l. whole milk
700 ml. buttermilk
Juice from ½ a lemon
Cheesecloth
Colander


Pour whole milk and buttermilk in a large saucepan (stainless steel) and turn your stove to high heat. Stir until the milk is warm and add lemon juice. You’ll soon see lumps of curd form on the surface. When you start to see more and more whey (watery) remove the saucepan from the stove and start to transfer the curds to the cheesecloth lined colander. Leave them to drain. And that’s how you make ricotta.

Hazelnut macaroons

Yields about 80 macaroons - depending on size

375 g. hazelnut flakes or finely chopped hazelnuts
500 g. confectioners sugar
1 ts cinnamon ( 6 g.)
150 g. egg whites (about 5)

Mix all ingredients together and put it in the fridge for 30-40 minutes. Preheat the oven at 180 C.

Use two teaspoons to place scoops of the mixture on a baking sheet with parcment paper. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Leave to cool.

Make a butter cream using butter, confectioners sugar and melted chocolate.

When the macaroons have cooled use your butter cream to sandwich the macaroons.