Herb Crusted Grilled Cheese

Herb crusted grilled cheese! 

This recipe kind of evolved after my spring time Easter feast when I crusted lamb chops with a delicious herb (thyme, cilantro and parsley) Parmesan and bread crumb crust.  I had a ton leftover (makes a nice meatball filler!) but instead I used it to crust the top of the grilled cheese sammies and it was such a hit!

Your favourite bread - I used rye

Esrom havarti from Denmark from Country Cheese Company

1 tbsp of that herb/cheese mix per sandwich (recipe below)

Butter (I used homemade butter but any will do) 

Cut some nice thick slices of cheese and layer in the bread, cover with another piece and set in the panini press. I use my george forman and put the sandwich between a sheet of parchment. 

A couple of minutes before it's done slather both sides of the sandwich with butter and place it back inside the panini between the parchment. Now scoop a generous helping of that herb/parmesan mix on top and spread it out. 

Cover and let it go until it's toasty and brown (as seen in the photo)


For the herb mix:
1/4 cup grated parm (the real deal!)
1 tsp thyme 

1 tbsp parsley leaves

1 tbsp cilantro

1 splash evoo

2 slices of dried bread.

Process it all by blitzing in a blender

Serve with your favourite soup! 

Enjoy!

Lasagna!!

Since I find that I've got a lot of times on my hands during Ramadan I attempted to try my hand at fresh pasta lasagna for the very first time!   The only other time I recall having a lasagna with fresh noodles is when I was really young, and it was mostly due to the fact that we were begging my mother for lasagna when we lived in Northern Iraq where they did not sell dry lasagna pasta sheets.  My mother made the dough and I vaguely remember having pasta sheets all over the front guest living room where it was half drying.

Elements: 

- Meat sauce
- Noodles/Pasta

- Bechamel Sauce
- Roasted vegetables

- Tomato sauce (for top)
- Cheese


Meat Sauce: 

This sauce contains very little tomato, so here it goes

- 2 tbsp good olive oil

-1 1/3-1/2 lb ground beef (your choice of blend, I used one pound lean and another 1/3 of medium) 

- 2-3 tomatoes (cut X in the bottom, place in a metal strainer and in the sink. Add boiling water from the kettle over them)  remove skins and core, dice to a medium chop.
- Salt & black pepper

Heat olive oil and brown the meat nicely on medium high then reduce to medium low allowing them to develop brown bits at the bottom of the pot.  When it can't brown any more (after about 15 mins) add chopped tomatoes and all the liquid from the tomatoes, this should create steam that will remove all the delicious brown bits off the bottom of the pot and create a nice sauce.  Lower heat while adding the tomatoes so it doesn't splatter on you or remove hot pan from heat completely.

Cover and set aside.


Roasted vegetables: 

- 3 Zucchini - slice in thick rings 

- 3 Eggplant - sliced into thick rings 

- 2 Red onion - chop into thick wedges

Salt the eggplant heavely and set in a strainer in the sink. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes.
Salt the zucchini lightly over a large casserole.  Set onions aside.

Preheat over to 400 F and set out a large baking tray lined with parchment.

Squeeze the eggplant with your hands to remove any moisture, rinse with water to remove excess salt and continue to squeeze the liquid out until they look grey (and kinda ugly)

Set all the vegetables in a bowl and toss with olive oil.  Place on a tray in an even layer and roast until nice and golden (turning them from side to side often) 

Bechamel sauce: 

Follow this recipe 

Set the bechamel in a bowl and cover with cling wrap until ready to use.

Cheese:

- Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (about 1 1/2 cups!)
- 1 mozarella de buffala (fresh mozarella), totally optional! Thanks Country Cheese Company!

* Do not worry about the fresh mozarella, the liquid from this cheese will be absorbed by the fresh pasta so it will not be watery as it would it a traditional lasagna.


For the topping:

- 1 cup passata (strained tomato puree) 

- Salt & black pepper

- 1 tbsp good fresh olive oil (From Olive That!!)

Pasta: 

This is a fresh pasta lasagna so either you can purchase the sheets from the store or you could make them like I did!

2 cups flour

4 eggs

Pinch of salt

In a large bowl add the flour and salt, mix, create a well in the center. Crack the eggs in and blend with hands bringing in the flour slowly to incorporate with the eggs.

Knead until it's a nice smooth dough, form a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for about 15 minutes.

Using a pasta machine or a rolling pin and large work surface dust the dough and begin rolling it as flat as you can (you should be able to almost see through it)

Depending on what shape your casserole dish is either cut long strips or in a square/rectangle (or even circles like I did! Circles can be wasteful though, just a heads up)

You will need several layers of dough to create your lasagna, at least 5.


To assemble: 

Reserve some cheese by setting it aside. 

Add meat sauce to the bottom of the pan (a thin layer) 

Lay in a sheet of fresh pasta and from that point layer on everything else: 

- Meat sauce

- Pieces of roasted vegetables

- Grated cheese ( including soft pieces of mozarella de buffala lightly torn by hand or cut into slices)
- Bechamel

..... do several layers like this until you end with a piece of pasta and  pour over the passata fresh tomato puree.  Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt & black pepper and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Canada Day 2013

Drinks - Lemon Strawberry sodas (recipe below) 

Salad - Variety of heirloom tomatoes sliced, seasoned with sea salt and drizzled with sweet 18 year old balsamic vinegar and fragrant Organic Olive oil from Olive That! in Whitby, Ontario

Pasta - Genovese Style Pasta. Recipe from Jamie Oliver Site.  We used a different variety of pasta and omitted the pine nuts (due to my sister's allergy)
Thanks to Country Cheese Shop in Ajax for the delicious cheese used in the pasta dish

Beef Tenderloin medallions, seasoned with sea salt and grilled.

Dessert - Luscious Orange Creme Brulee with coffee ice cream, berries and fruit!
We used Alton Brown's creme brulee recipe and infused the cream with zest of one orange while heating it then removed the zest and continued with the recipe as usual.


Lemon Strawberry Soda Stream drink:

Add equal parts water and sugar, about 3/4 cup each in a saucepan, throw in one big piece of lemon zest (use special zester tool or vegetable peeler to peel outter zest layer and throw into the sugar)  Bring to a boil and make sure all the sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat.

Squeeze juice of  3 lemons and add to syrup.  Allow to cool then remove zest pieces and set the mixture into the fridge.

When it's time to prepare the drinks pour some syrup into a glass, top with homemade carbonated filtered water (using SodaStream) and add desired garnishes:

- Lemon slices

- Slices of strawberry 

- Mint or basil leaves

I carbonated 4 bottles of filtered water to take along on the picnic, keeping them nice and cool.  Alternately use regular club soda or favourite brand of carbonated water!

Bouquet: 

Next time instead of a flower bouquet try an herb bouquet, here I used fresh sage, mint and purple basil (or thai basil) 
Throw in a few pops of colour like the pink roses and it's an easy last minute (and edible!) arrangement! 

Keep things eclectic and fun with many different colours of plates!

Here I'm using glass straws by GlassDharma perfectly washable, reusable and environmentally friendly!
I'm not a big straw user but got these around the holidays and excited to be trying them out!

Fabulous selection of fruits and vegetables from Highland farms  and Loblaws 

Simplicity

Lately I've not had a lot of time to cook, but that hasn't stopped me!  As you all probably know by now that my style is slow cooking (and by that I don't mean using a crockpot because I don't even own) but from scratch home cookin' and of course my beloved Middle Eastern recipes!   Our grandma's spent most hours of their days cooking and out of their kitchens came amazingly delicate and intricate recipes like hand stuffed and rolled grape leaves, different variations of kubbah (which are doughs stuffed with filling and either fried, baked or simmered in rich stews)  and so many more beautiful dishes.

On the flip side there's a lot to be learnt from having really little time on hand when it comes to meal prep. I love Jamie Oliver' 30 and 15 minute meals and Nigella's cooking because what I've learned from watching these cooking shows is that sometimes it's OK to cut  down on steps and still make something fabulous to eat!

Whether it's cooking long and slow or quick there is always something to learn and acquire new techniques and perfect cooking skills.

I made a second visit to Country Cheese (I wrote about my first visit here) and picked up some fun cheeses.  They have these lovely fresh cheese curds on a weekly basis that are flying off the counter (literally.. so gotta get there early!) 

I also picked up an interesting cheese which was flavoured in house, they rub it with a lemon infused olive oil and then roll it in dried herbs.  I forgot the name of the cheese but if you go in there and ask them they'll know what you're talkin' about.  It's such a nice snacking cheese, I love the hint of lemon (I love lemon in everything) but find that it really cuts the richness!  Very addictive. 

I've experimented a little with it in cooking, and like a parmigiano reggiano it's perfect to just grate in last minute. The first recipe I made was a pasta in a plain cream sauce which then I shaved/grated quite a bit of this cheese onto it  A few globes of cherry tomato to garnish the plate and it was perfection!  

It's also a perfect breakfast cheese as you can see we enjoyed with an array of fruit, fresh bread and vegetables.  I put a Middle Eastern spin on this spread, which really is how I like to enjoy my cheese! Give me some bread, olives, ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and I'm good to go!

I will add that this lemony cheese is also PERFECT shaved in large curls over a plate of fresh pasta in tomato sauce.Those herbs are great especially in the dead of winter when I can't get to the supermarket to pick up fresh herbs (not to mention they're so expensive)

This cheese is a keeper!

My last favourite thing when it comes to simple meals and I've written about this before but I'm going to say it again, I LOVE those flame savours by Highliner, amazing fish fillets that cook up in 24 minutes, just so perfect! I now make them twice a week.