More Lasagna Bolognese

I know I have put this recipe up before but I just had to repost it. I made it last week and it was extra tasty!

Lasagne Bolognese

Meat sauce

2 T butter
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
8 oz ground beef
16 oz Italian sausage (or 8 oz sausage, 8 oz ground veal)
28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups white wine
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a pan. Chop the carrot, celery, onion and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Next process the tomatoes just a little in the food processor so that they are nicely chopped. Sautee the onions/carrot/celery/garlic in butter until soft. Set the tomatoes aside until later. Then add the meats. Brown the meats, all the while using a potato masher to mash up the meat into fine particles. Add the milk and cook, uncovered, for about 30 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Add the wine and cook for another 30 minutes or so until the liquid has evaporated. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer abotu 10 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Bechemel Sauce

4 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups milk
salt

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add flour and stir until well combined. Gradually add milk. Bring to a low boil and stir constantly for about 10 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit. The final volume of the sauce should be about 3 1/2 cups. Add a little salt to taste. Cool for a while on the counter.

Assembling the lasagne

Use olive oil to oil the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch pan. Take another 28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes and chop them up in the food processor. Take about a cup of these chopped tomatoes and put them in the bottom of the pan. Lay down a layer of lasagne noodles. On top of the noodles spread 1 cup of the meat sauce and about 1 cup of the fresh tomato sauce. Spread about a cup of bechemel and put on a very healthy amount of grated parmesan cheese. You will need about 2 cups grated parmesan cheese for the dish. Keep making layers in this way until you are almost out of sauce. The last layer will be meat sauce, tomato sauce and cheese.

Baking

Preheat your oven to 425. Cover the lasagne pan with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Raise the temperature to 450 and remove tin foil. Bake uncovered for another 10 - 15 minutes until the top browns and a lot of the liquid has evaporated. Let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes before slicing.


Here is someone who likes Lasagna!
[Begin coded message about the weather in Kentucky]
[End coded message about the weather in Kentucky]

Sausage with Peppers

It is cold down here. Daisy is getting cabin fever.


The baby is getting sick of bundling up like an Eskimo.


Steamer Cove is all frozen over and even the Blue Heron has left. He usually sits on the little island in the middle. He usually only sits there at night though.


I decided to make a dish to cheer us all up.

Italian Sausage with Peppers

1 pound Italian sausage links (your choice hot or mild)
1 onion, sliced into 1 inch pieces
1 green pepper, sliced into 1 inch slices
1 red pepper, sliced into 1 inch slices
1 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t basil

Brown the sausages in a skillet with a little olive oil. Meanwhile saute the peppers, onion and garlic in a sauce pan with a little olive oil. When sausages are browned set aside and let cool for 5 minutes. Slice sausages into pieces and add to saucepan with the onions and peppers. Use wine to deglaze the skillet that you cooked the sausages in, and pour the results into the saucepan. You may need to add a little water. Add a little salt, a little pepper and the herbs to the pan. Cover the pan and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and simmer longer until the sauce reduces. Serve with garlic bread or some other crusty bread to soak up the sauce.

Top Secret Greek Food News

[Begin coded message]
A spy in Kansas City is currently researching a particular Greek food, a staple of late-night bar enthusiasts. You may have seen these particular goodies sold at carts at about 3 in the morning outside of a popular watering hole. Details are sketchy at the moment and the story is still developing. I will report more as I get more information. I am authorized, however, to report the development of a sauce for said food. Recipe will be forthcoming hopefully in the near future.
[End coded message]

Senate Bean Soup

It is still soup weather in Kentucky. I was looking for a soup that would heat things up around here. What better place to look for hot air than the Senate? It turns out that bean soup has been a staple of the Senate cafeteria forever. I got this recipe a long time ago from a cookbook that my mom got on a trip to Washington D.C. Some recipes I have seen for the soup require mashed potatoes instead of potato chunks. I'll let you decide which is better.

Senate Bean Soup

1 lb. Navy Beans
4 qts. Chicken stock
1 small ham hock
3 onions, finely diced
6 stalks celery, finely diced
2 large potatoes, finely diced
3 carrots, grated
½ tsp. Thyme
1 T. Parsley flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste


Boil the beans and ham hock in chicken broth until the beans are soft and the hock is cooked through and soft. Remove the hock and strip any tasty meat from the bone. Give the bone to a nice dog, but only if it has been good. Return meat to pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until potatoes are soft. If soup is too thick, thin out with chicken stock. Mash beans slightly before serving.

Strike Anywhere, Anytime!

Oh Yeah.
They came in the mail today. With a little practice I will be striking matches off of any surface at the drop of a hat. Watch out. No zipper, pants leg or slightly roughened surface is safe! Whatever is close at hand will be match striking surface. You can get your own at:
Emergency Resources.com