Portabella Florentine Lasagna

I had a huge craving for pasta today and decided to make a lasagna Florentine after rummaging through my fridge and found spinach and portabella mushrooms. The idea was simple: create a luxuriously rich and creamy Béchamel Sauce, make a savory mushroom and spinach filling and layer these divine assets between lasagna noodles and mozza cheese.  After baking for half an hour to have all the cheese and delious-ness melt together, I tossed up a quick salad so that I didn't feel too guilty with my indulgence.

I don't have a set recipe for my Béchamel Sauce but you can try following Chef Batali's recipe.

Portabella and Spinach Filling

1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large portabella mushroom caps, cut into bit-sized slices
3 tsp salt
3-4 cups fresh baby spinach, washed, spun dried and chopped
2 tsp nutmeg
Dried or fresh basil to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a skillet and add the shallots. Cook until transparent, then add in the garlic until aromatic. Turn heat to medium-high and add in the mushrooms and salt, stirring until mushrooms become tender. Lower heat to medium-low and add in baby spinach and stir until spinach is completely wilted but not soggy. Stir in nutmeg and basil. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Let cool and remove any excess water/juices. Stir in 1/4 cup of Béchamel sauce.

To layer the lasagna, just go sauce, noodles, filling, cheeses (mozzarella and Parmesan), noodles, filling, cheeses, etc., until you end up with noodles. Top with sauce and cheese. Bake in a 400 F oven for half and hour until cheese have melted and are golden brown. Let sit for 20 minutes before serving.


**If you want real protein, chicken is the way to go. Just slice up some chicken and cook before adding in the mushrooms and spinach. If you have left over chicken, shred that up and add to the cooked mushroom/spinach filling. Easy Peasy.

Quinoa Stuffed Pork Roast

I prepared this late last night for my family to roast for dinner tonight, while I was at work. The filling is made up of cooked quinoa, chopped portabello, an egg, bread crumbs, garlic and seasonings.  Around 1 to 1-1/2 cup of  stuffing went into the roast since my roast was fairly large. I seasoned my roast with some J&D's original flavored bacon salt. I layered the bottom of my roasting pan with carrots and onions, trussed the roast, splashed with olive oil and placed it in the fridge to be cooked the next night. From what I heard after I got home, it was a success!

Stuffing:

1 cup quinoa, cooked in 2 cups of broth or water
1 large portabello mushroom, chopped and sauteed
1 garlic clove, minced or 1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp olive oil

Stuffing the Pork:
Slice the pork slowly until you have a flat piece of meat, resembling a mat. Rub with softened butter.
Press filling evenly on the mat of meat and roll up. Truss, rub with seasonings or bacon salt (even better, cover with bacon strips).
Roast in a preheated oven of 475 F for around 45 minutes or until cooked. Let rest for at least 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Bacon goodness that is vegetarian friendly

Nested Egg (Attempt #1)

This idea was introduced to me by a co-worker. It's a rendition of "toad-in-a-hole" or "eggs-in-a-basket" with the yolk and white separated. The white is whipped into a meringue and then filled into a hole in a slice of bread. the yolk is gently placed into the meringue then baked until the meringue is golden brown. I made this for a quick breakfast for myself and my best friend. I also sauteed some portabella and tempeh together for a quick side.
I liked how the presentation looked but I think this is something I need to try again, as in better meringue and other preparations.

124 Decorated Chai Elephants

One elephant, two elephant, three elephant...
A co-worker of mine placed an order for 124 elephant cookies, made with my shortbread cookie base, flavoured with Masala Chai spice (cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and black pepper). The cookies were outlined and covered with melted white chocolate, similar to the process of flow icing. I opted for the chocolate because it is less sweet than flow icing and it goes smoothly with the shortbread. The red accents are drawn on with red candy melts s and accented with edible red shimmer. Gold touches are painted on with edible gold paint and golden sugar balls. Ears, toes and darker detailing are drawn on using melted cinnamon chips. The entire order took me around 24+ hours to complete. 100 cookies acted as party favors at a 25th wedding anniversary, 1 dozen were used as a gift with a complimentary best wishes heart to couple and 1 dozen were for personal enjoyment.
I'll be dreaming of elephants for the next little while lol.

Woooo! Elephants all around!

Me, packaging lol

Individually Packaged

The dozen being gifted with heart piece.

My mom's wonderful job, cause I suck at ruffle wrapping

Totoro Cream Puffs

I had a major craving for cream puffs last night, so I whipped up some choux pastry and got a little creative. I piped the choux pastry into Totoro-shaped puffs and then added chocolate eyes and detailing after it cooled. The inspiration grew from a web-search I did several years back, whereas a fellow foodie did the exact same concept. Totoro is one of my most favorite characters from Japanese Animation; he stars in the film "My Neighbor Totoro" by the talented Hayao Miyazaki. He is known as the "keeper of the forest" appearing as a creature crossed between a raccoon, an owl and a rabbit.
Oh, and I used vanilla pastry cream as the filling.