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Lasagna with Pumpkin and Sage Infused Béchamel

We take for granted many things in our lives. One food-related thing that I had taken for granted for a long time was always having a good lasagna on hand. Growing up in Japan, I experience no nostalgic memories related to lasagna from my childhood. When I came to Canada years ago, I quickly noticed that there was always a lasagna dish at every dinner party I went to. They varied in flavours and styles, but it was a staple for gatherings. So I didn’t have an urge to make Italian friends in order to learn the very best of their grandmas’ inherited recipes. Plus in recent years, my partner’s culinary repertoire has expanded to include a delectable lasagna, so I’ve let him take charge when it comes to creating a good, homey cozy dish in the pasta category.

I created this unique lasagna recipe a couple of years ago when I started growing my own pumpkins. I was desperate to find a creative use for the same old pumpkins from our pantry, week after week, and needed to figure out how to use up the abundant sage leaves growing outside. We made the original version with macaroni & cheese for its ease and simplicity. Finally, this time, I have learned how to make lasagna and accomplished the recipe from my pumpkin daydreams! Once I tasted the delectable layers with their creamy fillings, there was no turning back.

Lasagna with Pumpkin and Sage Infused Béchamel

Use 12 x 10 x 2 inch baking dish

12 lasagna noodles

4 cups sage infused Béchamel sauce (recipe follows)

3 cups pumpkin puree

1½ cups ricotta cheese

A big bunch of rainbow Swiss chard

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 cup mozzarella cheese, coarsely shredded

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions and drain well. Reserve the cooking liquid and dunk the chard for a few minutes.

Squeeze the excess moisture from the chard and cut into 1 inch pieces. Set aside.

In the bottom of the baking dish, spread evenly ¼ of Béchamel sauce. Arrange 4 noodles over top, slightly overlapping, and cut off the edges if too long.

Top with ½ of pumpkin puree and place ½ of ricotta cheese over top. Spread ½ of the chard over the ricotta cheese and pour another ¼ of Béchamel sauce on top.

Repeat another layer with 4 noodles, plus the rest of pumpkin puree, ricotta cheese, chard and ¼ of the Béchamel sauce. Place the rest of pasta on top, spread on the rest of the Béchamel sauce and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake until the top is golden, for about 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Sage Infused Béchamel Sauce

Makes 4 cups

4 cups milk

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

A sprig of sage

Salt and pepper

Freshly grated nutmeg

Place the milk and sage in a medium saucepan and bring to simmer. Remove from the heat and let stand for about 10 minutes. Drain the milk and discard the leaves. Or you can taste the milk for your preferred strength after simmering and remove the leaves right away. Clean the pan.

Melt the butter in the saucepan, add the flour a small amount at a time and stir quickly with a wooden spoon over low heat. Let bubble for a few minutes. Add the infused milk and, using a wire whisk, combine well until smooth over medium heat. Let the sauce cook until slightly thickened. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Remove from heat and cover with a lid.

Béchamel Sauce recipe adapted from Sensational Sauces by Linda Collister

Labour Day Weekend

To be honest with you, we rarely go out to eat because once you experience eating quality homegrown food, it is hard to find anything that measures up. Of course, we are very happy when chefs or foodie friends treat us with their crafts! However, this weekend we went to two restaurants in and around Vancouver area in one day! We were invited to a friend’s birthday lunch and another bon voyage dinner. The food was good but there was something lacking: “satisfaction.” My relationship with food starts from me sowing seeds on the ground and ends with composting the peelings from a meal I create. Nonetheless, the time we spent with friends was priceless. We had such a great time.

As if to recuperate from the weekend affair, the very next day we gulped fresh beet juice, sautéed Swiss chard, and devoured a roasted tomato and aubergine dish. The distinctive smell of freshly harvested Thai basil and the film of greasy oil coating the slightly burned edge of hard earned summer vegetables: this is why we cherish eating at home! We mopped the remnant of the richly flavoured exotic sauce with a crusty baguette from the plate, and savoured the taste of victory.

I appreciate all kinds of summer fruits, but especially melons, specifically cantaloupes. However, until they are ready, we’ve been enjoying honeydews from Red Barn Plants and Produce. We also recently picked up some eggplant which didn’t take off in my garden this year (by the way, I like calling them aubergine due to its romantic sound), a few colourful heirloom tomatoes and tomatillos for my roasted vegetable dish (recipe follows).

Fresh Beet Juice

We just discovered in our cupboard The Big Book of Juice and Smoothies 365 by Natalie Savona. This is a book that makes you feel energized by just flipping through its beautifully arranged coloured pages, which are organized by each fruit and vegetable. We’ve been making smoothies with seasonal fruits, and occasionally with veggies. With beets in season, it seemed like a good time to bring back an old favourite.

Serves 2 to 3

2 large beets, peeled and quartered

1 large carrot, chopped in a few pieces

1 organic apple, halved

2 oranges, peeled

6 ice cubes

Throw them in a Vitamix and blend. Add water as needed. Alternately, you can use a juicer but you will lose all the goodies (pulps).

Adapted from The Big Book of Juice and Smoothies 365.

Sautéed Rainbow Swiss Chard

Serves 2-3

2 garlic cloves, chopped finely

A big bunch of rainbow Swiss chard, rinsed, pat dried and cut into 2 inch pieces

A sprig of thyme

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese, ground

Warm up a large pan over medium high heat with plenty of olive oil. Sauté the garlic until fragrant then add Swiss chard. Turn the heat on high and sauté for a few minutes. The key here is to coat the vegetables with the hot oil and let them wilt in a short time to preserve the moisture in the chard. If cooked for a long time on low heat, they become watery.

Adjust the taste with a dash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the cheese to finish. Serve immediately.

Roasted Tomatoes and Aubergine with Harissa

I adapted this recipe from my favourite book The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater. He uses chickpeas for its Middle Eastern originality but I used the potatoes since they are in abundance in our household.

Serves two hungry big eaters

A big bowlful of assorted heirloom tomatoes, halved or quartered if large

5 medium aubergines (eggplants), cut into 1 inch pieces

6 tomatillos, peeled and halved if large

3 garlic cloves, chopped finely

120ml olive oil

50ml red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Salt and pepper

3 large potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes and pat dried

Olive oil

1 to 2 teaspoons harissa paste (Tunisian hot chili sauce)

A bunch of Thai basil

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the tomatoes, aubergine, and tomatillo on a cooking sheet. Scatter with the garlic, drizzle with the oil and vinegar, then sprinkle with the cumin seeds, and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Roast until tomatoes’ edges are slightly charred about 45 minutes.

In the meantime, in a large bowl, coat the potatoes well with some olive oil and place on a cooking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast until golden brown about 25 minutes.

Lift the vegetables with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Reserve the juice in a small bowl and stir in the harissa paste.

Gently mix the potatoes into the vegetables and pour in the harissa sauce.

Transfer the vegetables to a platter and scatter with the whole basil leaves. Serve with a piece of crusty baguette.

Rainbow Swiss Chard Quiche

Nothing brightens up my garden like rainbow Swiss chard. Their dark ruby- red and Canary yellow stalks keep their colour even after being cooked, therefore they earn the best spot in the garden every year along a highly trafficked pathway. What a special way to welcome guests to our front door. They are temptations like those found in a candy store, but thankfully they are healthy ones. Rainbow swiss chard can be cooked the same way as spinach. Bake, sauté, boil, steam and eat as much as you want. They won’t give you a sugar rush!

When I have an abundance of chard, I normally store it for winter. Or if you do succession sowing during summer months, at the latest in early August, the chard can stay in your garden with a protection in the Lower Mainland area (plant hardiness zone 8) all winter long.

If you store the abundance, just blanch in boiling water for about 2 minutes, dunk in cold water and squeeze out the excess moisture. Then, cut into an inch length and freeze in a plastic bag in a small portion. You can throw chard into lasagna, stew, soup, or pie etc., and it is indeed one of my favourite items for our macaroni and cheese dish in winter months because it’s flavours are reminiscent of summer memories.

Rainbow Swiss Chard Quiche

Makes 9-inch pie dish (I use an Emile Henry 9 inch fluted pie dish)

Dough

1½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold butter, cubed

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vinegar

Ice water

Extra butter and flour for the pie dish

Filling

6 slices bacon strips

5 stalks rainbow Swiss chard, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

3 big leaves of rainbow Swiss chard, chopped into thin strips

A sprig of thyme

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

5 eggs + 1 egg white

1 cup milk

½ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

¾ cup Gruyère cheese, shuredded

Butter the pan and dust with some flour, then remove excess flour. Keep it refrigerated.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour with salt. Place the butter and the flour mixture in a food processor, and pulse until fine crumbles form, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary (you can do this by using a pastry blender or 2 knives in a large bowl). In a measuring cup, whisk the egg yolk with vinegar and add enough ice water to make 1/3 cup. Drizzle over dry ingredients and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together into a ball. Gently press the ball into a disk, wrap with a piece of plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until chilled.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Fold twice gently, transfer to a prepared pie dish and unfold to cover the dish leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold the edge inside the rim and flute if using a pie dish. Prick all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line the pie shell with a piece of parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake in the bottom third of the oven until the rim is light golden for about 15 minutes.

Remove weights and parchment paper, then let cool on a rack.

In a large skillet, fry the bacon over medium high heat until crisp. Drain fat from the pan. Sauté the chard and thyme until softened about 3 to 4 minutes, and add salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and cream. Crumble the bacon and add to the egg mixture along with the chard.

Brush mustard over the pie shell and sprinkle with the Gruyère cheese evenly. Pour in the egg mixture.

Bake in the centre of a 375F oven for about 35 minutes, or until cooked. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Serve immediately (if you would like to make ahead, let cool, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Reheat in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes).

Dough recipe adapted from Canadian Living Magazine