Day three

I did a full inventory of my freezer today.  My non labeling tactic makes for a surprise every time.  I took out what I thought was chili, and it ended up being spaghetti sauce, so it's lasagna night at Casa Machinga! 

Breakfast was left over quiche and lunch was bean soup.  

Let's talk sauce for a minute.   I know a lot of people have a secret recipe for their sauce.  Mine is not secret, it just has a lot of ingredients and takes time.  The plus side is that it makes a lot so you can freeze some for future meals.  

First, you need to make pisto Manchego, a Spanish  vegetable dish.  You add some of the pisto in purée form to the sauce base.  So we'll start with that. 

Pisto Manchego

1 large eggplant cubed

1 zucchini cubed

2 lg carrot sliced

1 large onion diced

1 large can whole stewed tomatoes 

I lg can tomato sauce

3 Tbsp olive oil 

Place all ingredients in a large pot and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Serve with fish or just dip with French Bread.  

Now for the sauce

1 lg onion and 4 stalks of celery sliced and sautéed in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender

3 cups puréed pisto Manchego 

4 cloves garlic pressed

Add all above ingredients into a blender and purée.  Place in sauce pot.

Add 1 jar of pre made sauce any kind you like to pot.  

Add 1 tbsp Italian seasoning

2 Tspn oregano

3 bay leaves

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup red wine 

Simmer while preparing the following:

1 chub hot Italian sausage

1 chub mild Italian sausage

1 lb chub ground turkey or lean ground beef

Brown all meats together, when cooked I rinse the meat in a strainer to wash off the fats for cholesterol purposes.  Add meat to sauce and simmer 4 hours.  Sometimes I simmer it all day.  This makes a full turkey roaster full of sauce.  I freeze it 3 cups at a time in ziploc bags.  

Lasagna

9 long lasagna noodles cooked.  I usually cook a dozen to fill in spaces

3 cups sauce

2 cups cooked sliced mushrooms

2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Place first layer of noodles in 9x13 pan top with one cup sauce, 1/3 of mushrooms, 1/3 of cheese.  Repeat twice more for 3 layers  bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  

My sons cook this for people they want to impress.  I guess it's becoming a family recipe after all.  

Enjoy!