Winter Solace

I’m suffering from déjà-vu (all over again).  This time last year I was aghast at the prospect of the long, dark winter stretching months and months ahead of me – because, as we all know, winter proper doesn’t start until January, and London doesn’t really experience a Spring.  We just leap from Winter to Summer sometime in early May.  So there I was last year, beside myself with the thought of the endless dark afternoons, the rain, the gloom – and how on earth to keep an active toddler entertained throughout?

And yet somehow I must have managed, because here I am again, back staring into the dreary void.  I can’t really remember last summer – it’s a blur of back-ache and swollen ankles and major abdominal surgery (not to mention the ensuing newborn chaos).  But we must have had a summer, and thus I must have survived the incessant winter, because lo! suddenly it’s January.  And I’m equally clueless about how to fill it, but this time around I have twice as much on my hands.  

The hell that is weaning is keeping me somewhat occupied.  I’d completely forgotten just how mind-numbingly boring and time-consuming all that peeling, chopping, steaming, pureeing and freezing is.  I considered enlisting the help of the Boy – killing birds with stones, and all that – but every stage involves a sharp or a hot object, not best instruments to arm him with.  (But how delighted would he be to be let loose in the kitchen with the peeler?  Poor thing positively glows with joy when he stumbles anything which has inadvertantly been left out, and is as such - at least in his eyes - kitchen contraband. 

And as for the laundry... I now have a separate pile just for the Girl, comprising bibs, muslin clothes, cardigans (hers and mine) baby-gros and several pounds of vegetable mulch. I should just start a compost heap in the garden and be done with it.

The reaching for the wine solely as a cooking ingredient continues, although I like to think it has more to do with the freezing cold weather than my inability to cope without having some form of alcohol  in my veins.   I’ve a major addiction to some food blogs and this recipe has been adapted from one featured on my favourite, http://smittenkitchen.com/.  It feeds six normal people – so great for a dinner party (says she, as if we ever entertain anyone other than our offspring any more) – or two ridiculously cold, hungry and wine-starved ones (with leftovers for breakfast for one of them – yum).  If you’re making the white sauce yourself (madness) then this isn’t exactly a one-pot easy-peasy mid-week supper;  but the sauce actually only takes about 15 mins to make, so it’s hardly back-breaking.

As with the last recipe posted, this can be made without the addition of wine;  but why would you want to?

Mushroom Lasagne

You need:

• Six large sheets of lasagne (I use the vacuum-packed fresh stuff, which you’ll find in supermarket fridges, but dried from a packet is fine too - just pop the sheets into boiling water for a couple of minutes before use. Also, the sheets I use tend to be about twice  the size of dried ones, so just adjust the quantity to make three layers of pasta in your dish)  or
• a head of celeriac* (see note at end on low-carb-cooking)
• A large portion of white sauce (recipe below if you’re making from scratch;  three [or so] tubs of  ready-made, if you’re feeling sensible lazy)
• About 1kg of mushrooms (any type, no need to be snobbish; I always go for supermarket economy-label white mushrooms, but feel free to be adventurous;  the quantity equates to about three supermarket cartons) roughly chopped.  Whether you remove the stalks or not is up to you. 
• Some oil and butter
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Fresh parsley
• A glass of wine (any colour, and optional)
• A large lump of parmesan (or, in fact, any type of hard cheese.  Cheddar is fine too)

Preheat oven to 170 / 325 / 3

If you’re making the white sauce from scratch, do it first.  You’ll need:

• About 1/5^th of a block of butter (50g-ish)
• Flour (no precise quantity, a few tablespoons)
• Milk (skimmed, semi- or fatty – whatever) – about 1 lt
• S&P

Heat the milk (in the microwave is easiest). 

Melt the butter in a deep pan. 

Just as it starts to sizzle add two large tablespoons of flour and mix well with the butter.  You’re aiming for a dry, chalky mixture, with no obvious melted butter visible, so add more flour, a half tablespoon at a time, to achieve this.  Stir over a medium heat until it starts to stick slightly to the pan.

Pour in the heated milk a couple of splashes at a time, stirring the mixture like a crazed beast.

The first few splashes of milk will sizzle and (seemingly) evaporate, and the mixture will resemble thick paste.  Keep adding the milk, a few splashes at a time, the mix has the consistency of double cream. 

If I have any to hand (which I’m ashamed to admit, I always do) I usually add a couple of handfuls of grated cheddar at this stage.  Just to keep the fat content of the lasagne nice and high.

Turn the heat low, cover and leave to bubble gently for about 10 mins.

(Or else just buy about a litre’s worth of ready-made white sauce from the supermarket, save yourself time and hassle, and support the economy all at the same time...)

Mushroom Filling:

Heat a few glugs of oil and a tablespoon of butter in a pan.

When it starts to sizzle, add the crushed garlic.

When that starts to sizzle and smell, well, garlicky, add the chopped mushrooms, and turn the heat to medium.  Stir regularly to coat the mushrooms, and once they’ve started to cook, add another tablespoon of butter, cover the pan, and leave to simmer for about 10 mins.  Check every so often to make sure they’re not sticking.  You want them to reduce to about half their volume, and stay a bit wet. 

After 10 mins or so, add the glass of wine.  (If you’re not using wine, loosen up the mixture with some water, or, if you have it, cream.)  Bring back to the boil, throw in a handful of chopped parsley, cover and lower heat again for about 3 – 5 mins.

To assemble:

Add the following to your baking dish in the following order:

• V thin layer of sauce;
• Layer of pasta (or celeriac);
• 1/3^rd remaining sauce
• Grate the cheese over the sauce – you want an even scattering, not too thick
• ½ mushroom mix

Then:

• Pasta + 1/3^rd Sauce + cheese + ½ Mushroom mix
• Pasta + 1/3^rd Sauce + cheese

Pop in the oven for about 30 – 40 mins – until the top is browned and the dish is bubbling at the sides.  Leave to stand out of the oven for a few minutes, while you open a bag of ready-made salad whip up a green salad and, hopefully, pour yourself a glass of the cooking wine. 

Eat at least once a week until May. 

*I told a friend I’d keep her low-carb diet in mind when posting recipes.  Trying to recreate lasagne without using pasta sort of defeats the purpose, and you end up with a bake, rather than lasagne**.  I made this with slices of celeriac, which I par-boiled first, instead of the pasta, and it was delicious. Definitely not lasagne, but definitely worth cooking.  Just make as above, substituting the lasagne sheets with celeriac slices, about the thickness of a pound coin, which you’ve boiled for a couple of minutes first. You want the celeriac to still have some bite, but for the starchy rawness to be gone.

**Or you can call it “lasagne” as they do in posh restaurants (ie, when you order “lasagne of carrot and tomato” and you think – “oooh, that sounds interesting”, only to be presented with a plate of finely sliced carrots layered with finely sliced tomatoes. And a bill for £14.