better than it sounds

So ... it appears there were more of you checking into this space than I realized. A couple of you even got a little frantic after the last post, wondering if I was taking the whole thing down and disappearing forever.

I'm not. Apologies for having alarmed you.

I just needed to acknowledge I haven't been writing much, and still may not. But the space will continue to be here. And you KNOW I'm going to have to talk about Ukraine after my next trip, which is coming up quickly.

*pause for happy dance*

Spike's coming this time.

*more happy dancing*

Meanwhile, I happened to mention on Facebook last night that I tried a new recipe and it elicited an "OH YEAH" reaction from ... well, from me. And one of you slyly suggested that perhaps I could share the recipe. "On your blog."

*chuckling*

The recipe is not mine. It was given to me with my weekly share of vegetables from Backyard Harvest, an urban farmer around the corner from my workplace. If it's possible, I may have used a tad too much butter, but no one in the history of eating has ever COMPLAINED about too much butter. (Wait, now that I look at the recipe again, I realize I read it wrong last night - I definitely used too much butter. Oops.) It involves celeriac, which is better than it sounds. We've talked about it before.

Here ya go.

CELERIAC MUSHROOM LASAGNE           serves 4-6

Two small roots of celeriac, peeled, and finely sliced or diced

1 lb. mushrooms of your choice, sliced

6 cloves garlic, minced

a splash of wine (opt. or what you have on hand--I’ve used sake in a pinch!)

¼ tsp. thyme

200 g oven ready lasagne noodles (or you can use fresh)

150-200 g mozzarella cheese (or other!), grated

White Sauce:

½ cup butter (plus some for frying the vegetables and greasing the pan)

½ cup of flour

2 ½ cups of milk

~Fry the mushrooms and celeriac in the butter, add a bit of the garlic (2 cloves or so) and the wine, and rub the thyme as you sprinkle it in.  Stir until softened, while waiting, grease a lasagne dish.  Set skillet aside.

~Sauce:  in a medium pot, melt ½ cup of butter, whisk in the flour, and then the milk, and the rest of the garlic.  Keep whisking until thick.  (Other finely chopped herbs are nice here too—or you can skip this and substitute tomato sauce; red wine would be best in that case).

~Layer 3 lasagne noodles across the bottom of the dish, pour 1/3 of the sauce and add ½ of the vegetable mixture, and 1/3 of the grated cheese.  Repeat with another layer, and finish with a final layer of noodles, the rest of the sauce and cheese.

~Bake covered (grease the foil!) at 375 for about 40 minutes.