cheese

Cauliflower Cheese Savory Dinner Pie

In these busy preholiday days sometimes, you want a supper that is comforting and delicious. If you have a nice head of cauliflower, you can put it to good use in this vegetarian entrée. I love the cheesy cauliflower flavor of it, pretty substantial served with a substantial salad; a great meal. This savory dinner pie isn’t that difficult to construct; the crust is shredded raw potatoes mixed with an egg, a little rice flour and some salt and pressed into the greased pie pan. You bake it for about 45 minutes and then gently lay in some shredded cheese, then the cooked veggie filling, top it with more cheese, pour on the egg custard and sprinkle it with paprika before baking it to a crispy tender pie that should serve 6 unless you are piggish; then I think you will get still get 5 large slices!

The untraditional pie crust makes this easy to create. Nothing tricky at all in this recipe. Just a few steps to put it together. It is pretty much naturally gluten free, just a bit of rice flour to dust the pan with; I dusted the excess right into the shredded potatoes. Just a bit of flour in the pie pan and in the crust.

Sauteed onions, herbs and garlic

Cauliflower Cheese Pie

Mixed together cauliflower filling

Ingredients:

Ready to bake; yes, that is a chunk of cheese on top! The end of the block; don’t want to grate my fingers; it will melt nicely into the pie.

POTATO CRUST: 1 tsp. sea salt

1 lg egg, beaten

1 -3 tsp. gf flour, divided

Directions: Heat oven to 400 degrees.  3 large russet potatoes; washed. I left them unpeeled but you can peel if you prefer to do that. Grate each whole potato on coarse side of a box grater. I did it right into a large mixing bowl. I like to press a couple paper towels on top to soak up any excess liquid. Or spread it out on a lint free kitchen towel, roll up and squeese out the watery juices. Put in the mixing bowl and add rest of the crust ingredients and stir well. Press into a pie tin sprayed with cooking spray and then dusted with rice flour. I used a big spoon to lay it around the pan and then a fork to press it into the shape of the pie tin. I left a bit above the glass/metal rim to form a nice rim of the crust. Spray the potatoes all over with the cooking spray.  Bake 40-45 minutes. Make the filling while it bakes.

CAULIFLOWER FILLING:

About 3 -4 cups cut up flowerets of raw cauliflower

1-2 Tbsp. mild olive oil or sunflower oil

1 large onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ tsp dried thyme

¼ tsp. dried basil

Directions: Cut up the cauliflower; it was about ¾ of the head. Heat a ½ inch of water in a large sauté pan. Add the cauliflower, put a lid on and cook 6 minutes until just tender. Gently pour the pan into a large colander to drain well. Then heat the oil in the same pan. Add the chopped onion; sauté on low 5-6 minutes, I like to add a couple Tbsp. of water to let it steam; then add the garlic, and then the dried herbs. Stir and let cook another minute. The onion should be soft, cook longer if needed.  When done, turn heat off; gently add the drained cauliflower and a quarter to a half tsp sea salt. Mix gently. While the crust is still baking make the custard.

CUSTARD:

3 large eggs

½ cup whole or 2% milk

1 2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese: I used mostly sharp cheddar with a bit of Monterey Jack cheese too.

Directions: beat the eggs in a medium mixing bowl until fairly blended, add the milk.

When the crust comes out turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Pour half the grated cheese into the hot crust, distributing it evenly. Gently spoon the cauliflower filling on top. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Pour the custard in all over the top. Sprinkle well with paprika and bake 40 minutes; until the custard looks done. Let set at least 10 minutes but preferably 25 or 30 minutes to allow it to solidify a bit more before slicing. Enjoy!

A slice straight from the fridge; just need to warm it up in my trusty microwave! Lunch is served.

It keeps 4-6 days in the fridge; well wrapped. I heat a slice at a time in the microwave. A lovely lunch indeed!

All done and ready to slice! Smells fantastic!

Baked Penne with Sausage

This post got delayed for some reasons I won’t get into; so here it is 2 weeks later. If you get tired of turkey you might want to make this tasty casserole to warm you on a cold fall evening.

Getting chilly this weekend; time for a classic baked entree with a few twists. I kind of thought this recipe was already on my site but nope. I made some for supper tonight and it was delicious, fairly simple to put together and somewhat healthy. You can leave out the mushrooms if you don’t like them, but I love them with the sausage and tomato sauce. I had penne instead of ziti so that’s what went into this recipe. I actually like it better; smaller tubes are better in my opinion. I used a 32 ounce jar of marinara sauce; so much quicker and it was pretty good tasting sauce. This recipe made a big casserole of hearty yumminess! Enjoy.

This is the inside of the casserole as I build it up; just added fried onions on top of ricotta cheese mixture which is on top of pasta and sauce. Rough layers, sort of like lasagna.
Some on a plate before I devour it! I like the penne; ziti is too big in my opinion. This is good tasting comfort food.

Angie’s Baked Penne with Sausage

Ingredients:

1 12 oz box of gf penne (It is not 16 ounce like wheat flour pasta)

1 package of Italian sausage; 5 of them were in my package

1 24 ounce jar of basil spaghetti sauce

1 Tbsp. EVOL

Olive oil gf Cooking spray

1 Tsp each of dried basil and oregano

1 medium onion, diced fine

2 garlic cloves minced

an 8 ounce rectangular package of mozzarella cheese (I find this at Aldi’s and the price is great there too!)

8 ounce can of sliced mushrooms

15 ounce container of ricotta cheese, preferable whole milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tsp. dried parsely

3 sliced scallions

Directions:

Heat a medium saucepan of well salted water. While it heats put a medium frying pan on to heat; spray it first with olive oil cooking spray. I cooked it about 15 minutes until fairly done; turned it over 3-4 times – every 2 minutes I turned them. Once browned I added 3-4 Tbsp water to help it cook. Cook until 150 degrees inside. Let cool and then slice.

Pour the dried pasta into the boiling salted water. Cook to 2 minutes less than package says. Drain.

Once the sausage comes out of the pan add 1 Tbsp. EVOL and then the finely chopped onions, cook 3-4 minutes until softened. Add minced garlic and cook on low for 1 minute. Pour some of the jarred sauce into the baking dish to just cover the bottom. I used an ovel 2 quart dish with 4 inch sides. Add the basil, oregano, scallions and cooked onion/garlic to the open jar of sauce; stir with a long-handled spoon until mixed in.

Start oven heating – 375 degrees. Mid oven rack. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.

Pour ricotta cheese into a medium mixing bowl. Add 2 eggs, dried parsley and grated parmesan cheese, mix well. Grate half the bar of mozzarella cheese with the coarse side of your grater. Slice the other half with a sharp paring knife into 1/4 inch rectangles.

Put 1/3 of the cooked penne in on top of the sauce, top with half the sausage coins, half the jar of mushrooms and then half of the ricotta cheese mixture, the grated mozzarella and a 1/4 of the tomato sauce. then add 1/3 of the penne, then the rest of the coins, the rest of the mushrooms and top with the ricotta cheese mixture and the rest of the tomato sauce Top with the sliced mozzarella. Bake 50 minutes until it is bubbling and hot. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Grilled Open-Face Ham and Cheese

Sounds impossible but you can make a grilled cheese sandwich with only one slice of bread. The trick is to cover the cheese with a non-melting substance like ham. I like tavern ham for this sandwich; always tasty and the light grilling of it only enhances its flavor.

I use a slice of gf sourdough bread, great texture and flavor. Not two; just one. I prefer less bread these days and it is less calories too. You can get into this very specific style of bread baking (gf sourdough) by looking at some online groups; there are several on fb. I particularly love bakerita.com; her gf sourdough bread is easily my favorite bread these days. I bake a loaf about every 3-4 weeks. I slice and freeze most of the loaf and defrost it for my daily lunch sandwich. Use the bread you like to eat. This is a sturdy bread and responds well to the grilling process; the back side of it gets golden brown from the grilling and it still tastes fantastic. It is so easy to do a 10-year-old could make this delightful treat!

I use a variety of cheeses; I especially love Swiss, Munster, Gouda or provolone. Sometimes I use one slice of one and one of a second type of cheese. Aldi’s is a great place to get the tavern ham and the pre-sliced deli cheese.

I favor high quality French mustard, but a sturdy brown mustard is a great choice. If it’s all you have, I suppose yellow mustard works, but you can do better!

Angie’s Griddled Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 slice bread

4-6 slices (thin ones) of tavern ham

1 1/2 slice cheese

1 -2 tsp. butter

Directions: spread mustard on one side of bread. Heat a nonstick griddle or frying pan. Add butter; as soon as it melts lay the bread down in it and swirl around; you can use a butter knife to spread it on the bread if it is soft. Then layer cheese on it followed by folded ham slices. Grill for 1-3 minutes to brown the bread and warm it. Use a spatula to gently flip it over. Grill for 1 minute to melt the cheese and brown the ham slices slightly. If the bread bottom isn’t browned enough flip it back for 1-2 minutes more. Serve and enjoy!

Mom’s Company Casserole

This is something my mom made occasionally. The name is a misnomer as it is very casual and certainly nothing fancy that I would reserve for company. I think of it as more of an easy and tasty casserole that everyone in your family can enjoy. I can’t think when I last made it; perhaps 4-7 years ago? Anyway, I had all the ingredients and had just come across the recipe and so I thought, “Why not?” So, I did and it was very tasty indeed. My mom put some melted butter on before the tomato and meat sauce; I forgot it and honestly don’t think it needs it but add 2 tbsp melted butter at that point if you wish.

I left out the green pepper; didn’t have it and didn’t even remember it in the flavor profile of the casserole. I used spiral pasta as wide gf noodles are impossible to easily find and I didn’t have time to make them. I am sure you could make this with some other ground meat; it would taste different but probably be yummy.

As I show below, I adjusted the amounts of the cheeses and sour cream due to what I had on hand and it was delicious. this flexibility is handy and you can play with the amounts as you need to. I feel that without the scallions it will be rather dull tasting but you could sub in some lightly sautéed chopped onions or scallions. Even sliced and cooked leek would work.

It should feed six hungry folks. I served mine with a green salad on the side. It was a filling meal for sure!.

Apologies for the mediocre pictures; I was in a hurry and didn’t much think about the blog so I barely took any.

Ingredients:

½ lb uncooked wide noodles or spiral shaped pasta

1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter

1 lb of ground beef

16 ounces of tomato sauce

1 beef or veggie bouillon cube

1 cup cottage cheese (I used more – 1 ¼ cup as I had less cream cheese)

4-8 oz cream cheese at room temp (I used 3 oz)

1/4-1/3 cup sour cream (I used heaping 1/3 cup)

1/3-2/3 cup sliced scallions; white and green

1-2 Tbsp. chopped green pepper (optional)

2 Tbsp. melted butter (optional)

Directions: Cook the noodles or pasta according to the directions; I did 2 minutes less that package as I was going to bake this for 45 min. Drain. While it cooks; heat the oil or butter in a large frying pan and brown the meat. Be sure to break up any clumps so it is evenly sized. If there is a lot of fat when you are done; drain most of it off. Then add the tomato sauce and the broken-up bouillon cube; stir to mix.

In a medium bowl blend the two cheeses and the sour cream. Then add the scallions and green pepper.

Heat oven to 375 degrees, middle shelf.  Spray a 2 qt casserole with cooking spray.  Pour in half the noodles. Top with the creamy cheese mixture. Then top with the rest of the cooked noodles.  If you want the butter sprinkle it on now. Top with the tomato meat sauce. You can refrigerate this for up to 48 hours at this point. Bake for 45-50 minutes.  Enjoy!