A different take on Zuppa Arcidossana

I made Mark Bittman's Zuppa Arcidossana last year and it was very good. Today, feeling a bit under the weather, I decided that I needed some soup again. The things I wanted in my soup were meat, starch and veggies. So... this afternoon, I took a chicken carcass out of my freezer, put it in the trusty le creset pot, added water, celery stalks, carrots, an onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, and some parsley stalks I had from earlier in the week. Simmered it for a couple hours.

My take on Zuppa Arcidossana

Ingredients
2 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3/4 pound sausage (I think it was Turkey but it came out of my freezer so who knows)
1 pound spinach, washed
2 cups of chicken stock (I also added a little bit of water)
1.5 cups cooked pasta (I used pasta that looked like the shells of snails - no idea what they are called)
salt and pepper
1/4 -1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

I then set about chopping up the onion, garlic, carrots and celery.  After this was almost done, I put the turkey sausage in to the big le creuset pot, browned it a little bit then added onions etc and cooked it on medium for about 5-10 min stirring occasionally.

During this time I heated some water in another pot for the pasta.  I boiled pasta and then drained.
I added spinach to the le creuset pot with the sausage and veggie mix, allowed it to wilt and then added chicken stock.
Once the pasta was done and drained, I added this to the soup mix.  I served the soup with some grated parmesan on top.  I would also recommend some chopped flat leaf parsley but forgot about it.

Exactly what the doctor ordered and now I go to bed.

The Marc Bittman original below:

Zuppa Arcidossana

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 cup 1/2-inch-diced carrots
1 large onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt and black pepper
1 cup stale bread (use coarse, country-style bread), cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 pound spinach, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup ricotta salata, cut in 1/2-inch cubes (feta may be substituted)
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley, optional.
1. Put oil in a large pot or deep skillet and brown sausage over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When sausage is cooked through and leaving brown bits in pan, add carrots, onion and garlic, and continue to cook until vegetables begin to soften and brown, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Add bread to pan and stir for a minute or 2; add spinach and continue cooking just until it wilts, a couple of minutes.
3. Add about 2 cups water and stir to loosen any remaining brown bits from pan. This is more of a stew than a soup, but there should be some broth, so add another cup of water if necessary. When broth is consistency of thin gravy, ladle stew into serving bowls and top with cheese and some freshly chopped parsley if you have it. Serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings.

Healthier Eggplant Parmesan

This recipe is (again) by Martha Rose Schulman from the NYT.  Recipes for Health is supposed to empower you to cook healthy meals everyday.  And while I think the majority of their recipes are healthy and easy - this one may be relatively healthy but definitely not easy.  For me it was pretty much a 3 hour affair.  Why did I want to cook this recipe?  While I love meat, I sometimes need to take a break.  I did however want something quite stodgy - so voila - a new take on eggplant parmesan.  The real time crunchers are:

• the roasting and draining of the eggplants
• the blanching of the tomatoes (I don't know a better way to peel a tomato), and then the peeling, chopping etc of the tomato.
• the getting out of the food processor, the emptying of the le creuset pot (very heavy with one hand) full of tomatoey goodness in to the food processor, the cleaning of the food processor.

Basically you cook two dishes before you even start cooking the third and then you only end up with one dish.... hmmmmm....

Eggplant and Tomato Gratin

For the tomato sauce:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 to 4 garlic cloves (to taste) - does this mean chopped or whole - I did both and then took out 2 of the whole ones
2 pounds fresh tomatoes, quartered if you have a food mill or else peeled, seeded and chopped; or 1 1/2 (28 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes, with juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon sugar
2 sprigs fresh basil

For the gratin:
2 pounds eggplant, roasted
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons slivered fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1. Roast the eggplant.
2. Meanwhile, to make the tomato sauce, heat the olive oil in a large, heavy, preferably nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Stir until tender, about five to eight minutes, then add the garlic. Stir until fragrant, about a minute, and add the tomatoes, salt (1/2 to 1 teaspoon), pepper, sugar and basil sprigs. Turn the heat up to medium-high. When the tomatoes are bubbling, stir well and then turn the heat back to medium. Stir often, until the tomatoes have cooked down and are beginning to stick to the pan, about 25 minutes. Remove the basil sprigs.
3. If you did not peel the tomatoes, put the sauce through the fine blade of a food mill. If the tomatoes were peeled, pulse the sauce in a food processor fitted with the steel blade until coarsely pureed. Taste and adjust seasoning.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Set aside 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and mix with the bread crumbs. Oil the inside of a two-quart gratin or baking dish with olive oil. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce over the bottom of the dish. Slice the roasted eggplant about 1/4 inch thick, and set an even layer of slices over the tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon a layer of sauce over the eggplant, and sprinkle with basil and Parmesan. Repeat the layers one or two more times, depending on the shape of your dish and the size of your eggplant slices, ending with a layer of sauce topped with the Parmesan and bread crumb mixture you set aside. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over the top. Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until bubbling and browned on the top and edges. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or room temperature.
Yield: Serves six
Advance preparation: The tomato sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The casserole can be assembled a day ahead, covered and refrigerated, then baked when you wish to serve it. Don’t add the last layer of bread crumbs and Parmesan, with the drizzle of olive oil, until right before you bake it.

A Healthier Lasagna

I got this recipe from Food Mayhem (a blog I LOVE). It was super tasty but a little bit dried out and not enough meat sauce for my liking. Next time I think I would up the meat sauce and put in a bit extra olive oil before cooking and/or ricotta to ensure that it isn't too dry. I may also not have given an airtight covering while cooking it.

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Beef and Spinach Lasagna
Meat Sauce

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 pound 11 ounces (90% lean) ground beef
• 1 (28oz) can crushed tomato with basil
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf

Cheese & Spinach Filling

• 10 ounces frozen spinach, blanched, drained and cooled
• 1 pound shredded whole milk mozzarella, divided
• 1 pound whole milk ricotta

Assembly

• 9×13 baking dish
• 16 (no boil) lasagna sheets (8″x4″ each)

*note: the lasgana sheets I used are made for 8×8 pan but I wanted to make more so I made a 9×13. It worked fine though.
Instructions -
Meat Sauce (can be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated, warm before using):
1. Heat oil in a medium pot on medium high heat. Stir in onions and soften for about a minute. Add carrots and stir around for another minute. Stir in tomato paste until well distributed.
2. Add ground beef and stir around until browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Add crushed tomatoes, garlic, and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Stir and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat and remove bay leaf. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F while meat sauce cools a bit.

Cheese & Spinach Filling:
1. Ring out spinach with paper towels.
2. In a medium sized bowl , combine spinach, 8 ounces of mozzarella, and ricotta.
Assembly
1. Spread 1 cup of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.
2. Lay 4 sheets of lasagna down. See pic.

3. Spread 1/3 of cheese and spinach filling on top of lasagna sheets. Spread a little more than 1 cup of meat sauce on top.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times. Lay another layer of lasagna sheets on top. Cover with remaining meat sauce. Spread remaining mozzarella on top.

5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve.