I see I have your attention, but it isn't what you think. This is a food blog, not Second Life so get your mind out of the gutter! Plus, this isn't an ordinary food blog like you may have come across previously. I'm more about musing about food in my life, not necessary posting recipes haphazardly. A bit more esoteric, going off on a tangent now and then. So this brings me to recent events which have been happening lately, and very much on my mind.
Some of you out there are aware that the blogger known as Ghosty Kips and I, are a couple. For those who do, you'll know what I'm talking about at the beginning of this story. For those of you who do not, just make whatever assumption you need to so you can follow along. I promise there is a really good lasagna recipe at the end of this personal tale.
The past weeks have found Ghosty feeling poorly. Not worth going into the reasons behind this, as I don't want to bore anyone, but suffice it to say because of this, there have been times when his appetite has been on the fritz (and believe me, normally the boy can eat).
This lack of desire for good food became most evident a few weeks ago. I was on my way home from a rough personal meeting that had left me drained and needing something special myself. I stopped into a local mid-range Italian restaurant and picked up a ridiculous amount of mouth-watering dishes for dinner. Mozzarella en Carrozza, crab cakes, grilled vegetables, roasted sole with broccoli, chicken with arugula, linguine with tomato sauce. I laid this banquet out for us and Ghosty barely was able to make it through the appetizers while I plowed through the meal at a most un-ladylike pace.
It got so bad that I was rarely preparing meals from scratch for a while. No point trying to be creative if he was going to leave half of it on the plate, you know? We'd spent a lot of time picking around, eating leftovers for the most part or doing take-out. Nothing wrong with that, sometimes I enjoy the time off from the kitchen. But, even breakfasts were uneventful, and believe me, Ghosty lives for special breakfasts, waffles in particular. I was determined to figure out something which would entice him to eat. While at the grocery store, sans my dearest due to the sad state he was in, a lasagna popped into my head. I knew for sure, that this was one of those meals which he'd flip over.
See, when we first met, a lasagna was one of those first "couples" activities we did together. He had been the one to suggest it if I remember correctly and I was blown away that this man actually wanted to cook alongside me. This was a dream scenario for me. The fact that he felt comfortable enough in the kitchen, not to be intimidated by yours truly was remarkable. He already knew I could cook pretty well. so either he was hiding the fact that he was a decent cook himself, or he really wanted to spend time with me, doing anything just to be near me. I mean really. Who in their right mind wants to spend endless hours in the kitchen preparing a lasagna if you don't have to?
Turns out, it was a little of both. He did want to be near me. And then some. But, he also was pretty adept in the kitchen as he had some experience working in one years prior. He had half-way decent knife skills (albeit, I did fear for some digits watching him), knew that plain old supermarket mozzarella would melt better than expensive handmade; knew how to compose the lasagna, didn't get in my way (we managed to easily dance around each other in the small gallery kitchen with much bumping into each other) and best of all he understood when the sauce needed more of "something" to make it taste better; salt, pepper, basil, etc. I'd never had a man in my life that didn't drive me insane being near me as I cooked. It was a very good sign.
Since then, he's made me a few things on his own. He makes a very good strawberry shortcake and his own version of lasagna is quite good. I'm even more impressed that each time he cooks without me being around, the kitchen is clean as a whistle upon my return. If I wasn't in love yet, I'd be now anyway just from that alone! Of course, I have since learned some other things. For instance; I can't leave him near the toaster oven without him burning the croissants each and every time. But we've worked that out - he's allowed to toast bagels, but I handle all of the delicate French pastries.
Anyway - I digress. The point I'm trying to make is my hunny needed tempting. Lasagna seemed the perfect foil for his waning desire for food.. I went searching on Epicurious (a fantastic web site which culls recipes from gourmet magazines). Not like I don't know how to make a lasagna, I've been making these since I'm in my teens and could do it blindfolded, just wanted to do something a bit different.
I usually don't use meat in my lasagnas but I found a recipe for Sausage Lasagna which fit the bill. Ghosty has recently given up eating beef for religious reasons and I've joined him in support (kind of didn't feel right wolfing down a burger in his face and of all foods, beef is one I can easily live without anyway). As it turns out, for a basic recipe, this may be one of my favorites. It was fantastic, and just what the doctor ordered to get his appetite back in order. We stuffed ourselves silly on it, along with warmed, crusty semolina bread and had plenty of leftovers, including some which went into the freezer for "emergency" dinners.
Being who I am, I cheated a bit to save some time and for my own personal sense of tastes. I used a bottled sauce made with Italian San Manzano tomatoes instead of the canned tomatoes with peppers and onions they suggest. This cut back on prep time and the other reason is San Manzano tomatoes, for those who don't know, are a special type of tomato only grown in Italy and are far superior to any other type of tomato. If I'd seen this product with peppers and onions in it, I would have used it but alas, just does not come that way and I was a bit lazy to cook those up separately that day. Also, I only use very good quality Parmesan Reggiano (call me a snob, see if I care) but, again, it really makes a difference. Please don't use that stuff that you see on a shelf in your supermarket if you do nothing else, ok? I know you know which one I'm talking about. You may as well be using sawdust to flavor your pasta. Splurge a little, it goes a very long way.
Oh and by the way? I'd double up the sauce recipe next time I make this. Better to have too much than too little. If you don't need it for this meal, you'll certainly enjoy it enough to use another night on top of some other pasta or can always freeze it for down the road.
In fact, the memory of this dish was so good that as I started writing this last night, the last piece of the lasagna came out of the freezer and became our dinner. When I took it out to defrost, I happened to mention to Ghosty that I was going to use the recipe for my next blog post and it kicked off his memories of us cooking our first meal together. He's got plans for us to make yet another one soon now. You know, put on some music in the background, drink a little wine, have a kiss or two as we create our dinner, and while we simmer the sauce; we simmer each other *wink wink*
Sausage, Basil and Cheese Lasagna (courtesy of Epicurious)
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sausage-Cheese-and-Basil-Lasagna-103005
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