Betsy's Pumpkin Bread

Years ago, when my friend Betsy was a young wife, she made pumpkin bread in empty coffee cans. It was moist and yummy and I've made only that pumpkin bread recipe for years.

Heavens to Betsy, but I couldn't find my recipe this holiday season when I needed it. Bless this day and age when I can text a lifelong friend and she can text her mother and voila! The recipe appeared in my email within an hour.

Here it is:

3/4 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. each salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg
4 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups pumpkin
1-1/2 c butter
5-1/4 cups flour

Mix well and add 3/4 c. nuts or raisins, ginger chips, cranberries (fresh and chopped or dried). Grease flour pans.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I cut a medium-sized sugar pumpkin in half, scooped out the seeds and placed it cut side down on a cookie sheet. I roasted it for about 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. This yielded about 3 cups pumpkin.

Gerry Canelli's Lasagna

Gerry's been asked several times for his magnificent lasagna recipe. He makes it different every time but finally managed to get it written down so that others can make their own similar version.

Here it is:

Gerry’s Lasagna and Tomato Sauce recipe

For 9-1/2” – 13-1/2” pan (or similar)

2 boxes of lasagna noodles (you may have some unused noodles)

1 pound ground beef
1 pound  sausage (sweet, hot, or a mixture)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (more depending on taste)
3-4 T dried oregano
3 T dried basil
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. crushed rosemary
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (or ¼ cup dried flakes)
15 oz. can tomato sauce
12 oz. tomato paste
15 oz. can diced tomatoes (I like the garlic and herbed blend – drained)
24 oz. can Hunt’s pasta sauce (garlic and herbs)
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 lbs. whole milk ricotta
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
8-12 slices provolone cheese
Optional: if you can find scamorza cheese, slice ½ pound in addition to the other cheeses)

Start by making the meat sauce filling.  Place the tomato sauce and tomato paste into a saucepan. Using the tomato paste can as a gauge, add 1.25 cans of water.   Add fresh garlic, fennel seeds, oregano and basil, and crushed rosemary.  Place the saucepan on medium heat and stir occasionally until it starts bubbling.

In another pan, brown the ground beef, breaking it into small pieces.  Drain, and add to the sauce.

Take the casings off the sausage, discard. Brown the sausage, breaking it into small pieces, and add it to the sauce.  Take the sauce off the heat.

Taking the pan you intend to use for the lasagna, lay the noodles in the pan to gauge how many noodles you need for one layer.  Multiply by 3 (or 4 if you want a really deep dish); add in a few extra noodles in case some get stuck together when cooking.

Using salted water, cook the noodles as directed, stirring occasionally. Stop cooking about 30 sec to 1 minute before the end. Keeping the noodles in the pan, drain the hot water and immediately fill with the pan with cold water – let it sit.

Drain the ricotta cheese if it’s watery. In a bowl, mix it with either the fresh or flaked parsley, add in some dried oregano, mix and set aside. Remove the lasagna noodles from the water and drain in a colander.

Open the can of pasta sauce and pour some of the sauce into the bottom of the lasagna pan. Rotate the pan so that the entire bottom surface and some of the lower edge of the pan are coated with sauce.

Build the layers using noodles covered with ricotta and meat sauce and various amounts of the rest of the cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan, cheddar and provolone*) in the following way:

1.      Spoon some of the ricotta cheese on the noodles.

2.      Spoon some of the filling sauce across, then sprinkle a layer of shredded mozzarella, and a little of the Parmesan.

3.      Add another layer of noodles, and using your hand, press down to smooth out the layer (this helps to smooth the ricotta layer underneath it).

4.      Add more ricotta (if you are only doing 3 layers of noodles, use all of the ricotta here), then add more sauce.

5.      Note:  Sprinkle the drained diced tomatoes, cheddar, mozzarella, thinly sliced provolone or scamorza cheese, Parmesan on alternating layers (first and third if you have a 4-layer lasagna; the middle layer if you have a 3-layer lasagna.)

6.      Add another layer of noodles, and using your hand, press down to “smooth out the layer.  Add a thin layer of sauce.

For the top layer, use the remaining shredded cheeses and sprinkle on the top of noodles.  Finish with sliced provolone and Parmesan on top. By now I typically have run out of sauce, this is when I use more of the Hunt’s pasta sauce and sprinkle it across the top.

Cover with foil.

Cook for ~ 45 minutes at 375 F or until you can see or hear it bubbling.

Let rest for at least 10 minutes.  If you pre-make this dish, you can set it aside for a hour or more, then toss it in the oven without the foil and heat it up for 10 minutes or so.

 Using 1 or 2 metal spatulas cut and serve in portions.

**Note: the University of Cincinnati has a style guide for capitalization of types of cheese!