Yesterday, after Bill and I completed our daily exercise walk together, he went outside to work on some of his maintenance of our motorhome projects. With a home on wheels, there is always something to adjust here, or tighten up there…, So while he was working on his projects, I tackled one of my own projects for the day.
As many of you know, I don’t enjoy baking, I am more than happy to leave that to Bill and Shantel, but I love to cook. So yesterday, I made a delicious leek, bacon, and mushroom lasagna. OMG, we LOVE this dish. But, be warned, there is nothing about this dish that is calorie friendly( except that I used fat-free half and half instead of heavy cream). However, “all things in moderation” so we only have this dish a few times a year.
I found this recipe on the internet from the Eat Smarter website. I adapted it just a bit, with spices and mushrooms etc., to suit our tastes.
Ingredients:
Leeks – I used 2
butter – I used about 2 oz
Salt ( I don’t cook with salt, or add salt to my food because I am on a low sodium diet for health reasons. I use other spices to substitute for salt)
3 tablespoons flour
16 oz beef broth (I used reduced sodium)
6 oz whipping cream ( I used fat-free half and half)
About 6 oz of shredded sharp cheese (use more or less to your taste). You can use any kind of cheese you like.
Oven ready (no cook lasagna noodles). I used 8 but you can adjust to the amount you are making. Or you can use the lasagna noodles you boil if you want to take that extra step.
Thick sliced bacon (I used reduced sodium). Use as much or as little as you like.
I started with cutting two leeks ( a mild member of the onion family) into rings.
Then I placed the separated leek rings in cold water to let them soak so the sand that is in between the leaves can sink to the bottom. This is a very important step because if you don’t do this you will end up with…
all of this sand in you finished dish. Not good!
I added mushrooms that I cleaned and sliced to the recipe because both Bill and I love them, but if you don’t like mushrooms, simply omit them…
I fried bacon in a cast iron skillet, to ensure it got really crisp, then I removed the bacon from the skillet and
sautéed the leeks, minced garlic, and mushrooms in the fat rendered from the bacon.
Then I made the sauce using the same fat left in the skillet from the bacon and adding a pat of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour. Cooked that until the flour and butter looked a little brown. Then I added the beef broth and cream (half and half) and whisked to insure there were no lumps. Simmer until it comes to a light boil so it will thicken.
The next step is to spray a baking pan with non-stick spray and place a small amount of the sauce in the bottom of the baking pan. Then line the pan with oven ready lasagna noodles.
Top the lasagna noodles with the leeks/mushroom mixture, and top that with cheese and crisp bacon pieces (if you don’t eat bacon, or don’t like bacon, you can leave it out or replace with chicken, beef, etc.)
Continue to layer the sauce, lasagna noodles, leeks/mushroom mixture, bacon, and cheese until all the ingredients are used.
Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (about 40 minutes).
I served this with a Normandy – Style Vegetable Blend, and YUMERS!!! Dinner was served.
This is one of mine and Bill’s favorite dinners. But like I said, it is not calorie, or figure friendly… but oh my, it is well worth the extra exercise to walk/hike it off every once in a while… 🙂 And, it freezes really well.
Stayed Tuned!
