Mystery K

There is a girl I fell in love with. She girl is absolutely perfect. Beautiful. Smart. Mysterious. Funny. And she is a foodie! I havn't met a girl who appreciated food like me. With her I've been cooking the most beautiful meals: fig pizza with danish blue and pruscitto, squash blossom/heirloom tomato/ basil pizza, and this wonderful lasagna.

Mystery K said she didn't like lasagna, but I had her eating tofu and raw cabbage which she said she hated. (Never got her to eat mustard, though.) So I made her a lasagna that she'd love. She loves meat so I decided to go with something special, lamb. Filled with summer flavors and products from the garden.

I was trying to make goat feta for a potluck this weekend and the cheese didn't cut well. I had to strain it and make it into farmer's cheese. It had such a great texture similar to ricotta I decided to use it in the lasagna. I started with the cheese and mixed it in with sautéed yellow squash from the garden. Mixed it with sage to make it savory, but added lemon zest, mesquite honey and nutmeg to sweeten it a bit.

I went with the basic meat lasagna technique by sautéing red onion then adding ground lamb with a bit of pork (for the fat). When the meat started cooking I added garlic, cumin, and cinnamon. After a few minutes I added diced tomatos, a can of tomato sauce, a good handful of italian parsley, lemon juice, and a dash of salt.

The result was amazing. It was so savory and rustic yet bright and light. A wonderful blend of flavor. I usually don't handle dessert, but for her I went the extra mile. I followed the dinner with a beer float made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate stout from Alpine Brewery, and a slash of orange liquor.

Rustic Lasagna

25oz fresh goat cheese (I think if you mix goat cherve with ricotta it'll do the trick)

1.5 cup of diced yellow squash

4 tbsp of a strong flavored honey (mesquite or sage)

3 tbsp fresh saged

1 large egg

1 large red onion

1lb ground meat

.3lb ground pork

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp cayanne

2 tsp whole cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

4 garlic cloves

2 cups of diced tomatoes

1 6-8oz of tomato sauce

1 cup of fresh chopped italian parsley

juice of half a lemon.

I layered the whole thing. A thin layer of cheese mixture on the bottom. With a layer of meat. Followed by cheese. Meat. Then on the top I poured all the juice from the meat mixture on top of the top layer of pasta.

Bake 375 for 60 minutes. Mine made a 14x8 pan of lasagna for 8 servings.