Winter lasagne with spinach, shiitakes, and fromage fort
Derek rented a car this weekend (to see Chick Corea in Luxembourg), and so we decided to check out the Cora across the border in Forbach, France. It was enormous and packed, and (strangely) I heard tons of people speaking American English. Why were there so many Americans in Forbach? Could they be coming all the way from the military base in Kaiserslautern just to shop in France? We explored the store a bit, but didn’t find much of interest. Derek got some cheap Leffe Belgian beer, and picked out a few cheeses. It turned out, however, that most of the cheeses were not very good. He wanted to toss them but I hated to throw them away. I found Alton Brown’s recipe for “fromage fort” online, and made it with half of the (quite sour) Little Billy goat cheese and half of a (quite stinky and sharp) Camembert. I added quite a bit more garlic and parsley than the recipe calls for. After pureeing everything together the cheese was more like a cheese sauce than something you could spread on crackers. It tasted a little odd, but not bad. Kind of like a very strong, stinky Boursin. I decided to use it in a lasagne. Read the rest of this entry »
Sauteed kale, red cabbage, and caraway seeds
A friend told me that he really liked this vegetable side dish from the winter section of Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast. It’s part of a menu that also includes porcini mushroom and parsley risotto. I haven’t tried the risotto yet but I made this kale dish twice and enjoyed it both times. It’s very simple, but satisfying and tasty. You basically saute some oil and garlic and caraway seeds, add sliced red cabbage, cook a bit, then add a bunch of kale with some water and salt. Once the vegetables are cooked through you season with apple cider vinegar and black pepper. One warning: my friend said that more than one member of his dinner party was quite affected by all the cruciferous vegetables. So if you’re sensitive, start with a small portion only.
The captious vegetarian 