Kick Ass Lasagna (Gluten Free and Dairy Free)

Italian Heritage + Gluten Free + Dairy Free = One Very Sad Woman 

Italian + Gluten Free + Dairy Free x a Love of Cooking / Experimental Approaches in the Kitchen = A Shining Moment of Culinary Brilliance 

Are you following my math here? After many years preparing food for a gluten and dairy free household, living without lasagna was no longer acceptable in my book. 

How sad is this... My kids didn't even know what I was referring to when I said I had made lasagna for dinner. Zero frame of reference. Completely unacceptable in the kitchen of a woman with rich Italian heritage. I became bound and determined to create a lasagna that was a fair match for the real thing that my grandmother would make for me as a child. 

This recipe has been a long time coming, friends. Try it out. And if you've been gluten and dairy free for a long time, allow yourself to radiate with joy after your first bite. Go ahead and take a deep breath. Now sigh. And smile.

Kick Ass Lasagna (Gluten Free and Dairy Free)

Ingredients:

Red Sauce

2 TBS olive oil

1 large red onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 TBS dried crushed oregano

1 tsp salt

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground Italian sausage

1 cup red wine (Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon would be a fine choice here)

14 ounce can diced tomatoes

28 ounce can tomato sauce

Cashew Cream "Ricotta"

2 cups raw unsalted cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes

1 1/2 cups water

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

2 large handfuls fresh Italian parsley

Lasagna Noodles

Tinkyada brand - 10 ounce package

The Preparation Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin soaking the cashews, if they are not already set out to soak.

Set large pot of water to boil. 

Follow package directions for cooking the lasagna noodles. Word to the wise, use the noodles you have to cook first. I tried this recipe with the no-cook variety and it did not have the right consistency. In fact, it was quite icky in comparison to the Tinkyada version.

First step: Prep vegetables.

Take a moment to reflect on the beauty all around you.

Saute onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and garlic in olive oil until soft over medium-high heat, approximately 8 minutes.

Add ground beef and ground Italian sausage. Brown it up, baby.

While cooking, season the meat with the oregano and salt.

Once the meat is browned and fat has been drained, add the wine and continue cooking until reduced, about 5 minutes. For a nice article on choosing your cooking wine check out this New York Times article from March 2007.

Now add the cans of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir well to combine. Allow to simmer over low heat for the next 20 minutes or so.

And now on to the cashew cream "ricotta" cheese...

What we'll be doing in this segment is recreating the ricotta cheese flavor and consistency for the sake of actually enjoying our gluten and dairy free lasagna when it's all said and done.

We've been soaking the cashews for at least 30 minutes. But perhaps for as long as 6 hours.

Drain the water away from the soaked cashews.

Place the cashews in the blender with 1 1/2 cups water. Puree until the cashews are smooth as smooth can be. Depending on the strength of your machine this could take up to five minutes of blending. The smoother the better here folks.

We've got our Italian parsley washed up. Grab two handfuls of the parsley and throw it into the blender with the two eggs.

Give it a spin. Not too long though. Just enough to mix the egg and parsley into the cream. Too much blending of the parsley and the "ricotta" will turn completely green. Ewwww.

And now begins the fun part of making lasagna from scratch. Layer a few spoonfuls of red sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon some cream sauce in there too and mix it around to create a nice nonstick surface for the first layer of lasagna noodles.

Layer #1 of noodles. And yes, what you see here is a classic example of rice noodle behavior. They do not perform like normal wheat noodles. They break apart all too easily. But hey, no one will know the difference once it's all baked together in a fantastic casserole of Italian goodness.

Next a layer of cream sauce. Use approximately 1 cup's worth here. Spread it around, sister (or brother).

And another layer of meat sauce.

You get the idea here. I need not describe the process any further.

End with a nice thick layer of cream sauce with the remaining meat sauce placed carefully on top.

Cover with tin foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Take the cover off and bake another 5 minutes.

Let cool a bit before diving in. Enjoy!

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It's December. You know what that means around here. It's a Christmas music bonanza! This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas tunes of all time. An ode to my old Italian grandmother — a little Frank Sinatra for your listening pleasure.

Frank Sinatra - Mistletoe and Holly

New Mexican Chorizo Burgers

Twelve years ago I married a New Mexican. I always knew I would. I grew up watching Young Guns and dreaming about the rough and tumble personalities that came with the territory. I thought someday I would name my children Billy, Charley and Chavez. Two girls and a boy. As of today I have two boys and a girl and I didn't name them Billy, Charley or Chavez.

When I visited New Mexico as a tween I was absolutely taken with the flash rain storms and humongous sky. The rain would come down in such unique fashion—the drops spread so far from one another you could dodge them if you were nimble enough—I had never experienced anything like it.

Besides their love for gun slinging and rabble rousing, one thing I learned quickly about New Mexicans is their love for roasted hatch green chilies and hot salsa. I have come to love roasted hatch green chilies and hot salsa too—admittedly it has taken me some time—and keeping in mind that 'hot' is a relative term. 

This week I created a New Mexican Chorizo Burger for my family to inspire that Billy the Kid spirit at the dinner table. (And give me a reason to play Jon Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory tape as our background music.)

New Mexican Chorizo Burgers

Serves: 6

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound chorizo sausage

1 large yellow onion

4 TBS olive oil (maybe more)

6 full roasted hatch green chilies or 1 small can roasted hatch green chilies

2 ripe avocados

6 hamburger buns (gluten free)

1 cup mayonnaise 

3 TBS salsa

3 pinches salt

Preparation Method:

Combine 1 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound mexican chorizo sausage. Mix really well so the two meats are one in the same. Shape into patties. A thin patty is better than a thick patty for this burger. A quarter inch thick would be a good starting place. As with any burger they will thicken up on the grill. There are a lot of toppings for the finished burger. We want to create space, plenty of space.

Get 'em going on the grill. Cook approximately 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

In the meantime, prepare the rest of the toppings.

Slice the onions thinly in half ringlets. Heat 4 TBS olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute until caramelized.

Keep stirring so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan or become burnt. Add more oil if necessary to achieve this golden brown crispy goodness.

Crack open your hatch green chilies. Fresh (or frozen) chilies are preferred. They can usually be found in your grocers freezer, unless you go to a store that doesn't carry them like we did on this particular day. If you can't find them, the canned chilies will do but will deeply impact the end result. I suggest you go to great lengths to find the fresh ones, my friends. Unless you're running late like we were on this particular day, then the canned ones will have to do.

Grab your hamburger buns. This was the first time we tried gluten free hamburger buns and we were pretty satisfied. You should have seen the look on the kids faces when they saw a burger with a BUN! What a novelty in our gluten free house.

Prepare the special sauce for the buns. Combine 1 cup mayonnaise, 3 TBS of your favorite salsa and 3 pinches of salt. Mix well. Spread generously on both sides of the bun.

Stack 'em up. Sauce on the bottom, green chilies below the burger, avocado slices and caramelized onions on top.

Enjoy! And don't forget to turn on your Jon Bon Jovi tape.

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Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory

Crispy Onion Hot Dog Sandwiches

"It's hot dog night... again."

Usually when I make this announcement, all the adults on the premises growl with disappointment. Here in The Little White Kitchen I have a rule I follow closely—I cook one dinner for all the peoples. It is against my policy to prepare multiple options for all the peoples of the house. The rule is simple—if you don't like what I've made, don't eat. Thankfully there will be breakfast in the morning.

On hot dog night the rule still stands. Typically the children have no problem my meal selection. The adults, on the other hand, were getting a bit tired of the boring-yet-functional hot dog with no bun routine.

To make this night something everyone could look forward to I added a few embellishments to the routine. All peoples over three foot tall were very pleased with my twist on this classic kids dinner.

Crispy Onion Hot Dog Sandwiches


serves: 4
prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
4 all beef kosher hot dogs
8 slices gluten free bread
1 cup coleslaw topper (One batch = 1/2 head green cabbage, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 TBS rice vinegar, 1/2 tsp celery seed, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp sugar)
1 large onion, sliced
2 TBS vegetable oil
2 TBS ketchup
2 TBS mayonnaise
1/8 tsp sugar

The Preparation Method:

Cook hot dogs on the grill.

While the dogs are cooking, fry onion slices in 2 TBS vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Continue frying until onions are golden and crispy. Remove from heat and set aside.

While onions are frying make the special sauce. Mix together 2 TBS ketchup, 2 TBS mayonnaise and 1/8 tsp sugar. Set aside.

When all pieces are ready it's time to assemble the sandwiches. Toasted bread. Special sauce on each slice. Hot dogs split down the center, arranged flat side down on the bread. Layer a hearty helping of crispy onions over the dogs. And a thin layer of Coleslaw Topper over the onions. Smush it all together and dig in!

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I LOVE this jam. I'd never seen the video before today, even tough I've listened to the song about a million times. It makes me love the song and Erykah Badu even more.

Erykah Badu - On & On

Balsamic Glazed Sliced Steak Salad

Perfect song on the radio 

Sing along 'cause it's one we know 

It's a smile, it's a kiss 

It's a sip of wine, it's summertime 

Sweet summertime 

Oh, pardon me. I didn't realize you were listening. I do have a tendency to sing loudly when I'm alone in the kitchen. I typically don't sing so loudly when other folks are present, unless you have the good fortune of being one of my children. In that case you'd be asking me to be quiet because it's embarrassing. But since you're surely not one of my children I won't be singing for you any time soon. Unless you're stopped next to my car at a red light. In that case you'd be smiling awkwardly at me over the passenger seat because you find my singing to be so off-pitched it hurts. Then you'll see me slowly rolling up my windows and looking even more awkwardly back at you. But anyhow, I'm singing today because this is today's theme song. And theme songs are meant to be sung along to. The first day of summer. Summer solstice. The longest day of the year. A day for grilling out. A season for salads.

And today, boy oh boy, do I have a salad for you. Balsamic Glazed Sliced Steak Salad is the perfect mix of light and hearty, sweet and savory.

This has become the favorite salad in our house. The other night I prepared enough to last two dinners but was pleasantly surprised to find my children asking for seconds and thirds. Sure enough we finished off the whole batch in one sitting.

The key to this salad is the balsamic reduction. Since I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands and I prefer to do things the easy way, I made sure my balsamic reduction was super simple. It needed to be something I could do while candying pecans. So I dumped a bottle of balsamic vinegar in a heavy saucepan and put the heat on. Then I reduced the liquid to half while stirring continuously. Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Enough talk. Let's get to it.

Balsamic Glazed Sliced Steak Salad

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds flank steak (or whatever you want to cook up tonight)

1 large head of romaine lettuce, chopped

2 cups candied pecans

1 cup dried cranberries, sweetened

10 oz grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise

16 oz sliced button mushrooms

1/4 head shredded red cabbage

1/2 liter balsamic vinegar

balsamic vinaigrette dressing

The Preparation Method:

Let us begin by taking a closer look at the tastiest salad I've made in years...

Now that we have our inspiration for the task ahead of us, we shall carry-on.

Word to the wise with this salad—plan ahead. Make the balsamic reduction yesterday. Make the candied pecans the day before yesterday. There is no good reason why you should be eating dinner at ten o'clock at night just because you forgot to make these most crucial items ahead of time. They both keep on the shelf nicely. Make them when you have an extra half hour in the day and be amazed at how quickly you can pull this salad together.

I posted about the candied pecans the other day. Click here for the recipe.

The balsamic reduction glaze is easy. Pour a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette in a heave saucepan. Use half a liter or a full liter. (The glaze that is left over can be stored in an airtight container in the cupboard to spruce up most meat or fish entrees.) Turn the heat on medium-high. Stir continuously. Bring to a slow boil. When the vinegar sticks to a wooden spoon, as seen in the picture above, the reduction is complete. It should be thick like molasses. This process took me about 30 minutes. Beware of letting it go too long for fear of it burning. Immediately take off the heat and let cool. Set aside. (The cupboard is fine. The refrigerator will turn it hard as a rock.)

Next begin preparing the other toppings...

Thinly sliced red cabbage.

Grape tomatoes cut lengthwise.

Sweetened dried cranberries.

Thinly sliced button mushrooms.

Now it's time to get the steak on the grill. Get the grill nice and hot before you put the steak on. Help the steak stay nice and tender by only flipping it once. Keep the lid on the grill while it's cooking.

Grill your steak how you like it. For us this was about four minutes on each side to achieve nice grill marks on the outside and medium-rare in the center. This steak was a little thick. Less time if your steak is thinner.

Bring off the grill and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the thickness. This will allow all the juices to settle into the meat rather than run all over your cutting board. Then thinly slice the steak.

While the steak is resting, start dressing the salad plates...

A handful of mushrooms.

Just a touch of red cabbage.

A small handful of dried cranberries.

Some grape tomatoes.

And a few candied pecans. Unless you are one of my children. In which case you would grab the whole bowl and dump it on your plate and leave none for your siblings or your parents. Sneaky buggers.

Even though Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing is quite possibly one of the easiest salad dressings on the planet, I opted for a store bought variety. Newman's Own is one of my favorites! Pour a light drizzle over the salad at this point.

Now add the slices of steak over the top and give a heavy drizzle of the balsamic reduction over the top of the warm meat. In a minute or two it will melt into the meat and turns into magic on a plate.

Enjoy on the back porch—or stoop or balcony or fire escape—tonight.

Happy summer everyone!

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What is better than a video with Karaoke style lyrics? Come on and sing along with me. I promise I won't  give you any awkward looks.

Kenny Chesney - Summertime