You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t had lasagna before. It’s not very difficult to make, but often very time-consuming. The first entry in the Pasta & Rice section is the old standby: 12-1: Lasagna.
This version is different than what I’m used to making: it uses a cheese sauce (similar to a béchamel) in place of a ricotta/egg mixture. It was good, but I think I’d choose the ricotta/egg mixture in terms of what I think of when I think of “lasagna”.
Back from the dead, or so it would seem.
I took a break from cooking for the internet to cook in real life–I’ve gotten a job cooking at a craft brewery/restaurant 3-5 days a week. Cooking at home isn’t always the most exciting thing when you do it for a living, but it IS good practice, so I vow to carry on.
I’ve still been doing a few recipes here and there during my hiatus. Let’s get back into it. I can’t promise consistency, but I’ll do my best.
One of the last recipes I made in our interim/summer kitchen was 8-40: Lemony Beef. It was both lemony and beefy. 🍋
This one was pretty quick and easy, and elicited remarks from hungry passerby in the house who were not partaking in the meal. It sounds strange, but it works pretty well.
Alright. This is my FAVORITE recipe out of this entire book (at least, as far as I know). My mom always referred to it as “Shrimp Something”, but its official name is 11-12: Creamy Sautéed Shrimp.
You can tell by the state of the card how often we cooked this recipe. This was always a big deal for me when I was a kid and my mom would make this dish.
I also cooked this one for my husband (then-boyfriend) when we were first dating, as a “here’s who I am” kind of a thing. What I’m trying to say is that this dish has a lot of feels attached to it.
I mentioned in 4-17: Crispy Potato Pancakes that our travels had taken us elsewhere. I’m cooking in a different kitchen these days–one that is not my own–which presents its own set of challenges.
However, the beauty of this project is that as long as I have my laptop and internet access, I can just keep going. And so I will. 🙂
Our current hosts have been participating in some of my entry recipes, including this one: 9-31: Savory Turkey Patties. This was prepared and cooked in tandem with the recipe I posted after this one, 9-25: Juicy Grilled Meat Patties.
4-17: Crispy Potato Pancakes is one of the last recipes I cooked in the kitchen with the blue tile counters and yellow walls–-our travels have taken us elsewhere. However, even though the backgrounds will change, the project lives on.
These are essentially latkes. Very delicious latkes, I may add. If you have a food processor, these are a breeze.
Here’s another potato recipe for you. I had a LOT of potatoes to cook. This was the complement to 11-16: Indian Fried Fish, which I posted a few days ago.
This one got stuck to the page before it in the book–hence the destroyed-looking card. You can still see the important parts though–these are mighty tasty. My notes indicate I made it in a chipotle-style a few Christmases ago–we’ll do it legit for this one. For science. 🔬
Who doesn’t like drumsticks? Vegetarians, I suppose. But this is not a recipe for them. Book 1, Group 2 (Main Courses), Subgroup 6 (Poultry & Game) gives us 6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks. This was cooked in tandem with 4-21: Herb-Roasted Potatoes.
Drumsticks were on sale, so drumsticks you will get. I think this is one of the ones I was making before I went out of town a few weeks ago, but I’ve been a bit behind, so the details have escaped me a bit. Not that it matters to you, anyway. 🙂
Another bit of real life distractions, but I refuse to let this die. Back to it, with an interesting dish: 11-16: Indian Fried Fish. 🐟
Um, okay. “Indian” is being used liberally here, as far as I can tell. It was an okay dish, but didn’t exactly conjure up images of India. This seems more like West Indies/Caribbean “Indian” than India “Indian”.
I’ve been making a lot of potato recipes lately. There’s a 10 lb. bag in my pantry I’ve been working my way through, so expect a few more potato recipes over the next few weeks. We’ll start here with one I’ve made before–4-11: Potato Soufflé with Onions.
More of my handwriting. I’ve made this one before, and this time I remember the circumstances and my adaptations–see what good notes will do for you?
Here’s another dessert for you. Book 3, Group 3 (Desserts), Subgroup 17 (Baked Goods) gives us card #9: Brownies. I’ve made these a bazillion times, and they are a GREAT base for adding your own ingredients.
These are good, easy, and fast–the trifecta you’re never supposed to be able to achieve. I highly recommend them, and I keep this recipe on hand for whenever I want to make brownies. One big difference: these use actual chocolate, not cocoa powder. 🍫