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If you find that spinach and ricotta are two ingredients I used together recently, then you are right. Anna is still away and in the meantime, I’m still more economic with the time I spend in kitchen, so I’ve been improving my ability to make gourmet dishes quickly and for a single person.

Since more often than not I have the versatile spinach and ricotta pate in the refrigerator, here is a dish I came up with this week: a delicious spinach and ricotta lasagna with bechamel sauce and topped with cheese.

Ingredients

• Sheets of pasta for lasagna
• The Versatile spinach and ricotta pâté
• 300ml (7 floz) of milk
• 100g (3.5oz) of grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• A hint of nutmeg

Directions for the bechamel sauce

• Dissolve the flour in the cold milk
• Add the nutmeg
• Cook over a low heat, mixing gently until it starts to thicken
• Remove from heat immediately

Directions for the lasagna

There isn’t really a rule of how many layers of lasagna or how much filling you should have, but I used 7 layers of lasagna and used a layer of filling of about 3mm (0.1in), but feel free to choose your own measurements.

• Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the tray
• Spread the Spinach and Ricotta pâté on a layer of lasagna
• Position the layer on the tray, over the sauce
• Add a thin layer of the bechamel sauce
• Repeat the process until you’re done with the layers
• Cover generously with the sauce and make sure also the sides are covered
• Spread the grated cheese over the top and cook in a preheated oven at 200°C (390°F) for about 25 minutes

Now, the final secret. Lasagna cooks much better in a baking dish made of terracotta or other material that allows a slow cooking than a metal one.

If you’ve ever checked out the salads page on our website, you’ll have a fair idea that Trudy and I are both BIG salad lovers.

We enjoy eating lighter leafier salads as a side dish, but we also love more substantial, heartier salads — the kind that stick to your ribs. And no other salad has quite the rib-stickability of potato salad.

This Greek-inspired potato salad is quite different from the usual potato salad. The potatoes are roasted with thick slices of lemon which impart the most wonderful lemony flavor deep into the potato flesh.

Also, there’s a special ingredient in this potato salad that not only imparts extra flavor, but adds creaminess without adding virtually any calories. All we do is roast some unpeeled garlic cloves along with the potatoes. The roasting process gives the garlic a milder sweeter flavor, and it also turns it into a creamy puree which we squeeze out of the cloves and fold through the mayo before adding to the salad.

Lemon-Rosemary Infused Potato Salad with Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise

Serves 4 as a side dish

• 2 lbs. (1kg) potatoes — peeled and cut into large chunks
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive
• 8 cloves garlic — left unpeeled
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 lemons — thickly sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

PREHEAT the oven to 210°C (425°F). TOSS the potatoes in a baking dish with the oil, garlic, rosemary, lemon and salt and bake for around 50 minutes tossing halfway through cooking. REMOVE from the oven and remove the lemon and garlic. SQUEEZE the roast garlic puree from the skins and mix into the mayonnaise until well combined. ADD the garlic-mayo to the baking dish with the roast potatoes and mix well to combine with the baking juices. SERVE warm or at room temperature.

Although tofu has become more widely appreciated in the West as a nutritious food, it still has a reputation for being bland. Agreed, tofu may be insipid by itself, but with a little creative cooking it can be lifted to new heights. The trick with tofu is to add flavor — the thing that it intrinsically lacks. Being porous, firm tofu is a perfect candidate for marination, and its spongy consistency readily absorbs the flavors of whatever it’s mixed with.

In this simple recipe, tofu is cut into thick slices then marinated in a savory Japanese-style sauce before being grilled like a steak — which adds to the overall texture and flavor. These tofu “steaks” are than served on a bed of delicate, slippery soba noodles tossed with stir-fried Asian vegetables.

Grilled Marinated Tofu Steaks with Japanese-style Stir-fried Vegetables and Soba Noodles

Serves 2

• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon dashi stock powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon miso
• 3 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 10 oz (300g) block firm tofu
• 3 1/2 oz (100g) soba noodles
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 bunch bok choy (or other Asian greens) – roughly chopped
• 1 carrot – peeled and julienned
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed to a paste with 1 tablespoon water
• 1 scallion (spring onion) – thinly sliced on diagonal

HEAT the water in a small saucepan until boiling and stir in the dashi powder and sugar until dissolved. REDUCE the heat to a low simmer and add the miso, stirring to dissolve. REMOVE from the heat and stir in the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and ginger. CUT the block of tofu in half widthwise, then cut each piece in half lengthwise. MARINATE the tofu steaks in the mixture, covered in the fridge, for at least 1 hour, turning halfway through. BRING a pot of water to the boil and cook the soba noodles for 4 minutes, then rinse under cold water and drain. HEAT a cast iron ridged grill pan over a high heat. ADD the tofu steaks (reserving the marinade) and cook for around 3 minutes each side. WHILE the tofu cooks, heat a wok or large skillet over a high heat, add the canola oil and stir fry the bok choy and carrot for 3 minutes. REDUCE the heat to medium-low, add the reserved marinade liquid, cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes. STIR in the cornstarch paste and cook until thickened. ADD the scallions and soba noodles and stir to mix well and heat through. SERVE on a bed of the noodle-vegetable mixture with the tofu steaks on top (glazed with a little of the sauce).

I don’t know about you, but to me cooking has always had a social factor.

When I cook for people here in Italy I can spend hours in the kitchen doing things as complex as they can be. I can actually go through all the Italian courses — Primo piatto, secondo piatto, contorno, dolce, and I can bake my own bread to go along with it. But when I cook only for myself I tend to be more economic with the time I spend in kitchen. But, hey, I never meant to say I lower my food standards in any measure!

Since Anna is away and I’m by myself this week, in this post I’ll share a recipe that won’t take more than 10 minutes of your time and requires no skills at all, yet is the kind of food you find in fancy restaurants, and often at unjustified prices.

Got ten minutes to prepare today’s lunch? Let’s go then!

Penne Rigate alla Ricotta e Noci

The first thing to do, of course, is give the dish a fancy Italian name, like they do in restaurants. Penne Rigate alla Ricotta e Noci — so there you go. Penne are those small pipes of pasta and rigate means they are ridged on the surface.

This was my pasta of choice because I wanted the ricotta to be able to fill the penne and because of the rough surface it will adhere better on the outside as well, but you can use other varieties of penne, or fusili. Basically any short pasta.

Ingredients

• 200g (7 oz) of penne rigate, or your pasta of choice
• 150g (5 oz) of ricotta
• 30g (1 oz) of chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions

• Cook the pasta in lightly salted water according to instructions on the package
• When the penne are done, drain, and immediately put them back in the same empty pan
• Add the ricotta and the olive oil and mix them gently
• Add the walnuts
• Optionally, if you like a stronger taste, you can add a some strong cheese, like a small piece of gorgonzola or ground pecorino or parmesan.

This recipe serves two, but another great thing is that just as simply you can cook for yourself alone or you can cook for a dozen — you will only need a bigger pan.

I like to spend a couple of hours on the weekend preparing a few food basics that, once made, take the hard work out of cooking meals for the week ahead — a strategy I refer to as ‘weekend cooking for weekday eating’. In addition to curries and soups I invariably make some kind of tomato-based Mediterranean sauce for its sheer versatility.

Apart from a classic bolognese sauce or a piquant puttanesca sauce, one of our favorites is this rich sauce made with a medley of vibrant red ingredients including tomatoes, roasted red peppers, red onions, red wine, and red chili. I really enjoy the process of making up batches of this sauce, it brings out the Italian mama in me, especially when I put on Italian opera while I’m cooking.

Producing my own homemade sauce rather than buying the store-bought stuff in jars gives me a feeling of self-sufficiency, and it’s healthier and cheaper as well. Just knowing that I’ve got a supply of this delicious and nutritious sauce on hand fills me with a real sense of satisfaction. Over the past week we’ve had this sauce drizzled over grilled fish on a simple couscous salad, and then a couple of nights later tossed with rigatoni, broccoli and canned tuna as a quick pasta meal.

The sauce can be stored in the fridge, covered for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Robust red sauce

Serves 4 (or enough to make the following 2 meals, each serving 2 people)

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 red onions — diced
• 4 cloves garlic — finely chopped
• 28 oz (840g) canned tomatoes — chopped
• ½ cup red wine
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• ½ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 4 red bell peppers — deseeded and quartered

HEAT the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook the onions for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly. ADD the tomatoes, wine, rosemary, chili flakes, salt, pepper and sugar and bring to the boil. COVER, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes. WHILE the sauce simmers, place the peppers (skin side up) under a hot broiler (griller) until the skin blackens all over, about 10 minutes. REMOVE and cover the charred peppers with a clean dishcloth or plastic wrap for 5 minutes to allow the steam to loosen the skins from the pepper flesh. PEEL off the blackened skin from the peppers and roughly cut the flesh into pieces then add to the sauce. PLACE the sauce into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Grilled fish with robust red sauce and couscous salad

Serves 2

• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic — minced
• 2 x 6 oz (180g) firm white fish fillets
• 1 cup couscous
• 2 small zucchini — quartered lengthways and very thinly sliced into quarters
• 1¼ cups boiling chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 scallion (green part only) — thinly sliced on diagonal
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint
• 2 oz (60g) crumbled feta
• ½ portion of the Robust Red Sauce recipe — heated

MIX together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic in a bowl. POUR half the lemon/oil mixture over the fish fillets and marinate, covered, in the fridge for 1 hour. COMBINE the couscous and zucchini in a bowl, pour over the boiling stock, cover and allow to steam for 5 minutes. FLUFF the couscous with a fork and toss with the scallion, parsley and mint. DRIZZLE over the remaining lemon/oil mixture and the crumbled feta and toss well to combine. SET the couscous salad aside while the fish continues to marinate. HEAT a cast iron grill pan over a high heat until very hot. COOK the fish fillets in the pan for around 3 minutes each side until just cooked. SERVE each fillet on a bed of the couscous salad and spoon the heated robust red sauce over the top.

Variations: Grill chicken breast fillets instead of fish. Serve any leftover couscous salad tossed with strips of smoked salmon and cubed avocado (drizzled with lemon juice to prevent browning).

Rigatoni with robust red sauce, tuna and broccoli

Serves 2

• 8 oz (240g) dried rigatoni pasta
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• ½ portion of the Robust Red Sauce recipe — heated
• 6 oz (180g) canned tuna in olive oil — drained and broken into chunks
• Shaved or grated Parmesan cheese to serve

COOK the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water, adding the broccoli to the pot for the final 5 minutes of cooking. DRAIN the cooked pasta and broccoli, put the sauce in the bottom of the pot and top with the hot pasta, broccoli and tuna chunks. TOSS together gently to combine well and heat through. SERVE the pasta with a little shaved or grated Parmesan on top.

I’ve been seeing the telltale signs that winter is finally at an end…my fellow train commuters are swapping their heavy coats for raincoats, there are more hours of sunlight during the day, and the price of artichokes is (finally!) dropping at the grocer. Spring is definitely in the air!

My boyfriend Robert, who grew up in an Italian-American family, often reminisces about his late mother’s baked stuffed artichokes. Living in Rhode Island, we are fortunate to have access to good Italian markets, where we can find terrific pre-made artichokes at the deli counters. However, there is simply no comparison to a home cooked version made with love.

Since the artichokes at our local market have been so gorgeous (and finally affordable) recently, I had to pick up a few to experiment with. I decided to create my own recipe in tribute to this very Italian dish, but gave it an Asian twist—adding shiitake mushrooms and replacing the usual Italian bread crumbs with lighter Japanese panko.

Baked Stuffed Artichokes with Panko, Black Olives and Shiitake Mushrooms

Makes enough stuffing for 4 small artichokes or or 2 large artichokes (Artichokes can be comically huge these days.)

Ingredients:

• 4 small or 2 large artichokes
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup Japanese panko flakes
• 1-2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8-10 black olives (diced)
• 2-3 tablespoons re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms (chopped)
• Additional olive oil for brushing the artichokes/baking dish
• Lemon wedges for serving

Directions:

First, prepare the artichokes for stuffing: Slice about an inch off the top of each artichoke and snip the sharp tips of each leaf with scissors. Pull out the woody inner leaves from the center until the fuzzy “choke” covering the heart is revealed. Remove the fuzz with a small sharp knife or spoon. (I use a strawberry/tomato huller gadget that works really well.) Remove the stems of the artichokes, cutting them flush against the base so the artichokes are able to sit upright in a baking dish. Peel the stems with a vegetable peeler, removing the tough outer layer. (Note: Artichokes will brown quickly once they are cut—to prevent this, put out a large bowl of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it and keep the cut artichokes in the bowl until you have finished prepping all of them.)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the artichokes and peeled stems along with the salt and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Boil for about 30 minutes, or until the leaves are tender. While the artichokes are cooking, re-hydrate the shiitake mushrooms in a cup of warm water.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove the artichokes and stems from the water and place upside down on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Chop the cooked artichoke stems and shiitake mushrooms into small pieces (reserving a few mushroom slices for garnish). Combine the olive oil, panko flakes, minced garlic, ground pepper, diced olives, chopped mushrooms, and chopped stems in a mixing bowl. Place artichokes upright in lightly oiled baking dish. Spoon mixture into each hollowed out artichoke and brush all over with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, garnish with reserved mushroom, and serve with lemon wedges.

(Note: To make an Italian artichoke that is more like what Robert’s mother used to make…add a little extra oil to the stuffing, skip the shiitake mushrooms, and use seasoned Italian bread crumbs instead of the panko. And of course, don’t forget the love.)

Happy Spring!