I always seem to forget how much I like the flavor and texture of cooked carrots, especially when combined with tomatoes.

It’s certainly not professional quality stuff, but given it was a last minute plan I was rather pleased with the outcome.

Click the link for the recipe.

Ian’s home alone Christmas lasagna

• 1 lb low fat cottage cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup fresh Italian herbs (I used oregano and basil)
• 10 lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 cups frozen spinach (fresh would be fine too)
• 4-5 large carrots
• 3/4 cup low fat mozzarella cheese (grated)
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• Garlic powder
• 3 cups pureed tomatoes

Cook noodles according to the box instructions. While noodles are cooking:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

Combine eggs, cottage cheese, 2/3 of the parmesan cheese, herbs, and salt in a mixing bowl. Use stick blender and blend until herbs are well chopped and consistency is somewhere between a paste and a soup.

Thaw spinach in microwave and add pureed tomatoes and garlic powder to taste.

Cut off the tops and tips, and slice the carrots into 1/4 inch thick slices along the length of the carrot (Note: this is a rather tricky cut if you don’t have a proper mandolin slicer. PLEASE watch your fingers!).

Once noodles are done boil your carrots for about 10 mins so they get a little softened up (you can use the same pot of water as the noodles, this saves water and time).

Lightly oil the bottom of your pan and add a layer of noodles, follow this by 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture. Then 1/2 of your carrot slices in a single layer running 90 degrees to your noodles followed by 1/2 of your spinach mixture.

Repeat this layering using up the last of the carrots and spinach, after that add a final layer of noodles followed by the last of the cottage cheese.

Cover in tinfoil and cook for 40 mins at 375. Remove from oven and sprinkle the top with mozzarella and remaining parmesan. Cook uncovered for another 15 mins or until top is lightly golden brown.

Cool for 15 mins and serve.

The fantastic thing about Ravinia is they allow you to bring any food/wine/beer/whatever with you, it’s like a giant picnic with 10,000 total strangers.

Since I fancy myself an amateur chef I made the spread:

Appetizer:
Champagne crackers
Brie
Fresh green seedless grapes

Soup:
Chilled tomato soup with crab salad & pesto

Salad:
Baby greens salad with balsamic vinegarette infused with thyme

Entree:
Poached salmon with watercress mayonnaise

Dessert:
Far Breton

Wine:
Cheap Italian Pinot Grigio
Cheap Cali. Riesling

My thoughts:
The soup was fantastic although far more difficult than necessary to prepare. Next time I’ll either skip the corn or just steam it, heck I could probably use frozen corn– I doubt I’d notice the taste difference with everything else that’s going on in this dish. I also substituted a mix of hothouse and plum tomatoes for the heirloom tomatoes because I couldn’t find any. I’ve never cooked with good quality sea salt before it really makes things pop, quite tasty!

The Salmon was good although the sauce, which sounds pretty exotic, tasted like a run of the will tartar sauce that someone chopped up watercress into.

The Far Breton was fantastic and extremely easy. The one thing I might experiment with is the fruit, I bet it would have been better with some fresh fruit instead of plums and raisins, maybe rainer cherrys and peaches or something like that. I bet you could do something with an almond/walnut/chocolate thing as well.

I really regret that I didn’t get any pictures. Maybe next time

My problem with tofu (which I think is everyone’s problem with tofu) is that without proper preparation it tastes extremely bland. Even in dishes that are otherwise flavorful the tofu can sometimes be bland and unresponsive to the other flavors of the dish. The obvious way to combat this is by preparing tofu with “strong” flavors that infuse easily (such as in a lot of Thai food) or by marinading the tofu for long periods of time, often overnight. So over the last week or two I’ve been experimenting with other flavors trying to make a tofu entree that’s not super spicy and doesn’t require an overnight marinade– I think I’ve hit on something I like:

Lemon Tofu with Kefir Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/3 lb firm tofu, cut into squares about an inch square and 1/8 of an inch high
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled, halved, and sliced thinly
• 1 tbs juice from of fresh lemon (about 1/3 of the lemon)
• 1/2 cup fat free kefir
• 2 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1tsp vegetable oil
• fresh ground black pepper to taste

Put tofu, onions, lemon juice, pepper, and oil in non stick pan and cook at medium-high (turning when necessary) until edges of tofu are nice and crispy and the onions become translucent.

Turn heat to low and add kefir heat for another 3-4 mins.

Plate and sprinkle with basil leaves.

Serves one.

Notes:
In case you’ve never had kefir it’s a similar thing to yogurt but it’s more liquid and has a slightly different bite to it. It’s flavor combined with the onion and the lemon makes a really nice combination.