Baked Pasta or Pasta Gratin

I love pasta, and I'm always on the lookout for tasty recipes. This is a classic for me, because it's another one of my mother's recipes. It is so tasty that it should be banned:) It's very easy to make and it's a good variation for pasta. You can bake it ahead and warm it up later, which actually tastes better:)

You will be using a pretty thick pasta. I believe it is called a #3 pasta which is a "Spaghettoni", but if you can't find it, you can also use Penne just as well. We typically use Kahkaval cheese, which is saltier than the Mozzarella, but you can use Mozzarella just as well, just adjust the salt accordingly.

You'll also find my trick for preparing the basic white sauce (Bechamel) without lumps:)

This one is a really hearty dish, just serve it with some salad and it should be more than enough.

BAKED PASTA - PASTA GRATIN

Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz. ) Spaghettoni
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup Kashkaval Cheese
1 cup Feta Cheese
1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1,5 cups Milk
2 Eggs

Directions:
Cook the pasta according to package instructions. How long you will need to cook depends on the pasta you will be using. When the pasta is ready, drain and add some butter to prevent it from sticking.

You will need to prepare a basic Bechamel sauce while the pasta is cooking. In a medium sauce pan melt the butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter melts add the flour and stir until you get a paste. It will turn a light golden sandy color. About 6 to 7 minutes. Here is the trick for not getting lumps in your sauce. Heat the milk, never use it cold, until it is just about to boil. Do not boil the milk. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. You can increase the heat to medium to medium-hot after you start adding the milk. When the sauce starts bubbling, bring the heat down to low and let it cook for about 1 minute. The sauce will thicken, don't let it thicken too much. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cool the sauce down a little bit. When the sauce is ready beat in the eggs one by one. You have to wait for the sauce to cool down so that the eggs don't become omelets in it:)

Butter a Pyrex dish (use a square or a rectangular one, it makes serving easier). Sprinkle some flour, you don't have to cover the bottom, just a little bit will do just fine.

Add half of the pasta. Then add the white sauce and half the feta and Kashkaval cheese. Add the remaining pasta, then the remaining cheeses.

Preheat an oven to about 400 degrees. It takes about 25-30 minutes to cook, but keep an eye on it so that the cheese on top looks crunchy, not burnt:) When it's ready, let it rest for about 10 minutes and serve cutting it into pieces.

You can sprinkle with parsley if you like.

Made up Toast Souffle

Although it is called a souffle, it has nothing to do with it. This is one easy dish to prepare which my mother would have ready when we came back from school. It reminds me of my childhood and always puts a smile to my face. I can't imagine any child that wouldn't like it, but grown ups seem to love it just as much as them. Not only is it easy to prepare, it is also very delicious. I guess you can think of it as a variation to grilled cheese.

I vary the cheeses a lot. Sometimes I use mozzarella instead of the Kashkaval cheese, sometimes I use Feta cheese and add some tomatoes, sometimes I use cheddar cheese, there is no end to what you can prepare it with, just use your favorite cheeses and enjoy.

You'll find the basic recipe below, which is from my mom. My mom used real butter and all fat milk, but I change that also, I use butter substitute and I use 2% low fat milk trying to bring the calories down. But make sure you don't use low-fat cheeses, they don't melt as they should.

This recipe doesn't have exact measurements, just eyeball it, it's impossible to make a mistake:)

MADE UP TOAST SOUFFLE

Ingredients:
Toast bread, white or wheat
Butter
Kashkaval cheese
String cheese
Gruyere cheese
Eggs, about 3 of them
About 1 lb. Milk

Directions:
Cut the edges from the breads and smear with butter. Cut the breads into four pieces. Butter a Pyrex dish and arrange the bread in a row.

Grate the cheeses and spread it over the bread. Add more of the bread over the cheese, and add the remaining cheese on top.

Whisk the eggs with milk. Pour over the breads making sure everything gets wet. Keep it in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes.

Bake it in a 475 degree oven. It should not take a long time to have it ready, but keep an eye on it. Every cheese takes a different time to get ready. Mine took about 15 minutes.

Hunkar Begendi - Roasted Egglpant Puree - Sultan's Delight

If you ask my opinion, eggplant is the king of vegetables. I can eat almost anything that is made with eggplants. And my favorite is a dish called Sultan's Delight. It's an Ottoman dish, made since the 1,600's. It was first made for a Sultan who fell in love with it, and it is still cooked today in modern Turkey.

This recipe is from my mom. I have tweaked it over the years, and it is one of the tastiest dishes that I can think of. It's easy to make, doesn't take too much time, and you can almost substitute it for mashed potatoes. Basically you are roasting the eggplant, adding it to a sauce bechamel, then adding some cheese:)

Traditionally this dish is eaten with a lamb or beef stew called "Tas Kebab". If cooked right the meat is so tender that it will crumble at the approach of a fork. I will add that recipe to my next blog.

HUNKAR BEGENDI - SULTAN'S DELIGHT - ROASTED EGGPLANT PUREE

Ingredients:
2 lb. eggplant (the big round kind, not the Japanese long kind)
2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1,5 cups milk
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup kashkaval cheese, you can substitute Romano cheese (Kashakaval can be found at Armenian or Greek markets)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
First you need to roast the eggplants. There are several ways to do this. The easiest and the less messiest is to prick the eggplant 3-4 times and and roast in a 425 degree pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes.

Another way to roast is to use the broiler. You can keep turning the eggplant around as soon as you see the skin is charred on the side that is under the broiler. It should take about 4 minutes for each side. Make sure all of the eggplant is roasted.

The tastiest but the messiest way to roast an eggplant is by turning one of your gas burners on and putting the eggplant directly on the burner. You will need to watch it closely and turn the eggplant around as soon as you see the skin turning black and start cracking. I use a pizza crisper on top of my burner and this helps keep the burner clean. You can have some fun searching for a "pizza crisper" on Amazon.com. I'm sure that any of them will do this job and more.

After the skin is charred with any of the methods you use wait for it to cool down enough to handle. As soon as you can handle it take the skin off and keep the eggplant in a sieve so you can get rid of the black juices which make the eggplant bitter. Discard the seeds if any. Once it has waited around long enough either puree with a blender or use the back of a spoon/fork to mash the eggplant. You can use the lemon to keep the eggplant from browning, but it makes the taste tangy and you should be able to use the eggplant as soon as you puree it. So I skip using the lemon.

You will need to prepare a basic bechamel sauce while the eggplant drains. In a medium sauce pan melt the butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter melts add the flour and stir until you get a paste. It will turn a light golden sandy color. About 6 to 7 minutes.

Here is the trick for not getting lumps in your sauce. Heat the milk, never use it cold, until it is just about to boil. Do not boil the milk. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. You can increase the heat to medium to medium-hot after you start adding the milk. The sauce will thicken.

Once the sauce is thick add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Beat in the pureed eggplant, reduce the heat to low, stirring occasionally for about 5-10 minutes. Take it off the heat and mix in the cheese, beating until cheese is melted and you have a thick puree, almost like mashed potatoes.

You can use the bechamel sauce for lasagna or to make any other kind of white sauce as this is the basic sauce that starts other ones.

Next, "Tas Kebab" or "Stewed Kebabs in a Bowl"....