Recipes

Another recipe from my childhood…

Mom’s Lasagna

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Lasagna noodles
• 15 oz container of Ricotta cheese
• 2 beaten eggs
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley
• couple cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
• large ball of mozzarella (grated)
• 2 jars of Newman’s sauce
• 1 lb of lean ground beef (drained)
• salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and garlic to taste

Directions:

1. Cook Lasagna noodles, drain in cold water
2. Mix together Ricotta cheese, 2 beaten eggs, parsley, garlic, Parmesan cheese
3. Grate the large ball of mozzarella cheese
4. Add the red sauce to the ground beef and spice it up to your taste buds.

1. Put a little sauce in the bottom of a casserole. Place a layer of noodles on the sauce. Spread a layer (about 1/3 – 1/2 depending how deep your casserole is) of the ricotta mixture on the noodles. Sprinkle grated mozzarella on the ricotta layer. Add a layer of sauce and repeat until you end up with noodles on the top. Then put the remaining sauce over the top noodles, and sprinkle on some remaining grated mozzarella cheese and a little Parmesan cheese.

1. Bake for about 1 hour or until bubbly. (Mom’s note: “I usually cover the casserole for the first 40 minutes with foil and then remove for the last part of the cooking.”)

It’s a pretty easy recipe, your hands get covered in sauce when you roll them, but it’s all good. Lots of cheese, lots of sauce, filled to the brim enchiladas just like Mom used to make…they should be, its her recipe!

Mom’s Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Ingredients:

• Two packets Lawry’s powered ‘Enchilada Sauce’ Mix
• Chopped up chicken you cooked or one of the already cooked chickens at the market.
• Grate up a lot of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. The two blended together have a good flavor.
• Can of chopped olives
• Can of chopped green chilies.

Directions:

1. Make the sauce according to the directions on the packet.
2. Pour a quarter of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole pan and put a corn tortilla in the sauce.
3. The sauce will soften the tortilla and eliminate the need to presoak them in oil or anything of that nature.
4. After you have both sides of the tortillia completely covered in sauce, fill them with chicken, olives, chilies, cheese, etc. and roll them up and place at the end of the same casserole pan seam side down.
5. Keep the process up until the pan is full. Add sauce when you need it and when you get to the end of the casserole and it is hard to wet the tortillas, just dip them in the sauce in the saucepan.
6. After you have them all rolled up, pour on the remaining sauce and sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Be generous with the sauce…making two packages for about 12 tortillas. Also, they taste better when you are generous with the cheese.
7. You can cover and freeze for later, or better yet, cook the enchiladas for about 20 minutes (until bubbly) at 350°F.

This isn’t the recipe Mom used to make (I’ll post that later when she sends it to me) but this is a very nice macaroni. This is a French take on comfort food that is pretty easy to make and the leftovers are great.

Macaroni and Cheese with Prosciutto: Bon Appétit

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces small elbow macaroni (2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups (packed) grated Gruyère cheese (6 ounces)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 400ºF.
2. Butter 11×7-inch glass baking dish.
3. Cook macaroni in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but firm to bite. Drain.
4. Whisk 1/2 cup Gruyère, cream, milk, prosciutto, Parmesan and nutmeg in large bowl to blend.
5. Add macaroni to coat.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
8. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup Gruyère until cheese melts and macaroni and cheese sets, about 20 minutes.
9. Serve warm. Makes 6 servings.