Valentine's Day Spinach Lasagne Bolognese

John and I decided that for Valentine's Day we would stay home and cook together. Well, originally he was going to cook for me, then we decided we would do something together. On the rainy Saturday that was V Day I sat on my couch and looked through a bunch of cooking magazines for ideas. I decided on a recipe in Gourmet for Spinach Bolognese Lasagne. Valentine's was cold and rainy in San Francisco, so I didn't change out of my sweats all day. I had a notion to shower and put on a pretty dress but John told me he didn't care, and I was sooo comfortable, so sweats it was.

Cooking together was a really nice change from me being in the kitchen alone most of the time. We chopped and stirred together, John did all the spinach defrosting and ringing out plus all the ricotta filling. Actually, how goofy is this, when we were at the store we grabbed what we thought was 2 boxes of chopped frozen spinach. Upon returning home we discovered one was actually chopped frozen broccoli. We used it anyway. I have no idea if the lasagne would have been better or worse without the broccoli, but too bad. I thought it was still tasty, and broccoli is green and good for you, I doubt I would have noticed if I hadn't seen the package.

Part of the proposed menu was a Brownie Pudding that I saw Ina make on the Food Network. we searched high and low for Framboise and bought all the ingredients even1 In the end we bought some raspberry extract. But after cooking the lasagne, which I made the mistake of not noticing that the bolognese was supposed to simmer for one hour before putting it in the oven for another hour plus!, we were tired and I was not in the mood to dirty the kitchen again. Champagne and lasagne on the couch was our Valentine's meal and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I must admit I think I kept the bolognese on the stove for too long. Because we used the no-cook noodles they suck up a ton of liquid, leaving our lasagne a bit dry. It was solved by adding a splash of olive oil, which really brightened up the flavors too, but next I will make sure my bolognese looser before I add it. Check out how close my lasagne looks to the picture on the recipe!

Wedding Food

Most weddings that I attend are great fun, you enjoy the time with friends and family and the food is an afterthought. I have always been okay with this. But at the wedding of my friends Allyson and Mike the food really struck me! Here is our salad course. The beets over shaved fennel were so bright and summery, as was the little Caprese salad. The beans added some texture and more vitamins to the plate, I was really impressed with this combination as opposed to the more typical "dinner salad" one usually gets.

For the main course I had requested the vegetarian entree. I know I've been dabbling but I still always ask for the vegetarian choice at these type of things because I do not want to be stuck with something I won't eat. So I was given a medium sized ramekin of lasagne. It was... amazing. One of the best lasagnas I have ever eaten. Seriously. It was light and fresh, there was a layer of pesto in there that a whole new dimension to the dish. It was so good that John kept ignoring his steak so as to take more bites of my dish. I think he ate about a quarter of it. I was wholly impressed though and I wish that I could bring this recipe to other caterers/restaurants who seem to think that a "vegetarian option" translates into poorly grilled zucchini and eggplant on top of a portobello mushroom cap."

The coconut cupcakes from Comfort's (San Anselmo) cemented this into the "best wedding food ever. And here are the two of us enjoying the lovely weather.