Zucchini and Smoked Salmon lasagne: Kitch'n Dahling never gives up

 

I have taken health quiet superficially lately, so –it appears -  God sent his wrath on me by giving this MAJOR cough resulting from the explosive mix of tonsillitis, laryngitis and pharyngitis.

And let me tell you how this ain’t the fun part yet: the cough was (is) so harsh and deep that the continuous coughing tore my back muscles (right hand side of the lumbar region). Everytime I cough now is like being stabbed in the back with the addition of a lot of moaning and weeping. And that’s how my pneumologist prescribed 2 weeks of absolute rest and LOADS of medication…

To cut it short, do you think this prevented  me from having a friend over for lunch last Sunday? Nope,not, nay!:)

To be honest,I made this really good lasagna the day right before my back completely collapsed: symptoms had shown with a little back ache so the cooking wasn’t feeling so demanding to know better and rest properly all day long.

These incredible creamy lasagne are a recipe from my friend Sonia, who made it for us on Jan 1st when we joined to celebrate the new year together: they are so easy to make and so hard to go wrong, that I challenge you to mess ‘em up.

WHAT I NEEDED

12  very thin pasta sheets (like Rana’s sfogliavelo)

1/2 spoon of butter to grease the casserole

6 medium zucchini (about 500 grams)

2 spoons of olive oil

2 shallots thinly sliced

1/2 liter of besciamelle sauce

150 grams Parmigiano Reggiano

whole milk if needed (about 3-4 spoons)

200 grams good quality smoked salmon cut in small pieces ( I normally buy the already sliced version you would normally use for sandwiches and cut it in smaller bits with scissors)

HOW I MADE THEM

1.Wash the zucchini and slice them with the aid of a mandolin. Heat a wok  with the oil on medium heat, add the shallots and let them become translucent, 2 or 3  minutes.

2.Add the sliced zucchini, let them fry without turning them for 2 minutes: when it’s time to,  try not to use a spoon to do it, cause the zucchini are rather fragile; I suggest you flip the wok as the Chinese cooks do so you will prevent the vegetables from breaking. Add salt and pepper and cook for 7-8 minutes in total (the veggies will easily finish cooking in the oven).

3. Now, if you have the besciamelle  ready, or use the canned one, all you need to do is wait for the zucchini to have cooled down a bit and add the sauce to the veggies. If the mixture is too thick add some milk, for you want it to be creamy enough to easily spread it on the pasta sheets. Add the diced salmon.

4. Let’s put the layers together: after greasing it, litterally line the casserole with the first layer of pasta, making sure the sides are well covered. Spread one thick layer of the  vegetables/besciamelle/salmon mixture, add a generous sprinkle of grated parmesan and proceed with the same pattern until the pasta is over ( I make at least three layers with 12 sheets, you can make up to 5, but I suggest you don’t make your lasagna too thick or it will be harder to cut it in clean servings ).

5. Put a thicker layer of parmesan on the upper layer, so the lasagna will brown nicely: put in the oven at 200°C for 30 to 45 minutes, until the surface is brown and bubbly. Let cool for 5-7 minutes (not in the oven or it will dry out!) and cut in pieces.

Serves 4 to 6

Tip: I like my lasagna moist and creamy, so the besciamelle is not "just one of the ingredients”, but THE INGREDIENT: don’t be  stingy with it and if it is too thick (or if you think your pasta sheets are thick) add enough milk to cream it further (remember that additional liquid helps to cook the pasta sheets through) .

You will simply love the feeling in your mouth!  ENJOY

 

Back after a long weekend away: Savory Veggie Rice, a quick answer to “what do I make for dinner tonight?”

 

I am sure you know the feeling when you get to go away for a long well deserved weekend after a long, tiring week at work (week? sorry I meant MONTH!). So, this weekend I had my treat for I took the friday off and started enjoying freedom one day in advance.

Friday was spent doing all sorts of things I can’t get hold of during the week: I went to the dentist, walked to the city centre and bought a few cosmetics I really needed to replace in my beauty case and went to my new home to meet the funny team made by my architect+electrician+construction manager to decide where the lights+electric plugs are meant to be in the kitchen (VITAL!) and basically all over the place.

It took more than expected but when we finally drove back to where we still live now (Ioska and I met directly at the team’s rendez vous) we had a quick lunch consisting of a stir fry of Nuremberg’s sausages and cabbage served on grilled dark home-made bread. Not heavy, not light if you ask me: just perfect if completed with a little glass of white wine and a nice espresso.

After lunch we chilled out for half an hour, packed and headed to Trento, a beautiful town in Trentino 3 hours away from Milan: a land of fine mountains, amazing wines (whites my favorites, but reds - like Teroldego Rotaliano or Marzemino - as charming as my top-of-the-list Muller Thurgau), delicious salami (ah, Luganega!) and a lovely, little, energetic, skilled cook called Adriana, aka my boyfriend’s grandmother.

Adriana was waiting for us, her usual affectionate but brisk way and her great shape ( at 80 she mounts little stools like a young woman of 20, without any help from us nor from any handhold) only the frame to a characteristically trentino, clear-headed and straight-forward manner I have learnt to love during the years. Knowing me and Ioska as foodies, she cooked all sorts of amazing dishes: canederli (knodels), polenta with sour krauts and pork (in different cuts: smoked roast, sausage and cotechino), strudel, all served with a nice Marzemino wine, a red with great body but  “only” 12% alcool.

In order to bring back home some of these wonderful tastes, Saturday was devoted to buying typical products in Levico Terme, a nice village where they set up in the Hapsburgian Gardens, the most enchanting Christmas market I have seen lately(even if I heard that Bolzano’s is twice as big and twice as nice) .

Ioska was as taken as I am,we dragged ourselves from a stand to another until the cold became so unbearable we bought some biscotti in a nice patisserie in the main street, and went to our friend Tommy’s home where we had a wonderful tea waiting for the evening plans to unroll.

We spent the night to a concert, then to a party, then back to Tommy’s home where we had pasta at 3 in the morning while chatting about art, politics, expectations and (wonder) homes! When we finally went to bed we woke up at what felt like 5 minutes after bedtime,  just in time to go back to Trento, have lunch with Adriana and her daughter – Ioska’s aunt – Dorotea, and then drive back to Milan filled with the family’s attention, our friend Tommy’s company and Trentino’s delicacies.

So, tonight, we arrived home after this scrumptious weekend with a need for warmth (the air was chilly, my sore throat a mess and the rain not wanting to stop) and a simple meal: the fridge was almost devoid of fresh goods, only a couple of zucchini and a bunch of fresh carrots I randomly bought during the week when I decided to make stock.

To me, the best way to combine these two veggies is to stir fry them with onion to make a mixture that begs to be added to neutral ingredients like eggs or rice (or both). This dish, which is baptized under the name of “quick veggie rice” is easy to make, fulfilling, tasty and light, and it makes a perfect dinner after a long weekend of culinary indulgence.

To make it

I NEEDED

100 grams rice, boiled in water added with dried vegetarian broth 

2 large zucchini, thinly sliced (1/2 cm) with a mandolin

2 carrots, cut into a large julienne with a potato peeler

1/2 big red onion or 1 whole small one, thinly sliced

a dash of white wine to deglaze the pan

4 tbsp extra vergin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon  garlic paste (or a garlic clove cut in two pieces so it’s easy to remove)

salt & pepper

some drops of soy sauce (optional)

HOW I MADE IT:

1 I heated 2 tbsp of oil and the garlic paste in a large pan for 2 minutes, then settled the slices of zucchini in a large layer ( as large as possible so to cover the bottom evenly) and let them cook for 4 minutes before I stirred for the first time.

2 I “tumbled” the zucchini instead of turning them with a wooden spoon: this lets you check if the lower side touching the pan has browned already without scrambling the slices (being very thin they break very easily). Also, tumbling will allow the slices that don’t reach the bottom of the pan to soak gently in the oil once they have swapped places with the lower layer (and have their chance to brown). Let cook for 5 minutes turning the zucchini upside down twice to check if they have all browned and almost cooked through. Salt and set aside in a small bowl.   

3 In the same pan, I added the last 2 olive oil tablespoons with the thinly sliced onions and let them cook on high heat for two minutes until they have become translucent: I added the carrots’ julienne, salt, pepper and let it brown nicely on medium heat adding a dash of white wine to deglaze the pan when the carrots have started to stick slightly.

4 Once the wine has evaporated, I added the zucchini back in the pan and let the aromas blend, adjusting seasoning if needed. I turned the heat off and set aside (covered) until it was time to serve.

5  I boiled the rice in a pot using the infusion method: I put the thai rice (even if any long grain variety will do) in the pot covering it with cold water (1,5 cm above the rice level). I added a teaspoon of dried vegetarian broth and let cook covered for 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated completely. You’d better start with very low heat so the “broth” has time to infuse in the rice.  Mind you, if the rice  is done before all the water has gone, uncover and let the rice go on a higher heat until the liquid has disappeared. Stir and let rest for 3 more minutes covered, or until the rice is soft enough to your taste.

6 Fill single serving cups with the rice and add a nice amount of veggies over it: I like my serving garnished with some drops of soy sauce and olive oil, but you can skip this step if you want.

Serves a couple of hungry two or 3 decent people keen on having dessert too. Enjoy!