Stocking the Freezer - 7 days and counting!

Maternity leave is a wonderful thing. It gives you the time you need to make sure you are fully prepared for the soon-to-arrive bundle of joy; to wash every onesie, burp cloth and blanket; to fold them and organize them in their appropriate drawers; to take them back out, fold them a second time, and place them in a very similar, but strangely better spot. (I may or may not have done this several times already.) It allows you to assemble the stroller, hang some wall-hangings, and install the car seat, and that extra seat-base for the second car. Then, it affords the (probably unnecessary) opportunity to go back the next day and do it all over again, just in case. It lets you take your husband back to USA Baby for the umpteenth time, pick up that rocking chair (the last item for the nursery!), put it together and give it a few test rocks - just to make sure it's comfy and rocky and ready for our little bambino.  It is my last chance to do those last few things. And so, I have cleaned our condo from top to bottom, packed my hospital bag, read every baby book I own multiple times, organized the endless pile of diapers (that will somehow only manage to last us a week), set up the nursery and the bassinet, and assembled every swing, play gym and bouncer we own or ever could own. Oh, and I picked out a birth announcement.

But as of today I am 39 weeks pregnant, and I find myself restless and quickly running out of patience (not to mention clothes that fit - my poor husband has had to hand over his Notre Dame lacrosse shorts and multiple, mostly Steelers t-shirts because I refuse to buy any more maternity clothes this late in the game). So despite all of the wonderfulness, my maternity leave has also given me far too much time to sit around and over-analyze each and every slight pain, ache or never-felt-before sensation. With each one, I freeze, hoping that the time has finally come. I stare at the clock begging my body to do it again. Of course, nothing ever happens. My contractions are irregular and for the most part painless (although often times uncomfortable) and I find myself quickly realizing that yes, I will, in fact, be pregnant forever.

So today, one week out from my due date, I knew that I had to find something to keep my hands busy and my mind distracted. With every item on the baby checklist complete, the only thing left to do was stock the freezer. I know that whenever this baby finally decides to grace us with her presence, that we will be overjoyed and madly in love. But I also know that we will quickly become overwhelmed and beyond sleep deprived. (Insanely happy? Of course. Insanely sleepy? Uh, that too). I am sure on most days, the last thing I will have the time or energy to do will be to cook dinner. So in anticipation of the inevitable, and the need to just do absolutely anything before I lose my mind waiting for this sweet (though apparently stubborn) baby girl, I am going to make and freeze several meals over the course of the next week that can be easily reheated on a moment's notice. So for starters, the freezer's menu will include: Chicken and Vegetable Casserole, Minestrone, banana bread and/or muffins (at Adam's request) and today's dish: Spinach and Meat Lasagna.

Start off by boiling a large pot of water. Once the water comes to a rapid boil, add a touch of salt and 12 sheets of lasagna, and then bring back to a boil. Cook for approximately 8 minutes or until noodles are al dente. Meanwhile, brown 1 lb of ground beef over medium heat.

Once the meat is cooked, drain the excess grease and return to the burner. I happened to have leftover spicy Italian sausage from a meal earlier in the week, so I chopped it up and added it to my beef. Next, add a cup or so of homemade or store bought pasta sauce, a bit of pepper, onion powder and basil.

In a large bowl combine 15 ounces of ricotta cheese, 5 oz of shredded parmesan cheese, 2 eggs (beaten), and 10 ounces of chopped spinach.

Once the lasagna noodles are cooked, drain the pot and lay the noodles out so that they do not stick together and end up tearing.

In the bottom of a large lasagna pan (such as the one shown below by Mario Batali!) spread about 1/2 cup of your pasta sauce.

Layer 4 sheets of pasta, slightly over lapping. 

Next spread half of the ricotta and spinach mixture over the noodles until completely covered.

On top of the cheese mixture, spread 1/2 of the meat mixture.

Repeat the last 3 steps. Finally cover the entire dish with the remaining pasta sauce.

Cook for approximately 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Once the lasagna was completely cooled, I covered it and put it in the freezer for an easy to heat up meal once the baby arrives! Before serving, I will obviously be reheating it, but also adding plenty of mozzarella cheese and freshly chopped basil to the top. Cannot wait!

Adam had to have a piece before it went into the freezer.

Oh and just a word to the wise to any doctors out there: if you are going to tell an extremely pregnant woman at her 38 week appointment that her baby will be arriving "soon" you better mean within the next week or so, otherwise, you are just plain mean. Anytime between now and the Fourth of July is not considered to be "soon." Seven days (hopefully!) and counting and cannot wait!

Cucina Italiana

My husband, Adam, and I have been talking about planning a trip to Europe for quite some time now. Yesterday, we finalized our plans and in honor of this trip which will end in Italy, I wanted to make a special Italian dish to celebrate. One of my favorite Italian chefs is Lidia Matticchio Bastianich who owns many wonderful restaurants including Lidia’s in Kansas City. I decided her recipe of fish with pepper sauce would be the perfect way to celebrate our upcoming adventure and learn a little bit more about Italian cooking and culture.

This recipe originates in the Le Marche region of central Italy. It includes red and yellow bell peppers, olive oil, salt, onion, celery, peperoncino flakes, marjoram, sage, orange zest, canned Italian tomatoes, and fresh white fish. First you prepare the sauce, then lightly brown the fish before letting it complete the cooking process in the simmering sauce. 

Lidia’s recipe calls for any white fish and she recommends using an oily fish such as bluefish or mackerel. I chose to go with Alaskan Cod fillet and this worked perfectly with the rich pepper sauce. The first step of the cooking process is to roast the peppers for about 1/2 an hour until the skins are loose enough to be easily removed. Discard the seeds and chop the peppers to be used later.

While the peppers are roasting, be sure to chop the necessary ingredients so that everything is ready to go when you need it. Dice up one onion and two sticks of celery. Next heat the olive oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan before adding the onion and celery and a dash of salt and peperoncino flakes. Allow to cook for a few minutes before adding in fresh springs of marjoram and sage, the zest of one whole orange and the Italian tomatoes plus a cup of water. From here the ingredients need time to soften and meld together, so bring the pot to a simmer and allow to cook for about 20 minutes or so. 

After this is complete and you have added in the roasted peppers, Lidia’s recipe suggest pouring the food into a mill to stain the sauce. I chose to actually go a different route and blend the sauce with an immersion blender. This allowed me to create a thicker sauce which I thought paired wonderfully with the fish. Either way would work, it just depends on what you are looking for. 

After completing this step, it is time to begin cooking the fish. Lidia seasons and flours her fish before frying it in oil. I chose to only season the fish with salt and freshly cracked black pepper and skipped the flour. I then lightly browned the fish on both sides. For me this is a very important step that can make or break the rest of the dish. You want to heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is heated completed, lay the fillets flesh side down in the pan and do not touch it for several minutes. If you continue to check the fish to see how the cooking is progressing, chances are it will not create the crust that you are looking for and the fish will end up ripping into multiple pieces. As much as you want to, you have to resist the urge to look at the fish. After about 3 minutes or so, carefully flip the fish one time and brown the other side for a few minutes.

Finally, once the fish is close to being cooked all the way through, add your pepper sauce to the pan and bring it to a simmer. Let the fish finish cooking for a few more minutes in the sauce before serving. This process allows the sauce to infuse into the fish creating a much more flavorful dish. 

Lidia suggests sprinkling parsley on top of the fish when serving, instead, I picked some fresh basil from our garden and used that as our final flavor. The basil definitely added additional elements of freshness and boldness to the dish. Lastly, along with the fish and pepper sauce, I served sautéed spinach and fresh french bread. The spinach can easily be sautéed at the same time that the fish is cooking. 

This was the perfect meal to celebrate our upcoming trip. I cannot wait to bring back and share with you all the many wonderful recipes of Le Marche and several other regions of Italy. Until then, we will continue to look forward to our trip with the help of Lidia. Buon divertimento!

Chicken and Shiitake Dumplings

Weekends are my time for trying new and adventurous ideas. With no time constraints, (or at least more time than the work week provides) I am able to take on labor intensive and complex recipes. This weekend I took on the challenge of making home-made Chinese dumplings. Seeing how I had never attempted this before, I was a little apprehensive, but with a reliable recipe from Fine Cooking and Thy Tran, a husband who will eat mostly anything, and faith in my own abilities, I was ready to test my limits and go outside my comfort zone.


The first task to accomplish was making my dough. I started off by pouring a cup and a half of all purpose flour on the counter top. After forming a deep well in the middle, I added ½ a cup of cold water. Slowly and carefully, I began to mix in the flour from the walls of my well until the mixture formed a ball of dough. At this point, it was time to begin kneading. I did this for several minutes until the dough was elastic. I cut the dough in half and into two logs, dusted with flour and covered for 30 minutes.

While the dough was resting, I made my dumpling filling. With endless options, I decided to go with a chicken and Shiitake filling. This recipe included roasted chicken, Shiitake mushrooms, spinach, scallions, fresh ginger, soy sauce and fresh black pepper. I started off with shredding the chicken into a medium size bowl. Next I cleaned the Shiitake mushrooms, removed the stems and finely chopped the mushroom caps, before adding to the chicken. I quickly wilted down 6 oz of spinach in a skillet with a little water and just a touch of sugar. After squeezing out the excess moisture, I chopped the spinach and added it to the bowl. Next was the fresh ginger – my favorite ingredient of the whole dish. Never use a substitute for fresh ginger. The quality and flavor cannot be replicated and in all honesty it is not too difficult to do yourself. After removing the skin from the ginger root, I grated about 2 tablespoons worth of ginger and added that to the bowl. Lastly, I mixed in a bit of soy sauce and freshly cracked black pepper before stirring all together. Voila – the filling was done!

With the filling complete, I was able to focus my attention entirely on the shaping of the dumplings. If you have not attempted this before, be aware that this is a long and tedious process for a first timer, but entirely worth the effort in the end. I started by cutting my dough into 36 even pieces. I covered the pieces I was not using with a bit of flour and under a clean kitchen cloth to avoid over drying. With a rolling pin, I began to gently roll each piece of dough into a 3 inch circle. It is important to be as delicate as possible with the dough to avoid a tear and to make your life easier when you begin the filling and folding. Once all the dough is rolled out, the fun begins! Start with scooping about a teaspoon or so of filling onto each individual piece. You want to be careful not to overfill the dumpling or else it will be very difficult to close and you could end up tearing the dough, complicating the cooking process. Once you have added the filling, you will want to seal it closed by pinching and folding one side of the dumpling against the other. This will created a pleated look along the top, with the bulk of the dumpling on the bottom. Continue with this process until all of the dumplings have been formed.

After all of those steps are complete, it is finally time to cook the dumplings. I chose to pan-fry my dumplings in order to create a little crunch. To do so, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, add the dumplings and cook for a few minutes, until the undersides are crisp and brown. Pour in ½ a cup of water, cover the pan and boil for a few more minutes. This allows the entire dumpling, filling and top, to cook through until silky and smooth. Once cooked, remove the lid but allow to cook for about 2 more minutes so that the dumplings can dry and crisp up. Finally, remove the dumplings from the pan and begin plating!

Before serving, I quickly whipped up one of Thy Tran’s soy dipping sauces. The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sugar, ½ teaspoon of sesame oil and 1 chopped scallion. I combined all ingredients and stirred together.

The dumplings were great! I was pleased with the overall texture and the flavor of the filling was exactly what I was hoping for. Although this was a time intensive process, the results were well worth it - my husband has already requested them as appetizers for football weekends! I am glad I took on this challenge and was able to learn a new and fun technique. I know that I will make these over and over again, but for now only on the weekends!