Root Vegetable & Sausage Lasagna

I was struggling with ideas for our menu this week. I wanted to do something that would use some of the great root vegetables we have on hand but no new ideas were coming to mind. Then Matt suggested making a lasagna with layers of the puréed vegetables.

I used roasted sweet potatoes & parsnips as two of the layers, mixing a little roasted onion in with the parsnips. I could have just boiled the vegetables to soften them up but I decided to get the extra flavor roasting seems to add. I made a third layer out of our homemade Italian sausage (if you wanted to keep this vegetarian just add a layer of another vegetable. I think spinach would be good). Cheese went on every layer & the whole thing was topped with a garlic white sauce.

Boy, was this good. We loved the way the sweetness of the roasted vegetables worked with the sausage. It wasn't saucy like some other lasagnas but it was in no way dry either. Putting this lasagna together took a little time, roasting the vegetables, cooking the sausage, making the sauce, but the end result was worth it.

Root Vegetable & Sausage Lasagna

1 T olive oil
1 parsnip (about 3/4 lbs), peeled & cut into cubes
1 sweet potato (about 3/4 lbs), peeled & cut into cubes
1 medium onion, peeled & cut into large pieces
1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage, cooked
2 1/2 T unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/2 T all-purpose flour
1 c milk
pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper
1 1/2 c grated mozzarella
grated parmesan
6 lasagna noodles, cooked (or amount needed to get four layers)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place the parsnips, onions & sweet potato in a baking dish keeping them as separate as possible. Drizzle with olive oil & stir each to coat. Sprinkle with salt. Roast for 45 - 60 minutes until the sweet potato & parsnips are soft & the onion is starting to brown. Purée the sweet potato & parsnip separately from each other. Set the purées & onions aside,

To a small saucepan over medium low heat add the butter & garlic. Sauté the garlic while melting the butter. Once the butter has completely melted, stir in the flour. Stir & cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook while whisking until thickened. Stir in nutmeg & salt & pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Spoon a thin layer of the sauce onto the bottom of a 6" x 8" glass baking dish.

Place a layer of noodles on top.

Cover the noodles with the sweet potato purée & 1/2 c of mozzarella.

Place a layer of noodles on top. Cover the noodles with the sausage & grated parmesan.

Place another layer of noodles on top top the sausage. Spread the parsnips on top of the noodles, roasted onions & 1/2 c mozzarella.

Add another layer of noodles. Top with the remaining sauce, 1/2 c mozzarella & more parmesan.

Bake for 30 - 45 minutes, until the top is brown & bubbly. Let side 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Chicken & Sweet Potato Curry II

You know there are some foods that no matter how good they taste they just aren't photogenic, curry is one of those foods. 

When I make chicken & sweet potato curry I usually use the Rachel Ray recipe but this time I decided to a different version. Basically this is my Indian Butter Chicken recipe but I've changed the method of putting it together to make it a one dish meal instead of two. It's certainly a tasty curry though the flavor of the sweet potato was a little overpowered by the sauce.

Chicken & Sweet Potato Curry II

1 T olive oil

1 chicken breast, cut into small bite-sized pieces

1 medium onion, cut into large pieces

1 sweet potato, peeled & cut into thin slices

2 T unsalted butter

2 t lemon juice

1 garlic clove, peeled & crushed

1/2-piece of ginger, peeled & crushed

1 t cumin

1 t garam marsala

1 t chili powder

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, drained & chopped

1 T tomato paste

1/4 c plain yogurt

1 c half & half

1 T cornstarch

1/4 c water

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, onion & sweet potato. Cook until the chicken is cooked through & the sweet potatoes are beginning to soften. Add the butter to the pan & melt. Add the lemon juice, garlic, ginger, cumin, garam marsala, chili power & cayenne pepper. Stir & cook for about one minute. Add the tomato & tomato paste & cook a few more minutes. Stir in the yogurt & half & half. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sweet potato is completely tender. Mix the cornstarch with the water & stir into the curry. Allow to thicken. Serve over rice.

Serves 3

On a totally unrelated note...

Some of you know that I do quite a bit of knitting. When I lived in San Francisco I often did window displays for Noe Knit which often involved knit food (cupcakes, wedding cake, bbq, donuts, etc...). Well last night I'm watching The Colbert Report & he's doing a story on subversive knitting when up pops this picture.

I just about jumped out of my seat...that's my picture of the turkey my friend Matthew knit for the Thanksgiving window! I guess someone at the show was looking through Flickr...how random.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Somehow time slipped away from me this past month & I didn't manage to make the butternut squash soup that was the Recipes to Rival challenge. I still wanted to make  butternut squash soup but decided to doing something a little less involved than making my own broth & creme fraiche.

I decided to roast the squash & onion for this soup because I love the depth of flavor & richness roasting brings to vegetables, especially onions. If I had fresh garlic on hand I would have roasted a clove as well but since I didn't I used garlic powder (Its rare I don't have fresh garlic in the house but I forgot to add it to the shopping list!). I also added a little balsamic vinegar to this since I thought it would be a good counterpoint to the sweetness of the squash. A drizzle of cream over the top of each serving added just the right amount of creaminess. This soup was a real winner & I'll definitely make it again. It made a perfect dinner served with some crispy garlic bread.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash, about 2.5 lbs, peeled , seeded & cut into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, peeled & cut into 8 pieces
1 - 1 1/2 T olive oil
1 1/2 t balsamic vinegar
3 1/2 c chicken broth 
1/2 t garlic powder
salt & pepper
heavy cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place the butternut squash & onion in a baking dish. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables & mix to coat, add another 1/2 tablespoon if everything is not coated. Mix in 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar. Place in oven & roast for 1 to 1 1/2 hours stirring from time to time. The squash should be very soft & the onions beginning to brown. Allow to cool.

Place the roasted squash & onions in a soup pot with 2 cups of the chicken broth & use an immersion blender to process until smooth (you can also do this in a blender). Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, 1/2 t balsamic vinegar & 1/2 t garlic powder to the soup. Add salt & pepper. Bring the soup to a simmer & allow to simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Taste for seasoning & serve. Drizzle a little cream over the soup if you wish.

Serves 3

Honey Mustard Chicken Pot Pie

I decided a pot pie would be good use of a lot of the CSA vegetables we have on hand. Also we had some homemade pie crust in the freezer from our last Cookin' Minnesota meetup. Matt suggested flavoring the cream sauce with mustard to give it a little bit of a different flavor. I decided to take it one step further & use honey mustard, a flavor I love with chicken

The mustard really added a lot of flavor to the white sauce though perhaps it was a touch sweet. Next time we'll add a tablespoon of brown mustard as well & that should balance the flavors of the mustard & the honey just right. We really enjoyed the combination of vegetables in this pie as well, we don't usually add parsnips or sweet potato but loved the flavor of both.

You can use homemade or store-bought crust for this. If you do use homemade roll it out to about 1/8-inch thick. Matt used some of the leftover scraps of dough to cut out snowflakes to decorate the pies. The rest of the dough was made into cinnamon sugar cookies for dessert, yum!

Honey Mustard Chicken Pot Pie

1 T olive oil

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 small parsnip, chopped

1 small sweet potato, peeled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 small onion, peeled & chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 T unsalted butter

2 T flour

1 c milk

2 T honey mustard

1 T mustard, brown or dijon would work great (optional)

1/4 c frozen peas

1 large cooked chicken breast, cut into small cubes

salt & pepper

1 pie crust

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a large saucepan heat the olive oil over medium-high. Add all the vegetables except the peas & cook until the onions are translucent & the other vegetable are starting to get tender. Add the butter. Once the butter has melted sprinkle in the flour. Cook while stirring for 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, about 1/3 cup at a time, while stirring. Continue to cook & stir until thickened & bubbling. Stir in the mustard, peas & chicken. Divide the filling between two large single serving ramekins.

Cut two circles from your pie dough about 1/2 to 1-inch bigger around than the to of the ramekins. Gently place one circle on top of each ramekin, pressing around the sides. Brush the crust with the beaten egg. Place on a baking sheet & bake for 25- 30 minutes until golden brown.

Serves 2

Weekly Menu 12/1 - 12/7

We are back home after the Thanksgiving festivities in Michigan.

We got really lucky & didn't hit too much snow though the 1.5 inches we got certainly makes it look a lot more festive. It'll be time to get the Christmas lights up this week (as well as the plastic on the windows, ah the joy of a 75 year old house). It's the perfect time of year for all those favorite comfort food meals.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Honey Mustard Chicken Pot Pie

Butternut Squash Soup - I totally failed to get my soup done in time for the Recipes to Rival Challenge last month but I still want this soup.

Sweet Potato & Chicken Curry - I may use the Rachel Ray recipe or try making something up myself.

Root Vegetable Lasagna - This is an idea of Matt's.

Friday we'll be going to the No Coast Craft Fair so we'll eat out & Saturday I'm not sure if we'll be home or out so I'll be winging it. Then Sunday we are off to San Francisco again for Matt's company Christmas party

I'll be continuing the 8 Weeks of Cookies with Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies.