Lasagna

Can't believe it took me this long to make a lasagna. I made beef ragu/bolognese a few times for regular pasta and never for lasagna. 

The recipe that I followed came from The Food Lab with my usual modifications, of which I will only mention a few. 

Kenjis' recipe calls for three sets of ingredients - ragu, ricotta mixture, and besciamella. 

Kenji's recipe for the ragu is long and usual reader of my blog knows that I like to keep things to a minimal whenever possible. His audience is different from mine. I didn't use lamb (can't find ground lamb), chicken livers, celery (not a fan of celery), sage, red white (too expensive), fish sauce (don't feel like getting another bottle of condiment), and heavy cream. 

I didn't make the ricotta mixture because ricotta cheese are expensive.

If I a chance, I would like to ask Kenji or any chef friends "what's the point of besciamella?" I am sure their answer is "flavor" but does it make a whole lot of difference?   

I know the besciamella has a nutty flavor so I went ahead and made some but not with all the ingredients that Kenji used. Instead, mine consist of butter and flour, nothing more. 

The pasta looks a bit rigid in this picture, doesn't it? Well, you would be right thinking so. I used this lasagna pasta brand and the instruction asked me to use the pasta straight out from the box into the lasagna pan (did I read it wrongly?). I was sceptical about the non-cook step so I cooked the pasta anyway but I didn't cook it long enough.

I do not have a cheese grater or a microplane so my cheese came out in chunks!

Crispy Skin Pan Seared Chicken

I learned a trick from The Food Lab of Seriouseats.com on how to make crispy-skinned chicken. The author of The Food Lab, Kenji, says "Once that's done (put the chicken skin side down on the pan), don't touch it, and I mean it! Don't try to lift that chicken until it's good and ready to be lifted".

I didn't bother transferring the chicken to the oven because I am not a fan of cooking one dish with two separate methods unless absolutely necessary (lasagna, I am looking at you).

I bought the freshest chicken I can buy to ensure excellent taste and kept the seasoning to minimum  - salt and pepper. Some baby cherry tomatoes completes this dish.

Miso Soup

I am a fan of easy-to-make soup and none easier than miso soup. All you need is to source the ingredients and the rest will take care of itself.

You need to buy seaweed/kelp and a tub of miso paste.

Wash the kelp thoroughly to get ride of the fine sand. Remember, dried kelp will expand 5-6 times the size after it is rehydrated. I went overboard and ended up with a big bowl of kelp.  Kelp snack, anyone?

Cook the kelp in a pot of water for 2-3 minutes and remove the kelp. Next, take 2-3 spoonful of miso paste and dissolve it in a few tablespoons of water. Then add the dissolved miso paste into the pot of kelp-stock. Feel free to add as much miso paste to your own taste.

Crostini (Toasted Bread)

I remember vividly the day I placed a piece of double cream Gouda cheese on a piece of crostini and then put it in my mouth. It was at a Christmas party and it was one of those special "food-moment" that I will always remember it. I could never imagine a piece of toasted bread can taste like this. Since then, Gouda cheese and crostini would be the staples at every party or gathering that I was invited to, whether it was picnic at the park or a house warming party.



It has been a long long time since I had crostini so I decided to give it a try and I was surprised by how easy it was to make crostini. All you need is a loaf of baguette and olive oil. I repeat baguette and olive oil and you create magic with these two items.




Pop the thing into an oven and toast it for 10 minutes and you will get these golden brown crostini.



I have since made a few batches and I learned that the quality of the baguette makes a lot of difference. Go for quality baguette and you will not regret it. You will be popping this by the mouthful and before you know it, you will be making another batch.