Artichoke Spinach Lasagna and Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

My in-laws came all the way from Louisiana to New York to visit us last weekend. They hadn’t been this far north before, so I know they had been looking forward to it for a while.

 

The evening they arrived, hubby and I picked them up from the airport. I put dinner in the oven, and we passed the next hour or so sitting on the balcony in the cool air, watching the sun set, drinking wine, listening to jazz, and eating some bruschetta to take the edge off our hunger while we caught up with each other and the puppies stared longingly at the ducks that live on the little pond in our backyard.

It was nice to participate in that without spending too much time in the kitchen. Hubby’s parents are vegetarians, so I had picked out a recipe for artichoke spinach lasagna that I’d found back when I was doing dinner parties for friends back in Pennsylvania.

That was my living room at the time. Grad students living on a stipend don’t have fancy furniture, but they make it their own.

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My dining room was especially awesome.

Okay, moving on. When I found out that hubby’s parents were coming, I though instantly of this recipe. It had been years since I’d made it, but I remembered how yummy it was.

First step, I heated water to boil lasagna noodles.

Then I set about getting everything ready to assemble. First, I took a medium-sized sweet onion and diced it.

Next, I got out some fresh rosemary.

But didn’t take a picture of it after I diced it, because that would have been smart.

So, here’s my onion in a skillet, along with some garlic, softening up.

While that happened, I started chopping up some artichoke hearts. Tried really hard not to snack on them, because that’s a weird snack. But they’re so yummy.

Back to the stove. I added some vegetable broth and that chopped rosemary.

(I almost typed “chicken broth” out of habit. That would have been bad if my in-laws saw that. Definitely used vegetable broth, not chicken!)

Next, I thawed a box of frozen spinach and squeezed out the water.

Ooh! The water’s finally boiling! Add some salt and drop in the noodles.

The broth is boiling, too.

Add the spinach and chopped artichokes.

Then I put the lid back on and let the mixture simmer for a bit.

Here’s my secret ingredient: a jar of Wegman’s spaghetti sauce.

Once it’s all mixed in, this is what it looks like.

And then it’s time to assemble! Just start layering sauce…

…and noodles…

…and mozzarella cheese…

… and more sauce…

… and so on…

… and so forth…

And the last special ingredient: a sprinkling of tomato and basil feta cheese.

And then cover with foil and put it in the oven.

While it was cooking, I decided to try out a Pinterest recipe for Red Lobster garlic cheddar biscuits!

I used pancake mix that has been abandoned in our pantry since hubby doesn’t like pancake mixes that only call for water to be added (he prefers the ones that call for eggs and milk).

Some of that…

And some grated cheddar cheese…

And some garlic powder.

And then milk.

Pretty goopy. I was concerned. So I added more mix before shaping into biscuits and putting the blobs on the tray that fits into the toaster oven.

Mix up some melted butter, oregano, and more garlic powder.

Cook the biscuits…

Then brush with the melted butter/ garlic/ oregano mixture.

Fin!

Okay, so it’s been a while since the lasagna went in, and it’s about time to take it out.

Let it sit for a few minutes, then cut and serve.

Delicious!

Rosemary. Mozzarella. Artichoke. Tomato sauce. Spinach. So many strong, wonderful flavors.

Oh yeah, and garlic!

Everything went over very well. Definitely recommend all of it. The lasagna was much less cheesy than my meat lasagna is, but it worked well. Like I said, there were a lot of strong flavors that worked really well with each other. Warm and delicious.

Now, the biscuits? Somewhat disappointing. I think I did something wrong. They weren’t bad, just not as spectacular as Pinterest would have you believe. I think I’ll try again, though.

Cajun Gumbo

Saturdays are my Sundays. I work Sunday through Thursday, so Saturday afternoons for me have that feeling that the rest of the world gets on Sunday afternoons. Usually, I keep myself pretty busy between homework, housework, and doing stuff with hubby and the pups, but today I find myself whirling around in my desk chair, trying to get the puppy to play with me because I don’t feel like doing anything else. Hubby and I volunteered with our dog earlier today at a library about an hour away (kids read to him while we bribed him with treats to hold still), and I guess that took away a lot of my taste for productivity and adventure today. I actually do feel like cooking, but we need a grocery store trip pretty badly so there isn’t a whole lot to make. Also, I have it in my head that I really want to make Southwest egg rolls, and given that I have none of the ingredients, I’ve got nothing to do in the kitchen. Except clean, but I don’t feel like doing that, either.

In boredom, I called my big brother, and he told me that he had a nice pot of gumbo simmering on the stove. Mmmm, that sounded nice. I don’t have the ingredients to make my own, but I do have pictures from the last time hubby and I made gumbo. I guess writing about it and drooling over those pictures is a good substitute. Well, an okay substitute at least. Okay, it’s really not a substitute at all, but it’s something to do, right?

Gumbo is not something I had ever had before I met hubby. I didn’t even know what it was before he made it for me (New Yorkers don’t know a thing about Cajun dishes that are considered staples in the South). I remember that first batch he made. We were living in different states and seeing each other on weekends, and he whipped up a batch before I came down one Saturday morning. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever had before. I’ve watched him make it many times since then, and I think I could probably manage it on my own at this point, but I don’t think it’d be as good as it is when he makes it. I think he makes it differently every time, so I’ve been slow about picking it up. This last time we made it, we used chicken, sausage, and shrimp.

Start off with a whole chicken. This was a nice fat one. I can’t remember if we removed the skin and fat, but I usually do that when I make soup to keep it from getting too greasy.

Put it in a large pot of boiling water. Season with salt and cayenne pepper and let it cook for a half hour or so.

After a while, fish it back out. Let it cool, and bone it (or de-bone, if you’re Amelia Bedelia). Wow, where did that reference come from? I’ll blame spending an hour with kids in a library earlier today.

I guess we didn’t take that skin off, after all.

And move on to the roux. This is the most important part, as it gives the gumbo the flavor and color. It’s basically oil and flour that is cooked and cooked and cooked until it is a deep, chocolate brown. You can’t burn it, or it’s ruined, so you’ve got to stir it a lot. I suppose the original Cajuns didn’t do it in the microwave, but that’s how my in-laws do it (stirring every 30-60 seconds) and that’s good enough for me.

I didn’t start taking pictures while it was still white, but I remembered after it had started to turn a caramel color. Look at the progression in the color as it kept cooking. Sorry for the lack of consistency in framing – I guess I wasn’t thinking from a trending perspective when I took the pictures.

Pour it very, very carefully into the reserved chicken broth. Don’t let it splash, because it will burn you badly.

Have some chopped onion and celery ready to go. It simmers so much that they pretty much disintegrate, anyway, but hubby likes to use the food processor to get them diced finely anyway. No veggie chunks for us, just flavor.

Based on the following picture and the fact that it was taken before the roux pictures, I can see that we put the veggies in the broth before the roux this last time. But hubby says they should go in right after, so that’s why I’m putting it like that here. Go with it.

Once the veggies have cooked down a bit, you can add in your meat. Back goes the chicken, and here’s some sliced andouille sausage. We’ve pan-fried the sausage before putting it in, but this time we didn’t. I don’t know, ask hubby.

If you’re putting shrimp in, like us, wait a little while. It overcooks easily.

And then just let it simmer for a while. Season it, of course, with salt, pepper, and plenty of cayenne pepper. We like it sinus-clearing hot, but not hot enough to really hurt.

Serve over rice, and you’re good to go.

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Omg. I want this so badly now.