I figure everyone makes this special treat with leftover pie dough. Am I right?

I grew up with this little treat.

When we were on our snowy, cabin-in-the-woods vacation, I brought two frozen pie crusts. One I used to make quiche; but we were low on eggs so instead of making a second quiche, I made this little treat for dessert one night. And I scored: my boys loved it.

I don’ t make it very often, and you don’t need a whole pie crust to make it—any little leftover crust will do.

Just roll out the dough, place on a cookie sheet, brush with soft butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes; or 350 for 15. Temperature and time is flexible; just aim for dough that is cooked through and starting to have tinges of golden brown around the edges.

You can even upgrade, if it makes you feel better: whole wheat organic pie crust, organic unsalted butter, organic raw sugar and cinnamon. Almost good for you, in a responsible-while-eating-dessert sort of way. It is the new year after all, you gotta live a little.

I have done it before, but it has been many years: taken too many credits for a given quarter. It will be a full Winter Quarter but I am jazzed. And one of my classes is called American Cuisine. This class is meant to give an upcoming chef a broad stroke perspective of American cuisine, by region. From Native Americans to colonists and a regular flow of new immigrants, America’s food story is one of survival, novelty and reciprocity. It is a rich, layered story of learning from one another, learning from the land and respecting the seasons. Different regions in our country offer a unique culmination of food lore, supplied by heritage and homesteading, influenced by neighbors and history, informed by land and sea.

I am no expert. But I am curious, and intrigued, by the range of cuisines alive and well in America. In the text provided by the class, the regions are broken up accordingly, including a few states with their own chapter:

1.       New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut)
2.       Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia)
3.       Southern (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Tennessee)
4.       Florida (Florribean cuisine)
5.       Louisiana (Cajun & Creole)
6.       Central Plains (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Ohio, Wisconsin)
7.       Texas (Tex-Mex)
8.       Rocky Mountain & Southwest (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming)
9.       California
10.      Hawaii
11.      Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Oregon, Washington)

This is one book’s breakdown on American Cuisine: note that it does not list each and every state, and is meant as an overview not an exhaustive deconstruction of American Cuisine. But budding chefs need to know—and cooks all over may be curious—about general cuisines in varying parts of the country. So with a grain of salt, or pepper or likely Old Bay Seasoning: I will share a bit about my experiences in American Cuisine.

It is sooooooooo good. And in all my years of blogging, I have kept this recipe secret. Because it IS so good, and some part of me buys into the idea of cooks keeping secrets. But since you may not be visiting my door step soon, I figure I better share this recipe—because it is important that you have a chance to enjoy it.

The irony is, of course, that this recipe was originally another chef’s secret: Marcella Rosene. It is from her cookbook, Pasta & Co By Request. It is one of only two cookbooks I have had to repurchase because it was so love-torn and started falling apart: the tape is yellowing, the torn pages have taken information into captivity forever and all the spots and splatters throughout the pages while quaint, are taking over. And in cookbooks I love, I write notes and sketches and short-cuts and cross-offs and stars. I write dates and places, question marks and doodles, make comments and apply any color of highlighter. I am hard on my beloved books, and they are good to me.

And I nod toward Marcella because whether she knows it or not, she was beside me helping me learn to cook. Showing me that I can be successful in my kitchen and turn out wonderful meals, one after another. And this lasagna is one of my favorite ‘borrows’ from her. Or should I say lessons or received gifts? Because it is part of our food lore now, and I can account for the fact that when I have 2 or 3 or even just 1 of these lasagnas sitting in my freezer, I am more grounded than not.

And so today I should be so grounded my feet are like roots under the topsoil, because I recently made 4—count them—lasagnas to put in my freezer. It certainly took awhile to accomplish the task, but it was my goal this week to fill up my freezer with ready to bake meals for my family. Mother Guilt, most likely. Or ‘Mother Love since I am taking a more grounded interpretation. Class started last week today, and I am taking—no pun intended—the Mother Load. I have more classes than usual and unfortunately, one of them is only offered two consecutive nights a week. Thus my absence from home two nights a week, therefore this lasagna.

From Marcella to me and from me to you (with notes and a handful of my own adjustments from over the years):

Sausage Lasagna
(hers was beef, but my Italian husband nixed that and we have been thanking him ever since: we love the sausage)

Serves 8-10
(I double the recipe and put them in (4) 8×8 pans to freeze for later)

First, grab tools: micro planer (for nutmeg), garlic press, wine opener, can opener, whisk, rubber spatula, scissors (to cut fresh lasagna sheets to fit pans), measuring cups and spoons, wooden spoon/spatula, couple of bowls, large sauce pan, 2 saute pans, 1 small saucepan for milk/cream, lasagna baking dishes.

Then, make sauce:
SAUCE
1 1/2 LBS mild Italian sausage (is ‘mild Italian’ an oxymoron?)
olive oil, as needed
1 1/3 cup chopped onions
1 T dried oregano (or Italian herb blend)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp coarse salt
coupla’ grinds coarse pepper
large pinch red pepper flakes
1 1/4 cup white wine
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes in puree (Paradiso rocks)
1 14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

CHEESE
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

BECHAMEL
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup cream
Pinch of: white pepper, thyme, nutmeg, basil
3 T butter
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup Romano cheese, grated

AND
fresh lasagna noodles, uncooked (enough for 3 layers)
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used bread crumbs from rosemary artisan bread last time and it was great!)
2 T Parmesan
1 tsp Italian herbs or parsley

MAKE
Mix cheeses, set aside. Cook sausage, set aside. In same pan add olive oil (add oil to existing sausage fat until it looks like about 4 T); saute onions, garlic & sauce seasonings. When onions are translucent, add wine and simmer 10-15 minutes. Stir in 28 oz can of tomatoes, plus half the fire roasted can. Simmer 5 minutes, add spinach and sausage and stir thoroughly. Off heat. Make bechamel: heat milk, cream and ‘pinches of’ in small saucepan until just simmers. While that is warming, get a clean saute pan (medium low) and add butter, melt until foam subsides, add flour and whisk. Keep whisking for 2 minutes to cook, not burn flour. Slowly add hot cream mixture, whisking. Up heat to medium, whisking often, and cook another 5 minutes. It should be thicker than white sauce, similar to wallpaper paste. Add cheeses and whisk to smooth. Off heat. Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan and seasonings for topping. Preheat oven to 400.

ASSEMBLE
In bottom of [9x13] baking dish, spread remaining 1/2 can fire roasted tomatoes. When adding bechamel, glob it in diagonal increments, it will spread on its own. Now think visual layers, bottom to top:

BOTTOM
1/2 can fire roasted tomatoes, spread
layer of noodles
1/2 of the meat sauce
approx 1 cup bechamel
1/2 of the mozzarella/feta cheese mixture
layer of noodles
1/2 of the meat sauce
approx 1 cup bechamel
1/2 of the mozzarella/feta cheese mixture
layer of noodles (press lightly on whole lasagna to spread bechamel, then paste last bit of bechamel on top)
thin layer of bechamel
bread crumb mix
TOP

BAKE or FREEZE
Bake in 400 oven for 1 hour, if coming straight from freezer add 20 minutes. Put foil on top if getting to brown during baking; let rest 15 minutes before serving.

If you know Aunt Vicki—or are my extended family— then you know exactly what cheese ball I am talking about.

We grew up with this appetizer at holiday after holiday party. Christmas primarily. It was its own icon; Aunt Vicki would show up looking splendid, out dressing us all (some have it, some don’t…. she does), and with her came THE cheese ball appetizer.

Now when I was 6 or 7 or maybe 13, and all the adults were chit chatting about this or that or the other thing (SO important to be sure), I would busy myself with a precarious pile of crackers and pull up a chair next to THE cheese ball. While the adults went on—blah blah blah—I would take a single cracker and plow right into the edge of this perfectly sculpted half sphere, dressed in its holiday red and green. And with a big scoop I would reconnect with these familiar holiday flavors bursting in my mouth—the sharpness of spring onions, the salt of cured meat, the smooth mouth feel of cream cheese and the elixir of Worcestershire plus a whip-lashing of garlic.

And because the cured meat has that salty, flavorful lure, it really was what you wanted the most of: like digging through the trail mix for the chocolate, finding the peanuts in the cracker jacks or the crust on the bottom of your cheesecake. But scooping the most cured meat into your every bite meant scraping off large portions of the cheese ball’s exterior. (To be fair there is some meat mixed into the cream cheese). After I mangled the cheese ball with my crackers (I was a kid, what did I know of polite cheese-ball eating?), I would push away my chair and tend to a rather important game of hide and seek with my cousins.

Aunt Vicki’s Cheese Ball Appetizer
Serves me. And any talkative adult who may not mind a dismantled cheese ball. But If I am not there it would serve 4-6.

2/3 cup MEAT cut in small squares (I used cured meat called SPECK; it was awesome. Aim for a strong, salty dry-aged meat sliced super thin)
12 oz. cream cheese (I used whipped, but either would be fine)
1 T Worcestershire
1/3 cup spring onion, white and green part finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic minced (OR garlic salt if you must)

Blend 1/3 cup meat and all other ingredients well. Form into a half sphere (I heated a bowl with hot water, emptied it and then filled the bowl with the cream cheese mixture. I then placed the bowl upside down on a plate to unmold it). Place remaining 1/3 cup meat on exterior, to cover. Serve with crackers (I served with these great crackers that looked like rope, and flavored with garlic: yum).

Note: not the greatest picture, but at least it is a ‘before’ shot. The mangled cheese ball isn’t pretty.

The holidays wouldn’t be the holidays without cocktails. And it had been awhile since I flirted with flavors and mixed up new concoctions. And to be fair, this one isn’t exactly new. Think of it as upgraded for the new year.

We were fortunate enough to spend some time with great friends over the break: friends that are family. And thanks to Ericka, I had moments in these last few weeks where I forgot life’s routines and responsibilities, the work and the circumstance and just… had… fun. I felt like a little girl again, sliding down a long curvaceous driveway in my sled, as we raced down and laughed and crashed and whizzed past each other.

I like the idea of moms having play dates too. Add that to my list of resolutions for 2009: monthly play dates for mom.

Besides sledding and playing cards, and cooking together in the kitchen, Ericka and I made a few drinks. Emphasis on a few. Really!?

She brought out the Malibu rum. At our house we usually pair Malibu rum with lemonade and at hers, is slides into a glass with peach schnapps and cranberry juice. When we were at the store, and in line, I realized we had forgotten the lemonade. She sprinted to the cold drink aisle and returned with limonata—a carbonated lemonade drink made by San Pellegrino.

We tried it, loved it and it is already up for best drink of 2009—for BOTH of us.

You should try it:

Fill glass with ice, fill 1/3 with Malibu Rum and fill 2/3 with Limonata. Though I suppose you could switch the ratios the other way—if you must.

Thanks Ericka!

You would think I fell off the planet, after my final and come Christmas… and now New Years.

I didn’t. But the snow fell in large sums. Unlike we have seen in a decade. And that meant staying an extra day, or two, at relatives. Then extra guests, last minute wrapping and a long drive on Christmas day kept me away from my computer. And we drove in the snow, and visited more relatives and drove some more. Until finally, we reached a cabin in the woods for what is becoming a family tradition. We drive to this Montana cabin, to spend a week playing in the snow and huddled by the stove. And while I meant to write about holiday appetizers and favorite entrees, instead I found myself filling up every pot and pan with water taken from a nearby creek: because there was no running water. Boiling big pots of water felt rather pioneer-like (though short-lived); a day later our water pipes thawed and the faucets provided us flowing, mountain cold water.

And again, I meant to write, but then the electricity threatened. Which means we would have no light or water (the water pump is electric). SO I filled up the pots and pans once again, did the dishes in a hurry, piled candles and lanterns on a central table—and took a shower. I mean, you have to do what you have to do.

And what would you do, if you had the choice between being on a computer, with a dial-up connection over a shared phone line that kicked you off every 20 minutes which took forever just to load a single email OR decidedly pushing your chair back? Perhaps like me, you might find the nearest excuse to go outside, where you might walk on a path through the woods, spot a handful of deer or watch snow tumble off the branches of a nearby fir tree. I figured you would forgive me for strapping on my snow shoes and giggling at how deep the snow was (no doubt trying to run and sink at the same time), for stirring up some hot chocolate, watching a movie and stoking the wood stove. I figured you would be glad I took a break with my family, to video my sons being pulled behind a snowmobile on disk sleds, shoving each other into larger than life snow drifts and looking a bit like snowmen in the end.

It was a good, full vacation. One where you really DO go away, not just by putting mileage on your car but by leaving your worries and to-do’s and circumstance and must-have or have to behind. We were just there, teaming up to get the water running, trying to get snow mobiles to start, reading and drawing, having an outdoor bonfire in the snow—and wearing holes in the bottom of a pair of sleds.

So thanks. For understanding. Even though I really didn’t ask and certainly didn’t warn you. Besides, it is when I am off the computer or away from my desk when the stories actually happen. To 2009 then: hopefully full of good stories, memorable food, and perhaps a bit of pioneering.