Mom’s Lasagne Ready for the Oven

This is my Mom’s delicious Lasagne recipe that she has been making for our family since the 1960’s. Actually, it originally came from an authentic New York Italian restaurant who shared it with her, so you know it has to be great! I have often made this recipe for holidays, birthdays, or a special dinner party. You can make it ahead for convenience, and even freeze it for a later time.

With Mom’s Lasagne, my menu suggestion is to serve a tossed vinaigrette green salad, warm garlic bread, and a simple dessert like lemon walnut biscotti accompanied by scoops of limoncello gelato. Simple, but satisfying, this creates a nice menu for any special occasion.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I am sharing my Mom’s Lasagne recipe with all of you! I bet she will be very surprised! Enjoy!

Mom’s Lasagne

Makes 8-10 Servings

This recipe is made up of several different layers. Make your meatballs. Make your sauce. Shred your cheese. Once your prep work, and layers are made, assembling your lasagne goes quickly.

Partial Ingredients:

1 pound Ricotta cheese

1 pound Mozzarella cheese

4 ounces Parmesan cheese

1 pound Lasagne (pre-cooked) curly edge noodles

1 pound Italian Pork sausage

Make the Meatballs:

Take one 1 pound ground beef and mix with Italian bread crumbs. Shape into small 3/4” balls. Brown in a skillet. When cooked, set aside, until ready to add to the sauce.

Make the Sauce:

Remove skin from italian pork sausage, brown in skillet. until cooked. Add 1 clove garlic cut fine, a little chopped parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon sweet basil. Add 1 large can tomato paste, along with 1 large can tomatoes (run through a sieve). Simmer sauce for 15 minutes. Add cooked meatballs to the sauce.

Make Layers:

In a 9” x 13” baking pan make layers of sauce, lasagne noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan. Repeat your layers. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40 minutes our until bubbly and cheese is melted and slightly browned on top. Let cool a few minutes out of the oven. Cut into squares for serving. If you froze your pre-made Lasagne, bring to room temperature before baking.

I heard from many of you who made the recent Pasta with Sausage, Lemon and Peas recipe. Thank you for your comments and raves!

Wishing all Mom’s a very Happy Mother’s Day!

May you be surrounded by your loved ones and a day of joy and blessings…Bonnie

Perfect Spring Pasta

I made recently one of my favorite recipes, Pasta with Sausage, Lemon, and Peas. What prompted me to dig up this almost forgotten recipe was I had all the ingredients at my fingertips—a new tub of crème fraîche, links of hot Italian chicken sausage, whole grain Dijon mustard, and frozen peas in the freezer. I thought what a great spring pasta recipe, especially if you are growing peas and fresh basil in the garden, and have ripe lemons from your trees.

Such a nice spring flavor pasta recipe, using asparagus comes to mind too. You could easily substitute fat fresh asparagus for peas too, blanching diagonally cut asparagus pieces for two minutes in pasta boiling water, straining them in a large scoop, and plunging pieces in an ice water bath to drain, cool, and pat dry. Ready to add to the recipe.

The recipe calls for half-fat or reduced crème fraîche, which I have never seen in the United States but is probably readily available in the UK. I use regular crème fraîche, and consider it a real treat. Adding the crème fraîche to the warm cooked pasta creates a light almost “alfredo-like” sauce, perfect for blending with all of the other ingredients, and without the heaviness and cheese.

This recipe is from BBC Good Food Magazine, Christmas 2001. BBC Good Food is the UK’s number one monthly food magazine that is packed with brand new recipes for everyday meals. I can’t remember how I came upon the magazine recipe, but I know I was taking a wine course at Mira Costa College in the evening, and quickly jotted this recipe down in class on notebook paper. Maybe I borrowed the magazine from a fellow classmate. I sure am glad I did, because I really like the simple combination of flavors that make this recipe a great one, and have enjoyed it over the years.

The recipe calls for 200 ml of crème fraîche which is about 3/4 of a cup minus 2 tablespoons. It serves four people and takes about 25 minutes to make. Vegetarians can use sliced mushrooms instead of sausages.

Pasta with Sausage, Lemon, and Peas

Makes Four Servings

BBC Good Food Magazine, Christmas 2001

Ingredients:

10 oz. dried pasta, such as penne

3/4 pound of quality pork sausage, or sausage of your choice

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 ounces frozen peas, or fresh peas, or blanched asparagus pieces

Pinch of chili flakes

Grated zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard

200 ml. tub half-fat crème fraîche

Handful of fresh basil leaves torn

Directions:

1) Cook the pasta, throw in a teaspoon of salt. Three minutes before the pasta is ready, add in the frozen peas and cook with pasta.

2) Meanwhile, fry the sausages. Split open sausages into bite size pieces to cook. Heat oil in frying pan, and stir fry the sausages for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.

3) Add the seasonings. Add the chili flakes and lemon zest to the sausages and cook 1 minute. Stir in the mustard and crème fraîche and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Drain the pasta and peas, and stir into the sausage meat mixture. Season well with salt and pepper, stir in the fresh basil leaves and serve. Enjoy!

Jotting Down the Initial Recipe

Please share if you have a favorite spring recipe you enjoy making over the years.

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Open Your Eyes to the Eyes on You

Working in the garden is my zen time. The garden pulls me in, and I can spend hours before I know it. Yes, I do listen to audiobooks, podcasts, and music, but I also listen to nothing but the thoughts that come in my head and live in the present. It is such a gift. Living in the now, or present is where you are suppose to live, as hard or as easy as it is for you. So many good, good things come your way when you live in the present. One of them is heightened awareness, which is another special gift.

I can be busy in the garden, and suddenly I feel like there are eyes on me. An uncanny awareness of being watched. Sure enough, if I follow that feeling quickly I soon experience whose eyes are gazing upon me, and I am surprised. Sometimes it is a lazy lizard, a little bird, my favorite hawk, or tracks that are only left behind. The wonderful creatures in my garden watch me, as I watch and am aware of them. There are many, many creatures large and small who call my garden “home.” Here are a few.

My imagination creates personifications for the treasured wildlife and their roles in my garden. The songbirds are the musicians singing so sweetly in the morning and into the day. The lizards are the comedians, lazily lounging in the funniest spots and often displaying territory muscle with their “push ups.” The hawks are reigning royalty soaring high above it all. The squirrels are pirates unabashedly eating my young vegetable seedlings and stealing away treasured macadamia nuts. The gophers and rabbits are just “sneaky” troublemakers and are forever challenging, keeping me on my toes. The coyotes and gopher snakes are policemen, keeping a good “check and balance” in the garden. The night owls serenade me to sleep, and remind me of a day well lived.

St. Francis Watching Over the Wildlife, the Garden, and Mother Earth

My Favorite Hawk Always Perches Atop the Torrey Pine

Coyote Tracks and Gardener Boots in Our Sandy Soil

Lizard On Top of Stone Toad, Real Life Mirroring Imaginary Life

Open your eyes to the creatures in your garden, and you will be rewarded!

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Past Related Blog Posts:

Welcome To My Garden (2009)

Follow the French

Romesco Sauce Over Sweet Potatoes with Grilled Salmon

One of the best things about traveling is indulging in the the local food, and the lasting memories these foods create. While visiting Barcelona a few years back I was first introduced to romesco sauce. Romesco sauce is a classic sauce from Catalonia, northeastern Spain, generally made from a ground mixture of tomatoes, red bell peppers, onion, garlic, almonds, and olive oil. Almonds play a generous and key role in this delightful sauce, which is usually served with grilled fish or poultry but can also be used as a condiment or a dip.

In the Wall Street Journal this week, adapted from Mason Hereford’s recipe, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Chipolte Romesco, Feta, and Basil was featured. This romesco sauce is the best I have ever had. It is a twist on romesco sauce using chipotle peppers instead of traditional roasted red peppers. So simple to make and the spicy, smoky romesco sauce dolloped over roasted sweet potatoes is a stroke of perfection. A simple grilled salmon with a pinch of chili lime salt rounded out a sensational weeknight dinner. Yum! Yum!

Please share your favorite food memory from traveling. Remember when Julia Child had just landed on French soil and had her first lunch of Sole Meunière which made her fall in love with French cuisine, totally changed her life, and she in turn totally changed our lives and our way of eating?

Bon Appétit, Bon Weekend, et Bon Easter….Bonnie

‘Celestial Night’ Rose, One of Felicia Alvarez’s Favorite in the Purple & Lavender Category

There is a new book out by Felicia Alvarez called Growing Wonder, A Flower Farmers Guide to Roses. Alvarez is a third generation flower farmer with an 80 acre mostly rose farm outside of Sacramento. In ‘your best friend warm and friendly voice’ she expertly guides you through how to grow roses, debunking the myth that roses are hard to grow. She even breaks out rose growing into three category types to help you further grow fabulous roses whether you are a “Weekend Warrior,” “Everyday Gardener,” or an "Aspiring Rosarian.”

Alvarez covers all the bases on roses in very readable chapters on rose selection, planting roses, rose care, harvesting and suggested resources. I have learned so much from her and her book. Here are just a few tips:

1) Whether you buy a bare root or potted rose, the most important thing is to get it into the ground.

2) Know your soil type, irrigation output, and soil moisture.

3) You can prune a rose year-round.

4) Roses can thrive in pots and containers.

4) Compost is different from mulch, and compost is key for your roses.

5) Feed your roses on a schedule of U.S. holidays beginning with Easter/Passover, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day.

6) A healthy rose goes a long way in defending itself from pests. Observe your roses diligently, and act quickly when pests appear.

7) Harvest your roses early in the day, and when buds are a tight bud-to-marshmallow form.

8) Maintaining a cool temperature for your roses after harvest is key for a longer post harvest life.

9) Her time-tested favorite roses for growing and cutting, broken down into color schemes and types.

10) Design a simplistic floral bouquet with roses, and let your roses shine!

11) Avoid taking rose thorns off their stems for floral arrangements, unless it is for a bridal bouquet, etc. Removing rose thorns creates more wounds and places for bacteria to enter.

‘Distant Drums’ Rose, A Multi & Taupe Favorite of Felicia Alvarez and Erin Benzakein at Floret Farms

Besides actively managing her rose farm, selling her cut roses and writing, Alvarez created Menagerie Academy, which offers garden rose education with one-on-one assistance, workshops, and online courses. Visit her website Menagerie Flower for more rose information and rose care products. Alvarez lives on her farm with her husband and darling two young sons.

‘Sally Holmes’ Rose, One of Felicity Alvarez’s Favorite Climbers and Mine Too!

I highly recommend this book for all of you who love to grow roses. It is a wonderful reference to have at hand for rose information, inspiration, and to increase your garden rose expertise.

Alvarez says to grow the roses you love. I love the romantic climbing Eden rose, the landscape classic White Iceberg rose, the apricot hybrid tea rose Just Joey, and the stunning deep purple to lavender floribunda rose Intrigue, to name a few more that grow in my garden. Please share what garden roses you love to grow!

Related Past Post:

Flower Power

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie

Classic BBQ Baked Beans by Frank Thomas

This might look a bit like chili, but it is one of my favorite Classic BBQ Baked Beans recipe from former baseball great, Frank Thomas in his cookbook, The Big Hurt’s Guide to BBQ and Grilling. I am sharing this with you now, so you will have it for your summer and fall menus. Everyone has a baked bean recipe, but maybe you haven’t tried this one. It is a simple recipe to make, that combines sweet and smoky ingredients for a really nice Southern twist on classic baked beans. This recipe is a “marriage in heaven” with smoked ribs, bbq chicken, and juicy hamburgers.

Here is the recipe link to Bon Appétit, June 2020, Classic BBQ Baked Beans by Frank Thomas from The Big Hurt’s Guide to BBQ and Grilling.

Please Note My Loving Adaptations:

I make this recipe on my stove, rather than on a grill.

This recipe calls for 1/4 pound bacon diced. I usually saute the onion and red pepper in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, instead of using bacon.

This recipe calls for 3 16-ounce can of kidney beans. You could also start with dried beans similar to kidney beans, soak them, cook them until soft, and then begin your recipe. I have done this before. See below for my post on Rancho Gordo Bean Club.

Watch your hot sauce and Creole seasoning amounts. For instance, I use a teaspoon of hot sauce, instead of a tablespoon. If your Creole seasoning is very hot, you might want to use 1 teaspoon, instead of two. The recipe serves 6, but if you are doubling it for a larger gathering, you might not want to necessarily double your hot sauce and Creole seasoning amounts. Start with smaller amounts, and taste, taste, taste.

Creole seasoning can be found in some grocery stores and online. There is a rainbow of hot sauces available in grocery stores, specialty stores, and online too. The best is buying your Creole seasoning and hot sauce when visiting New Orleans!

This recipe should definitely be made a day ahead to allow the heat in the recipe to mellow, the beans to thicken, and all of the other ingredients to meld together. Refrigerate overnight. There is something magical about these beans the next day. Worth the wait!

Related Past Post:

Rancho Gordo Bean Club

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Spring Prepping the Vineyard

I mentioned previously a few weeks ago, all of the spring sprucing I was doing in the garden. Well, my husband, John, and I have also been doing some sprucing in the vineyard, and prepping for the year ahead. It can be a big chore, but also very rewarding. Time well spent now means a continued healthy vineyard and a successful harvest in the fall.

Vines have been pruned back to their two cordon arms. Vineyard rows have been mowed twice already to keep weeds low and at bay. I have tried sowing cover crops a few times between the rows, but have been unsuccessful most likely because of low winter rains. The vines have drip irrigation at each plant, but no irrigation in the rows.

For one reason or another, our grapes last harvest were beautiful, but half of our normal yield. I heard and read that most of California vineyards had lower than usual yields. It could also have been very little winter rains, high winds at flowering, etc. Many factors could have played into it.

I have added compost to our vines before, and thought it might be a good time to add some rich compost to them this year. While I am doing my flower beds, let’s do the vineyard too!

This year I added and mixed in three generous shovels of compost to the base of each grapevine to add back organic nitrogen. Compost has amazing qualities to benefit soil and plants. See below for my many related past posts on composting. I am composting year-round, but with the quantity to cover each grapevine, I bought a yard and a half of compost from Agriservice El Corazon in Oceanside. It helps if you have a truck, or access to a truck, although Agri Service El Corazon delivers too. If interested in delivery services, please visit their information online, and call them for more details.

Adding Rich Compost to Each Grapevine Base

I have been composting for a very long time on our property. When you have chickens, it is almost a necessity. Chicken manure is “green gold” and not to be wasted. It is a perfect green to add to your compost bin besides your kitchen scraps, and landscape greens. It is a hot manure however, and will burn your plants if it not aged and broken down into compost with your other ingredients.

I add compost mixed with my soil for every plant, tree, and vegetable bed I plant. Compost adds back valuable nitrogen, and has about ten fantastic attributes. Compost is also very dark and adds a dressy look to your flower beds and around your landscape.

For composting tools, products, and services, please look into what your local city offers. You might be surprised.

Related Past Posts on Composting:

Ten Ways Composting Benefits Your Soil

How to Compost in Your Backyard

The Green Way to Lose a Lawn

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend…Bonnie

Cooking Class Silent Auction Item at Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito Fundraiser “Springtime in Paris”

The Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito is having their annual fundraiser on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the Westin Carlsbad Resort & Spa, 10:30am to 2:00pm. This year’s theme is “Springtime in Paris.” There will be a luncheon, fashion show, and silent auction. Their silent auction has many wonderful items to bid on, including one of my cooking classes for 8 people, and also a case of our assorted award-winning Domaine de Manion wine. For more information and online ticket registration, please go to “Springtime in Paris.”

Your support will help the Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito: Provide scholarships for graduating seniors. Clothe school-age children with new clothes and shoes. Provide new clothes and toiletries for survivors of sexual assault. Prepare preschoolers for Kindergarten. Provide hand-knit layettes for military families. Provide cuddly bears for trauma victims. Such a great cause, helping make a difference in so many ways. If you can’t make the luncheon, you can make a donation online. I hope to see you there!

Fun & Fundraising at Point Loma’s Garden Walk

Have fun, and benefit the Division of Plastic Surgery Craniofacial Services, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego. Part garden tour, part marketplace, part fundraiser, and a great way to spend an April spring day in Point Loma. For more information and purchasing tickets online, please go to Point Loma Garden Walk. Group tickets of 10 or more are discounted.

For more information and inquiries on my cooking classes, please visit www.bonniejomanion.com

Bon Appétit et Bon Weekend….Bonnie