Easter Sunday 2012

This Easter was spent with my wonderful fiance, and my two precious puppies.  The day started off with me waking up to a basket of candy and a stuffed bunny (who was later named Bunny Bojarski) from the Easter Bunny aka Justin. Justin and I then took a long run down the Southern tip of Manhattan and over to the West Side which was glorious.  We then made our way up to Eataly (the fantastic Italian market I mentioned in my previous blog post). We proceeded to buy anything and everything in order to make our Easter feast!  From that point on, it was a cooking marathon!

We started off with an Italian Antipasti course....Burrata (a super awesome mozzarella-esque cheese but it's actually better than mozzarella!), Coppa (similar to Salami), fresh vine tomatoes, and fresh baked Italian Rustica bread from Eataly!  We paired this with a fantastic Prosecco that Justin had got us.

The next course was the "Lorenzo Salad" which was inspired by my favorite NYC Italian restaurant, Marchi's.  This dish has little to no calories but has TONS of flavor - and beautiful colors (perfect for Easter!)

Lorenzo Salad

1/2 head of red cabbage

1 celery stalk (diced)

1/4 cup fresh chopped Parsley

2 tsp Capers

1 5oz. can of Tuna

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

> Chop up your red cabbage, Parsley & dice your celery stalk (look at those colors!) 

> Rinse and drain your capers.

 > In a large bowl, mix all your ingredients together.  ** for the Tuna: drain all liquids from the can completely and while mixing the salad together, make sure the tuna is evenly distributed.

1 can of Tuna has 120 calories, while the red cabbage, celery, capers and parsley have next to no calories! This is a fantastic starter dish or side dish for any meal!

Happy fiance :)

The next course was a homemade lasagna dish -- and by homemade I mean COMPLETELY homemade -- from the pasta to the sauce, everything was done from scratch!  It was my first attempt at making my own pasta dough and rolling it out in a pasta machine, but I have to say, it was less of a nightmare than I thought!

Saz's Lasagna Bolognese

Sauce:

1/4 lb. Cremini Mushrooms

1 Onion

3 Celery Stalks

2 Carrots

1 Sweet Red Pepper (the little ones that are the size of a Jalepeno)

5 garlic cloves

1 lb Ground Veal

3/4 lb Ground Beef

1 28 oz. can of Crushed Tomatoes

> Chop up your mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery, garlic cloves, and red pepper.

> In a large pot, heat up about 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil - once heated, add in all your chopped veggies from the previous step.

> Cook this down for at least 15 minutes until the mushrooms are completely tender and the onions are translucent (stir frequently to keep anything from burning).

>Now add in your veal & ground beef...

 > After about 10 minutes of stirring and making sure your meat is no longer pink, add in your can of tomatoes.

> Cook this for as long as you'd like -- the more you cook the better the flavors will develop - I cooked mine for 30 minutes which, was more than enough time.

Pasta:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

3 eggs

A Pasta Machine!

After watching countless episodes of Top Chef and watching professional chefs battle it out with a pasta machine, I was a little leery about taking on this challenge myself.  I borrowed my mom's pasta machine, and just told myself I could do it....and I did! It's actually super easy to do - the main trick is to keep your dough well floured so that it doesn't stick to the machine or to itself.

 

 >In a large bowl add your flour and create a "well" in the center where you can crack your eggs into.

 > Crack the 3 eggs in the well & start to mix with a fork.

> Once mixed, start to kneed with your hands on a floured surface -- if the mixture is too dry (which mine was), add little amounts of water to help moisten it up. If the dough is too wet, add a little more flour.

> Once you've kneeded the dough completely. cover with a damp towel for about 15 minutes to let the dough set.

 > Take small handfuls of dough at a time, making sure they're liberally floured, and roll through the pasta machine until you've reached your desired thickness.  Set the strips on a floured plate.

 > In a boiling pot of water, cook the pasta for about 5 minutes (you don't want it to be mushy - al dente is the consistency you're going for).

 > I laid out all my pasta individually so they didn't stick together and had a chance to cool down before the assembly stage.

> In a large pan lay down one layer of your pasta.

>Add a generous layer of Bolognese...

 > Next add some freshly sliced mozzarella cheese (yum!)

 > Continue this layering process until all the pasta is used up -- top with more bolognese, Parmesean Cheese and fresh cut basil.

 > Cook at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (then for the last 2 minutes I put the oven on HI BROIL to crisp up the cheese on top!)

This lasagna makes enough to serve at least 6 people (clearly my ability to correctly portion meals for 2 people is a little off....)

It's a simple, healthy Bolognese sauce (usually Bolognese calls for Pancetta) but you don't even miss it in this veggie packed version!

 Dex approves.

So does Yoshi.

 Happy Easter to All!!